Maine's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women would get $200,000 over two years to hire an executive director under a measure before the state Legislature.
The new hire would in the secretary of state's office to expand data gathering, with a focus on women of color. Kate Elmes, chair of the commission, says marginalized groups of women in Maine need to be better represented in policy decisions and a full time executive director could facilitate that.
.We know from preliminary data that most indicators of women's wellbeing are worse the more marginalized you are in terms of race and class. So we want to highlight data from Maine's most marginalized women, which are black, indigenous people and people of color," Elmes says.
The bill would also create two more seats on the commission, one to represent the LGBTQIA+ community and another to represent women under 25.
