by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)
Amidst the backdrop of an Arkansas Women’s Commission report that was delivered in December, a new bill to end affirmative action may seem tone deaf.
In December 2022, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson received the results of a year-long task force from the commission he created which looked at women’s roles in the labor force for the first time in nearly 50 years.
“Women in Arkansas continue to bear the greatest burden of family care, which includes child and elder care, and COVID-19 further brought this open secret into stark relief. The Commission’s recommendations are equally unsurprising. There is not much about reducing the barriers to women in Arkansas – in wages, in professional advancement, in access to child care, or in terms of access to health care – that is novel. What deserves continued vigilance is working together to address them,” the report said.
