Mulligan Brings Women’s Voices to Illinois Policymaking

Through her work with the bipartisan Conference of Women Legislators, State Representative Rosemary Mulligan (Flemming Fellow ’94) and her colleagues bring women’s voices to budget and policy decisions in Illinois.

This year, the Conference is fighting to revive the state’s Commission on the Status of Women. The Commission, they believe, is a vehicle through which Illinois can address issues women face as they transition from welfare to work and as they try to secure low-interest loans. In past years, the Conference has increased subsidies and block grants for child care and increased funding for early childhood education as a crime prevention effort.

To improve the status of business women, Mulligan is pushing to add women’s voices to the Illinois Pension Laws Commission, which currently does not have one woman member or appointee. Mulligan believes the state can do better. “It’s hard to believe that Illinois doesn’t have women who are top Certified Public Accountants and actuaries for the Commission,” she says.

For HB 1885, Mulligan combined her work with women’s concerns and her longtime interest protecting health care benefits. Mulligan’s resolution would establish a work group on pension portability. Women especially, says Mulligan, need pensions they can carry with them. “Women are in and out of the workforce. Poverty for elderly women is a reality—and needs to be addressed,” she says.

A seven-year legislator, Mulligan was awarded a Pathfinder Award at CPA’s Annual Awards Dinner in 1998 and participated in the 1997 Women’s Economic Leadership Summit at the White House.