E20: Women in Maryland's Economy

In this episode, Rebecca talks with Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman and state data expert Dani DiPietro about their office’s new report on the state of women in Maryland’s economy. Lierman explains why her office, as the state’s fiscal watchdog, set out to fill a data gap no state agency had tackled before, and DiPietro walks through the report’s three major findings: a persistent gap in labor force participation between men and women that widens sharply for groups like those with limited English proficiency or young children, the disproportionate impact of federal job cuts and DEI rollbacks on women, and a surge in women-owned businesses that, troublingly, is often driven by necessity rather than opportunity. They also dig into the barriers women face raising capital despite stronger credit and repayment track records, how the report pairs hard data with nearly 200 roundtable conversations across the state, and where Lierman and DiPietro see real progress and policy opportunity, from closing targeted participation gaps to the Corporate Board diversity disclosure law. The conversation closes with a look ahead to the report’s public release event this fall.