Women to Watch

The pandemic laid bare the untold burdens women face, particularly the difficult balance of work and child care. Over the last year and a half, many women in the Baltimore area have mastered the art of pivoting after being forced to reexamine their working lives.

Previous Women to Watch, such as Dr. Leana Wen, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore's Shelonda Stokes and Route One Apparel's Ali Von Paris, weigh in on how life has changed in 2021.

Meet four young Baltimore-based activists that pivoted during the pandemic to continue to fight for racial and gender equity.

Increased participation in the workforce has helped drive up the age of new mothers. But moms remain far likelier than dads to stay home. Limited access to paid leave and affordable child care further complicates the work-family balance.

As some employers in Maryland boost minimum hourly pay and momentum builds to increase the federal minimum wage, women have a lot to gain.

Fifty years after women lawmakers in Maryland formed their own caucus, they're no longer fighting their way into leadership meetings or trying to get appropriate bathrooms. But going forward, they hope to have a bigger influence on laws that affect women.

Wilson's time at the NSA took her from the American embassy in London, where she countered terrorist threats to the 2012 Olympic Games, to Maryland’s Fort Meade, where she addressed terrorist threats to the U.S.

The pandemic is over in the same way the fight for women’s rights is over. The devastating and ongoing effects are easily obscured by the undeniable progress that has been made.