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US Promotes Birth Incentives, But Fails Mothers: New Report Reveals Stark Wage Gaps Ahead of Mother’s Day

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While political leaders debate pronatalist policies, new IWPR data shows the US economy isn’t built to support the mothers we already have—moms are penalized with lower pay in every state.

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — As the nation gears up to celebrate Mother’s Day, a new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) confronts the harsh economic reality facing American moms. Timed to coincide with Mother’s Day—and gaining added relevance amid a growing national conversation around motherhood—IWPR’s 2025 Mom’s Equal Pay Day report reveals that mothers remain deeply undervalued where it counts most—in their paychecks. Across the country, moms still face staggering wage penalties, earning far less than fathers, with some making less than half as much, especially if they are Black, Latina, or Native American.

“This Mother’s Day, a bouquet of flowers won’t cut it,” said Taylor. “If we truly want to honor moms—especially the ones we already have—we need policy, not platitudes.”

“This should be a moment to celebrate and uplift mothers, and the multitude of roles they play inside and outside of our homes,” said Dr. Jamila K. Taylor, president and CEO of IWPR. “Instead, the data show that we’re systematically devaluing their work—both paid and unpaid.”

Despite rising workforce participation—nearly 74 percent of moms with children under 13 were employed or actively seeking work in 2024—mothers earned just 61.8 cents for every dollar paid to fathers in 2023. Across all 50 states and DC, at least half of all mothers worked full-time year-round. And even when doing so, the gap improves only slightly, to 74.3 cents—a $19,000 annual income loss.

IWPR ‘s state-level analysis depicts just how deep the gaps run (see full state-level data here):

Utah mothers earned just 43.9 cents per dollar—the widest gap in the country.Louisiana mothers working full-time year-round earned only 62.1 cents per dollar.In DC, mothers earned the most ($80,000), but still $45,000 less than fathers—the largest dollar gap in the US.Only Vermont and Rhode Island paid full-time working mothers more than 80 cents per dollar compared to fathers.

The gaps are even more severe for mothers of color:

Latina mothers earned just 42.7 cents per dollar compared to White fathers.In New Jersey, the gap was even worse—just 29.8 cents on the dollar.Native American and Black mothers consistently earned less than half of what White fathers earned, even with full-time work.

The report arrives on the heels of last month’s Department of Health and Human Services cuts to critical maternal and child health programs—and amid new proposals from the Trump administration to offer cash bonuses to married parents as a response to the country’s declining birth rate. But IWPR researchers say these pronatalist policies miss the point and, without structural reforms, ignore the real costs of parenting.

“You can’t bonus your way out of a birth rate crisis when motherhood comes with a $19,000 pay cut,” said Taylor. “The economy for parents is broken—and we’re failing the very people that we expect to grow it.”

IWPR calls for urgent policy action to tackle the root causes of the motherhood penalty:

Paid family and medical leaveAffordable, accessible child careFair scheduling and workplace protectionsEnforcement of pay equity and salary transparencyAccess to comprehensive reproductive and maternal health care

“This Mother’s Day, a bouquet of flowers won’t cut it,” said Taylor. “If we truly want to honor moms—especially the ones we already have—we need policy, not platitudes.”

You can read the full report and state-by-state earnings data here.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research strives to win economic equity for all women and eliminate barriers to their full participation in society. As a leading national think tank, IWPR builds evidence to shape policies that grow women’s power and influence, close inequality gaps, and improve the economic well-being of families. Learn more at IWPR.org and follow us on Twitter.

Media Contact

Chandler Rollins, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 314-610-0896, rollins@iwpr.org, https://iwpr.org/

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/us-promotes-birth-incentives-but-fails-mothers-new-report-reveals-stark-wage-gaps-ahead-of-mothers-day-302443729.html

SOURCE Institute for Women’s Policy Research

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Quickplay’s Triple Play of New Customers, Products and Partnerships Set to Dominate NAB 2026

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LAS VEGAS, April 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — (2026 NAB Show) – Quickplay, the Content to Value Operating System, today unveiled a broad array of company news including: an AI-enriched solution that identifies social signals and trending topics, and connects them to relevant content within minutes; transformative customer deployments; and powerful industry research and partnerships.

Debuting at NAB, Social Signals is a new technology within Quickplay AI Studio that identifies trending cultural moments and matches them with high-value content assets to automatically generate social-ready clips and posts. By combining external trend data with performance insights from owned channels, Social Signals enables content teams to move from insight to publishing in minutes, rather than days.

Social Signals is a key part of Quickplay’s AI Studio Solution, which includes metadata enrichment, moment detection, smart verticalization and multi-platform publishing. Its Smart Verticalizer uses multimodal AI and action tracking to intelligently reframe video –preserving key visual elements such as faces, gameplay and on-screen graphics – to maintain broadcast-quality standards across short-form formats. The company has also partnered with Visible Things, the creator-driven platform to deploy the first implementation of Social Signals across the Visible Things infrastructure.

