As co-founder and co-president of Ford grantee A Better Balance, Dina Bakst is leveraging the power of the law to ensure fairness in the workplace and advance the rights of workers across the economic spectrum.
The legal advocacy organization is leading the charge for policies that help workers across the economic spectrum care for themselves and their families without risking their jobs. Bakst shares her vision of what equality would look like for millions of American working families — a vision that will build a fair and stable economy: “When workers don’t have to choose between their jobs and their families, when women don’t have to shoulder the disproportionate burden of caregiving in America because men are sharing in it equally, when care work is valued, and when all workers can care for themselves and their loved ones without jeopardizing their economic security, that’s when there will be equality.”
Bakst advocates building a future of work that works for all and reimagines an economy that upholds workers’ rights. She’s dedicated her advocacy to the idea that workplace equity is a necessary and fundamental right for all Americans.
“When I became a mother, my perspective on women’s rights broadened. I really began to see how difficult it was, not just to be a woman in the workplace but also to be a mother in the workplace. I began speaking with workers in America who are literally one sick child away from losing their job, who are one complicated pregnancy away from homelessness. These are not just economic justice issues,” she says. “These are maternal health issues, they’re reproductive health issues, and they are racial justice issues. And that’s what A Better Balance is fighting for every day.”
Bakst is part of the #FutureIsHers multimedia series of interviews, essays, and more, celebrating the innovators, risk-takers, and change-makers the Ford Foundation has proudly supported and the impact they’ve had on the lives of women and girls everywhere. Despite the many challenges women and girls face, around the world they’re rising up. Determined and persistent, they’re leading the way in showing us what gender justice looks like, disrupting inequality and creating a world where social change is possible: The future is hers.
