Minnesota Agencies

The task force has three charges: identify the barriers that prevent gender equity in the workplace and limit women's equal participation in the economy, including gendered-based pricing (the “Pink Tax”) in consumer goods and services, barriers that fall disproportionately on women of color and immigrant women, and the disproportionate economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women; explore best practices to advance the economy security of women; and develop a comprehensive set of recommendations that protect and support women's economic security in Minnesota. The task force will produce a report within nine months, before the start of the 2022 legislative session, and will continue its work for up to two years.

In the press release announcing this task force's formation, the Attorney General's office noted: "In 2014, Governor Mark Dayton signed the Women’s Economic Security Act (WESA), which expanded economic opportunity and strengthened workplace protections for women. However, more needs to be done to build on the achievements of WESA and create a more inclusive economy in Minnesota. In that spirit, Attorney General Keith Ellison is creating the Task Force on Expanding the Economic Security of Women in Minnesota."

The task force will hold its first monthly meeting on February 4, 2021 from 5:00–7:30 p.m. via Zoom. The task force will produce a report within nine months, before the start of the 2022 legislative session, and will continue its work for up to two years. All meetings, whether virtual or in-person, will be open to media and the public.

The task force's March 2022 report summarized their work and recommendations to date: "The Task Force aimed to build on the successes of WESA by providing an analysis of its most effective components and areas of opportunity to improve it further. The Task Force also took on the lofty challenge of identifying the many abstract systemic barriers to women’s economic security to define concrete problems that can be addressed directly. The Task Force then came up with solutions that informed 115 recommendations across distinct topics within workplace, caregiving, health, economic opportunity, and governance issues, with special attention to intersectionality and the exacerbating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic."

The task force is composed of 15 voting members and seven nonvoting ex-officio members.

Voting members of the task force:

• Barbara Battiste
• Christina Ewig
• Betty Folliard
• Cheniqua Johnson
• Nancy Jost
• Dr. Brittany Lewis
• Barala McFarlane
• Lulete Mola
• Kate Perushek
• Erin Maye Quade (co-chair)
• Sen. David Senjem
• Connie Smallman
• Sayda Sadia Tarannum
• Alene Tchourumoff
• Rep. Samantha Vang

Ex Officio members of the task force:

• Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota Lieutenant Governor
• Rebecca Lucero, Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner
• Donna Cassutt, Attorney General Ellison’s Chief of Staff (co-chair)
• Liz Kramer, Minnesota Solicitor General
• Melissa Raphan, Partner, Labor & Employment Group LLP
• Emilia Gonzales Avalos, Executive Director, UnidosMN
• Bethany Winkels, Executive Director, Minnesota AFL-CIO

Donna Cassutt and Erin Maye Quade will serve as a co-chairs of the task force.