About This Event:
18TH ANNUAL WOMEN'S WAY BOOK PRIZE
November 12, 2026 | 5:30 PM | Virtual, Free
Honoring author Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman for her book, "The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid"
Join us for the 18th Annual WOMEN’S WAY Book Prize, honoring award-winning economist and author Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman for her book, The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid. In conversation with moderator Kelly Sheard, Chief Strategy Officer at WOMEN’S WAY, Opoku-Agyeman will explore the cumulative financial, time, and labor costs women face across their lives and the systemic barriers that create and perpetuate these disparities.
As WOMEN’S WAY celebrates 50 years of collective action for gender equity, this virtual fireside chat will examine what it will take to build a more equitable economy and the role we can all play in advancing gender and racial economic equity. The conversation will be followed by a live audience Q&A.
About Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman
Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman is an award-winning economist, author, and speaker focused on economic opportunity, inequality, and the future of work. She earned her M.A. in Public Policy and Economics from Harvard University in 2025 and is pursuing her PhD. She is the youngest recipient of the CEDAW Women’s Rights Award. Her first book, The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System (St. Martin's, 2022), is the first trade publication to exclusively feature Black scholars and experts across economics, education, health, climate, criminal justice, and technology. Her latest publication, The Double Tax (Penguin Random House/Portfolio, 2025), explores the costs women face, why the bill runs higher for Black women and women of color, and how closing the gap helps us all. It was named one of the Best Science Books of 2025 (LA Times). Anna Gifty’s commentary and analysis regularly appear in major outlets, including Forbes, Bloomberg, NBC, NY Times, and NPR.
About The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid
Drawing on research, policy analysis, and personal stories, Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman argues that women face a "double tax" of unpaid labor, caregiving responsibilities, workplace inequities, and structural barriers that limit wealth-building opportunities. Accessible and solutions-oriented, the book reframes economic justice through a gender lens and calls for systemic changes that recognize and value women's labor and contributions.
About Kelly Sheard
Kelly Sheard is a Philadelphia native with extensive experience in program management, civic engagement and education. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master's in Social Work and later Drexel University with a Master's in Educational Improvement and Transformation. As the Chief Strategy Officer for WOMEN'S WAY, Kelly is excited to work with partners to advance a feminist economic agenda that supports the collective power of all marginalized genders in our region. She believes strongly in the power of organizing, relationship building and public problem solving and is excited to bring those values to the leadership of WOMEN'S WAY.
About The WOMEN'S WAY Book Prize
Established in 2007, this prize honors the legacy of Ernesta Drinker Ballard, a founder of WOMEN’S WAY, the first president of our Board, and an extraordinary champion for women and girls. Widely known as “the godmother of Philadelphia feminism,” Ernesta helped shape the region’s advocacy landscape by co-founding WOMEN’S WAY, advancing the fight for equal pay, marching and lobbying for the Equal Rights Amendment, and building critical infrastructure for women’s rights, including founding Philadelphia NOW and Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL). The Book Prize celebrates her vision and contributions each year by honoring a woman or gender-expansive author whose work advances dialogue around gender equity.
