Barbara Gault, Ph.D., Executive Director & Vice President

Low Literacy Means Lower Earnings, Especially for Women
by Jennifer Herard, Kevin Miller, Ph.D., Jane Henrici, Ph.D., and Barbara Gault, Ph.D. (February 2012)

Appropriate literacy levels are crucial for both men and women seeking education and employment opportunities, but low literacy skills disproportionally hurt women’s chances of earning a sustaining wage.

Denver Paid Sick Days Would Promote Children’s School Success
by Sarah Towne, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Kevin Miller, Ph.D., and Barbara Gault, Ph.D. (October 2011)

Paid sick days for working parents can enhance children’s school success. Parents face a difficult choice if their children get sick when they lack paid sick days: staying home with the child and missing pay (and possibly facing discipline at work); sending the child to school sick, which compromises their school performance and spreads illness to others; leaving the child at home alone, putting the child at risk; leaving the child with an older sibling who in turn must stay home from school; or trusting the child to a temporary caregiver. Each of these scenarios has potential costs for schools or for child well-being. The negative effects of inadequate sick days coverage disproportionately affect people of color and low-income adults in Denver, because they are less likely than other Denver residents to be able to earn paid sick days. This paper by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) addresses how children's school success can be improved when working parents have access to paid sick days by reviewing published research, Denver Public Schools data, and information provided in interviews and surveys of Denver Public Schools personnel.1

The Wage Gap and Occupational Segregation
by Barbara Gault, Ph.D. (April 2011)

Improving Child Care Access to Promote Postsecondary Success Among Low-Income Parents
by Kevin Miller, Ph.D., Barbara Gault, Ph.D., and Abby Thorman, Ph.D. (March 2011)

This report examines the role of child care as a crucial support for parents who pursue postsecondary education.

2010 Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area
by Barbara Gault, Ph.D. and Layla Moughari (September 2010)

(Produced by Washington Area Women’s Foundation, Urban Institute, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Trinity University, the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital) In 2003, Washington Area Women’s Foundation released A Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area, with the goal of presenting a clear picture of the lives of women and girls in the region—the District of Columbia, Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties in Maryland, Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia, and the City of Alexandria, Virginia—that could be used as a basis for action.

Meaningful Investments in Pre-K: Estimating the Per-Child Costs of Quality Programs
by Barbara Gault, Anne W. Mitchell, and Erica Williams with Judy Dey and Olga Sorokina (March 2008)

Policy makers around the country, seeing the far-reaching benefits of quality pre-kindergarten (pre-k) for three, four, and five-year-olds, are committing substantial resources to expanding these programs. They are beginning to recognize that public investments in early learning can be as important as those made in elementary education. Positive outcomes of pre-k investments are especially great when participating programs uphold high-quality standards, including high teacher-to-child ratios and small class sizes, and when they employ experienced, well-compensated teachers with good credentials.

Resilient and Reaching for More: Challenges and Benefits of Higher Education for Welfare Participants and Their Children
by Avis A. Jones-DeWeever, PhD and Barbara Gault, PhD (February 2008)