diff --git a/base/accumulate.jl b/base/accumulate.jl
index c1ec372de9033..6f0b6e7d05ba3 100644
--- a/base/accumulate.jl
+++ b/base/accumulate.jl
@@ -293,10 +293,10 @@ function accumulate(op, A; dims::Union{Nothing,Integer}=nothing, kw...)
         # This branch takes care of the cases not handled by `_accumulate!`.
         return collect(Iterators.accumulate(op, A; kw...))
     end
-    nt = kw.data
-    if nt isa NamedTuple{()}
+    nt = values(kw)
+    if isempty(kw)
         out = similar(A, promote_op(op, eltype(A), eltype(A)))
-    elseif nt isa NamedTuple{(:init,)}
+    elseif keys(nt) === (:init,)
         out = similar(A, promote_op(op, typeof(nt.init), eltype(A)))
     else
         throw(ArgumentError("acccumulate does not support the keyword arguments $(setdiff(keys(nt), (:init,)))"))
@@ -356,10 +356,10 @@ julia> B
 ```
 """
 function accumulate!(op, B, A; dims::Union{Integer, Nothing} = nothing, kw...)
-    nt = kw.data
-    if nt isa NamedTuple{()}
+    nt = values(kw)
+    if isempty(kw)
         _accumulate!(op, B, A, dims, nothing)
-    elseif nt isa NamedTuple{(:init,)}
+    elseif keys(kw) === (:init,)
         _accumulate!(op, B, A, dims, Some(nt.init))
     else
         throw(ArgumentError("acccumulate! does not support the keyword arguments $(setdiff(keys(nt), (:init,)))"))
diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index f1d097678f3a2..5cd32a16e50e2 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -241,3 +241,13 @@ end
 cat_shape(dims, shape::Tuple{}) = () # make sure `cat_shape(dims, ())` do not recursively calls itself
 
 # END 1.6 deprecations
+
+# BEGIN 1.7 deprecations
+
+# the plan is to eventually overload getproperty to access entries of the dict
+@noinline function getproperty(x::Pairs, s::Symbol)
+    depwarn("use values(kwargs) and keys(kwargs) instead of kwargs.data and kwargs.itr", :getproperty, force=true)
+    return getfield(x, s)
+end
+
+# END 1.7 deprecations
diff --git a/base/iterators.jl b/base/iterators.jl
index b9f2aaf882360..dbebe900e0659 100644
--- a/base/iterators.jl
+++ b/base/iterators.jl
@@ -235,30 +235,30 @@ pairs(A::AbstractArray)  = pairs(IndexCartesian(), A)
 pairs(A::AbstractVector) = pairs(IndexLinear(), A)
 # pairs(v::Pairs) = v # listed for reference, but already defined from being an AbstractDict
 
-length(v::Pairs) = length(v.itr)
-axes(v::Pairs) = axes(v.itr)
-size(v::Pairs) = size(v.itr)
+length(v::Pairs) = length(getfield(v, :itr))
+axes(v::Pairs) = axes(getfield(v, :itr))
+size(v::Pairs) = size(getfield(v, :itr))
 @propagate_inbounds function iterate(v::Pairs{K, V}, state...) where {K, V}
-    x = iterate(v.itr, state...)
+    x = iterate(getfield(v, :itr), state...)
     x === nothing && return x
     indx, n = x
-    item = v.data[indx]
+    item = getfield(v, :data)[indx]
     return (Pair{K, V}(indx, item), n)
 end
-@inline isdone(v::Pairs, state...) = isdone(v.itr, state...)
+@inline isdone(v::Pairs, state...) = isdone(getfield(v, :itr), state...)
