Dr. Maria D’Agostino, professor of public administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and co-author of the study
“Working with those who are doing the doing—and incorporating learnings into academia—is so important and not done enough in our opinion,” said Dr. Nicole M. Elias, an associate professor in the department of public management at John Jay College as well as co-author of the study.
Titled “Advancing Gender Equity through Legislation: A Compilation of Laws passed from 2014 - 2020," the study broke down New York City legislation into three areas that traditionally disadvantage non-male genders: economic mobility and opportunity, health and reproductive justice, and safety.
“One of the things that CGE had noticed before we did this report was that all of this legislation wasn’t in one place and easily accessible to people,” said Dr. Maria D’Agostino, a professor of public administration at John Jay College and the study's co-author. “And then during COVID, lots of gender issues were made worse, such as gender-based violence, so it became even more important for New Yorkers to know their rights.”
Elias and D’Agostino are founding co-directors of the Initiative for Gender Equity in the Public Sector (IGEPS), which conducted the study.
For New Yorkers, this study’s timing may be especially noteworthy as Kathy Hochul recently became the first female governor of New York state after former governor Andrew Cuomo resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct. The scandal highlighted the sexual assault and harassment that many women, transgender, and non-binary people continue to face in the workplace.
