The Biden-Harris administration has taken several measures in its first three months to strengthen the nation’s social safety net. Many of these policies will have an outsized impact on women — particularly women of color, who often struggle to access health care and now are bearing the brunt of the COVID-induced economic crisis.

From mandating paid sick leave and shoring up childcare to addressing the maternal health crisis, the new administration clearly recognizes the ways health and economic security are intertwined and how this impacts women.

On the latest episode of The Dose, Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, makes the case that the pandemic has exposed inequities too difficult to ignore. And she believes women will emerge “smarter and stronger” from this crisis.