 
 IteratorSize(::Type{<:Pairs{<:Any, <:Any, I}}) where {I} = IteratorSize(I)
 IteratorSize(::Type{<:Pairs{<:Any, <:Any, <:Base.AbstractUnitRange, <:Tuple}}) = HasLength()
 
-reverse(v::Pairs) = Pairs(v.data, reverse(v.itr))
+reverse(v::Pairs) = Pairs(getfield(v, :data), reverse(getfield(v, :itr)))
 
-haskey(v::Pairs, key) = (key in v.itr)
-keys(v::Pairs) = v.itr
-values(v::Pairs) = v.data # TODO: this should be a view of data subset by itr
-getindex(v::Pairs, key) = v.data[key]
-setindex!(v::Pairs, value, key) = (v.data[key] = value; v)
-get(v::Pairs, key, default) = get(v.data, key, default)
-get(f::Base.Callable, v::Pairs, key) = get(f, v.data, key)
+haskey(v::Pairs, key) = (key in getfield(v, :itr))
+keys(v::Pairs) = getfield(v, :itr)
+values(v::Pairs) = getfield(v, :data) # TODO: this should be a view of data subset by itr
+getindex(v::Pairs, key) = getfield(v, :data)[key]
+setindex!(v::Pairs, value, key) = (getfield(v, :data)[key] = value; v)
+get(v::Pairs, key, default) = get(getfield(v, :data), key, default)
+get(f::Base.Callable, v::Pairs, key) = get(f, getfield(v, :data), key)
 
 # zip
 
diff --git a/base/namedtuple.jl b/base/namedtuple.jl
index ff554cae39336..9361fde52619b 100644
--- a/base/namedtuple.jl
+++ b/base/namedtuple.jl
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ merge(a::NamedTuple,     b::NamedTuple{()}) = a
 merge(a::NamedTuple{()}, b::NamedTuple{()}) = a
 merge(a::NamedTuple{()}, b::NamedTuple)     = b
 
-merge(a::NamedTuple, b::Iterators.Pairs{<:Any,<:Any,<:Any,<:NamedTuple}) = merge(a, b.data)
+merge(a::NamedTuple, b::Iterators.Pairs{<:Any,<:Any,<:Any,<:NamedTuple}) = merge(a, getfield(b, :data))
 
 merge(a::NamedTuple, b::Iterators.Zip{<:Tuple{Any,Any}}) = merge(a, NamedTuple{Tuple(b.is[1])}(b.is[2]))
 
diff --git a/base/reduce.jl b/base/reduce.jl
index ca252a08922c3..6490358214c7e 100644
--- a/base/reduce.jl
+++ b/base/reduce.jl
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ julia> sum(1:20; init = 0.0)
 """
 sum(a; kw...) = sum(identity, a; kw...)
 sum(a::AbstractArray{Bool}; kw...) =
-    kw.data === NamedTuple() ? count(a) : reduce(add_sum, a; kw...)
+    isempty(kw) ? count(a) : reduce(add_sum, a; kw...)
 
 ## prod
 """
diff --git a/stdlib/InteractiveUtils/src/macros.jl b/stdlib/InteractiveUtils/src/macros.jl
index 79473f6d5bb36..8d70af708cab5 100644
--- a/stdlib/InteractiveUtils/src/macros.jl
+++ b/stdlib/InteractiveUtils/src/macros.jl
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 import Base: typesof, insert!
 
-separate_kwargs(args...; kwargs...) = (args, kwargs.data)
+separate_kwargs(args...; kwargs...) = (args, values(kwargs))
 
 """
 Transform a dot expression into one where each argument has been replaced by a
diff --git a/test/syntax.jl b/test/syntax.jl
index fc79d355e9c11..d934e9358baac 100644
--- a/test/syntax.jl
+++ b/test/syntax.jl
@@ -1863,7 +1863,7 @@ end
 @test_throws UndefVarError eval(:(1+$(Symbol(""))))
 
 # issue #31404
-f31404(a, b; kws...) = (a, b, kws.data)
+f31404(a, b; kws...) = (a, b, values(kws))
 @test f31404(+, (Type{T} where T,); optimize=false) === (+, (Type,), (optimize=false,))
 
 # issue #28992