About the Commission on Gender Equity

The NYC Commission on Gender Equity (CGE) addresses issues of inequity and discrimination facing girls, women, intersex, transgender and gender non-conforming and gender non-binary persons regardless of age, disability, ethnicity/race, faith, gender expression, immigrant status, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.

To successfully carry out its mandate, CGE:

Recognizes the diversity of gender, including gender identity and expression.
Operates with an intersectional lens: the focus is on girls, women, intersex, transgender and gender non-conforming and gender non-binary individuals regardless of ability, age, ethnicity/race, faith, gender expression, immigrant status, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.
Ensures that the city leads in the development and implementation of best practices in gender equitable policies and programs for its workforce and its residents.

CGE focuses on three main areas to drive equity across the city.

Economic Mobility and Opportunity
To create a city where people of all gender identities and gender expressions live economically secure lives and have access to opportunities to thrive.

Health And Reproductive Justice
To create a city free from gender- and race-based health disparities.

Safety
To create a city free from gender- and race-based violence.

CGE exercises four actions to create change and achieve results in its three focus areas.

Policy, Legislation, and Advocacy
CGE, in partnership with city agencies, recommends and advocates for policy changes that result in new laws that advance gender equity in New York City.

Interagency and Cross-Sector Collaborations
CGE brings together domestic and international advocates, community members, philanthropic leaders, city agencies, and business leaders to solicit input on its focus areas, identify solutions, and explore partnerships to remove barriers to gender equity.

Research, Analysis, and Publications
CGE supports research and analysis of issues relevant to its three focus areas to better grasp the challenges and opportunities facing the city.

Public Education and Engagement
CGE engages and informs communities virtually and in-person on gender equity policies, programs, legislation, and practices that affect their economic opportunity, health, and safety.

Mandate

Local Law 45 of 2020

Local Law 45 of 2020 amended the administrative code of the City of New York on reporting efforts to prevent and address sex- and gender -based discrimination and harassment.

Local Law 45 requires the NYC Commission on Gender Equity (CGE) to:

Study the inequities facing women, girls, transgender, intersex, gender non-conforming and non-binary people in the city.
Study the impact of those inequities on the economic, civic, and social well-being of women, girls, transgender, intersex, gender non-conforming and non-binary people.
Analyze the function and composition of city agencies through a gender-based lens and advise on developing equitable hiring strategies.
Make recommendations to the mayor and city council on reducing gender-based inequality.
Report to the mayor and speaker of the city council:
Activities during the previous 12 months.
Goals for the following year.
Recommendations for the reduction of gender-based inequities.
Recommendations for agencies, for preventing and improving responses to sex- and gender-based discrimination and harassment.

Annual Report

CGE's 2021 Annual Report covers the 12-month period from January through December 2021 and presents the goals for January through December 2022. Highlights of 2021 accomplishments include:

CGE and the Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE) established a workgroup to examine pay inequity within the city's workforce and to make recommendations to eliminate this inequity. The Pay Equity Workgroup, co-chaired by then Executive Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services Dawn Pinnock, and CGE Executive Director, Jacqueline M. Ebanks, convened its first meeting in November 2020 and continued to work throughout 2021, with the goal of building a sustainable pay equity structure across NYC's municipal workforce.
The Sexual Health Education Task Force (SETF) held two virtual meetings in February and June of 2021, to continue development of the action plan. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic raised questions about how to effectively support students and advance the goals of the SETF. Two key issues that emerged were the continued impact of remote learning on sexual health education and access to resources, and how to ensure the group's recommendations have community buy-in and ownership.
CGE continued its partnership with the Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV), Right to Be (formerly Hollaback!), and L'Oreal Paris, to offer free, one-hour, Stand Up Against Street Harassment Trainings. These trainings, designed to combat gender-based violence in public spaces, provided participants with proven tools to actively stand against street harassment. A total of 153 trainings were held in 2021 which trained over 30,000 people.
CGE and the Mayor's Office for International Affairs hosted a panel of leaders dedicated to advancing gender equity through legislation. The event highlighted CGE's publication Advancing Gender Equity through Legislation, which documents the legislative accomplishments from 2014 to 2020 to promote economic mobility and opportunity, health and reproductive justice, and safety for all New Yorkers regardless of their gender identity or gender expression.

Read the 2021 Annual Report
Read the 2020 Annual Report
Read the 2019 Annual Report
Read the 2018 Annual Report
Read CGE's first annual report, 2015-2017