Quickplay further announced it has gone live with Gray Media (NYSE: GTN)’s new streaming experience, which included consolidating 1,300 digital touchpoint, including 163 websites, 326 mobile apps and 815 CTV apps onto a single data-driven platform powered by Quickplay and Google Cloud (NASDAQ: GOOGL). The system now manages 269 live channels and 123 FAST channels across Amazon Prime Video, Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU), Samsung TV Plus, Vizio and Fire TV, delivering hyper-local content to 37% of U.S. TV households.

Quickplay also announced the cloud-native transformation of Television New Zealand’s streaming platform, TVNZ+. Completed in 12 months, Quickplay replaced a fragmented ecosystem of six+ vendors across UI/UX, content management, video processing, advertising and analytics with a single, unified platform. The team at TVNZ also named Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ: AMZN) as its preferred cloud platform for the transformation, further increasing efficiencies and lowering costs by consolidating onto a single cloud vendor. The technology overhaul will drive unprecedented innovation and efficiency for TVNZ, New Zealand’s state-owned broadcaster, which reaches over two million New Zealanders daily.

“Broadcasters don’t need another point solution. They need an AI-enabled operating system that turns content into measurable outcomes,” said Paul Pastor, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Quickplay. “At NAB, we’re showing how to bring cultural moments, content catalogs and distribution workflows together to create engaging and revenue opportunities in real time.”

In partnership with Caretta Research, Quickplay will also release new research, “The Broadcaster Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” highlighting a critical bottleneck in the industry: North American broadcasters spend approximately 75% of their time on technical workflows, leaving only 25% for content creation. The report outlines how automated workflows and unified operations can help broadcasters meet the growing demand for short-form video while maintaining editorial quality and accelerating monetization.

Additionally, Quickplay has joined NAB PILOT, a coalition of innovators, educators and advocates dedicated to advancing broadcast technologies and cultivating new media opportunities. As a part of this group, Quickplay is expanding its collaboration with broadcasters to redefine how value is derived from content.

Quickplay at NAB 2026:

Paul Pastor, Jordan Bartow, and Peter Tanner of Quickplay, and Albert Lai of Google Cloud will be on a panel: An Audience of One: How Gray Media + Google Cloud + Quickplay are Using AI and Cloud OTT to Personalize Local News, Enable User-Generated Content, Engage Younger Viewers, and Unlock New Revenue for Broadcasters. Central Hall Stage, Monday, April 20 at 4:15p PTAt the NAB Streaming Summit TVNZ’s Chief Digital Officer, Rob Hutchinson, will present “How TVNZ+ Built a Co-Viewing Product” on Tuesday, April 21 at 11:30 AM PT.Live Demonstrations: See Quickplay technology in action at AWS, GCP, TwelveLabs and the Encore. To book a meeting, email hello@quickplay.com

About Quickplay:
Quickplay is the Content to Value Operating System for media and entertainment, connecting every stage of the content lifecycle, from creation to monetization. By applying intelligence where it drives measurable impact, Quickplay enables broadcasters, sports operators, streamers, and creators to turn their catalogs into revenue. Quickplay powers 2.5 billion streaming minutes per month, with 5 billion ad impressions served and 99.999% streaming uptime. 

Quickplay was founded by four innovators with deep media and entertainment technology experience from AT&T, McKinsey and Company, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Headquartered in Toronto, the company has offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chennai, and throughout Europe. For more information, visit quickplay.com.

Media Contact:
Breakaway Communications for Quickplay
quickplaypr@breakawaycom.com
+1 917-731-5734

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/quickplays-triple-play-of-new-customers-products-and-partnerships-set-to-dominate-nab-2026-302746637.html

SOURCE Quickplay

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Harmonic Enables DIRECTV to Reimagine Nationwide DTH Service

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Harmonic’s Cloud-Native VOS Media Software Lowers Costs by Unifying Media Playout to Delivery on a Single Platform

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that DIRECTV is transforming its U.S. direct-to-home (DTH) video platform with Harmonic’s VOS® Media Software. Powering DIRECTV’s playout-to-delivery workflow, Harmonic’s cloud-native software reduces operational costs while enabling scalable, exceptional-quality video delivery for the service provider’s vast array of linear channels.

“As the demand for high-quality media content soars, DIRECTV is committed to deploying innovative technology solutions that bring unparalleled entertainment experiences to our customers. Continuing our work with Harmonic is critical to achieving this mission,” said Jeffrey Seto, vice president of satellite and software engineering at DIRECTV. “Harmonic’s VOS Media Software replaces siloed systems with a unified, software-based platform. By centralizing advanced playout, ad insertion, branding and media processing, we’re simplifying operations and building a scalable foundation.”

Harmonic’s VOS Media Software enables a complete playout-to-delivery workflow for DIRECTV running in its private data center. The Harmonic solution handles ingest, advanced playout, ad insertion, branding, premium encoding and statistical multiplexing for the delivery of broadcast-quality linear channels via satellite distribution. VOS Media Software’s playout capabilities support ad insertion across DIRECTV’s high-value linear and occasional-use channels — including live events and pay-per-view programming — boosting monetization. DIRECTV’s internal automation, storage and monitoring systems are integrated directly with Harmonic’s APIs, enabling seamless control of scheduling, automation and channel operations.

“Harmonic is proud to support DIRECTV’s software-based approach in modernizing its playout-to-delivery operations,” said Gil Rudge, senior vice president, solutions and Americas sales, video business at Harmonic. “With Harmonic’s AI-driven encoding and advanced compression solution, DIRECTV is well positioned to deliver exceptional video experiences to viewers across their linear channels, optimizing quality while minimizing bandwidth usage and operational costs.”

Harmonic will showcase its VOS Media Software at the 2026 NAB Show, April 19-22, in Las Vegas in booth W2831. To schedule a meeting with the company, visit www.harmonicinc.com/video-streaming/events/nab/. Further information about Harmonic and the company’s solutions is available at www.harmonicinc.com.

About Harmonic
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized broadband and video delivery solutions, enables media companies and service providers to deliver ultra-high-quality video streaming and broadcast services to consumers globally. The company revolutionized broadband networking via the industry’s first virtualized broadband solution, enabling operators to more flexibly deploy gigabit internet services to consumers’ homes and mobile devices. Whether simplifying OTT video delivery via innovative cloud and software platforms, or powering the delivery of gigabit internet services, Harmonic is changing the way media companies and service providers monetize live and on-demand content on every screen. More information is available at www.harmonicinc.com

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements concerning Harmonic’s business and the anticipated capabilities, advantages, reliability, efficiency, market acceptance, market growth, specifications and benefits of Harmonic products, services and technology are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our current expectations and beliefs and are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties more fully described in Harmonic’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and its Current Reports on Form 8-K. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Harmonic as of the date hereof, and Harmonic disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Harmonic, the Harmonic logo and other Harmonic marks are owned by Harmonic Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/harmonic-enables-directv-to-reimagine-nationwide-dth-service-302744362.html

SOURCE Harmonic Inc.

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TVU Networks and Tencent Cloud Unveil Next-Generation Cloud Production Solution at NAB 2026

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Strategic partnership combines TVU’s cloud-native production platform with Tencent Cloud’s global infrastructure to power next-generation live streaming workflows

LAS VEGAS, April 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — TVU Networks, a leader in cloud-native live video solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Tencent Cloud to launch a next-generation cloud-based media production and distribution platform at NAB 2026. The joint solution empowers broadcasters, content creators, and enterprises to elevate the live streaming experience and unlock new revenue streams.

The global media industry is undergoing a structural shift. According to Omdia, total revenue from traditional TV and online video is projected to reach $1.03 trillion by 2030, with online video advertising expected to grow from $309 billion to $540 billion over the same period. The TVU–Tencent Cloud platform is purpose-built to help customers capture this growth — combining professional cloud production with internet-scale interactivity and monetization.

The platform serves three major segments: broadcasters and OTT providers launching agile FAST channels with global CDN distribution; media platforms and creators requiring mobile-first, broadcast-quality production from anywhere; and enterprises producing high-profile live events with professional-grade multi-camera setups and massive concurrent viewership.

At the core is TVU’s cloud-native microservices architecture — proven in the 2024 Paris Games Torch Relay, a global club football championship spanning remote production across nine countries, and BBC’s UK General Election coverage with 369 simultaneous live streams. Deep integration with Tencent Cloud delivers five key advantages: ultra-low latency streaming via intelligent routing across global edge nodes; elastic scalability powered by TKE container services; cloud-native optimization for peak reliability; AI-powered production including automated subtitles, intelligent editing, and content moderation; and enterprise-grade end-to-end encryption from acquisition through distribution.

Paul Shen, CEO of TVU Networks, stated: “TVU has always been committed to making professional production capabilities more efficient and flexible through cloud-native architecture. Tencent Cloud’s deep expertise and customer insights in the media sector are highly complementary to TVU’s product and technology strengths in cloud production — and that’s the foundation that brought us together. The goal of this joint solution is clear: to help customers build a complete pipeline from content production to audience engagement to monetization, making AI&cloud-based production a true engine for business growth.”

Yan Peng added: “Through our partnership with TVU, we can rapidly help customers build a next-generation technology infrastructure — enabling global acquisition, global production, and global distribution — while driving commercial growth through internet-based services.”

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tvu-networks-and-tencent-cloud-unveil-next-generation-cloud-production-solution-at-nab-2026-302746450.html

SOURCE TVU Networks

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