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Paid Family Leave

Calling All Humans: Who Pays for us to Propagate?

March 1, 2010
Women now comprise about half the US workforce, according to a major story in the December 30 issue of the Economist . In other words, half our workforce bears all our children. Anyone who wants a child of one's own must recognize that somewhere, a woman will bear that child and will likely nurse...
Melissa Bartick's picture

FMLA: After 17 Years, It’s Time to Take the Next Step

February 24, 2010
The Family and Medical Leave Act turns 17 today. At the National Partnership, we are like proud parents. We remember the long fight to pass it, and the moment on February 5, 1993 when we stood beside President Clinton as he made it the very first bill he signed. For the first time, we had a...

When will we dictate policy to protect our future generations?

February 18, 2010
Why are other countries recognizing the need for a paid stay-at home option, yet we are not? When will we dictate policy to protect our future generations? Our country's leaders seem to be primarily concerned with the here and now, instead of maintaining a balance that satisfies the present and the...

Time to Stop Free-Riding on Families

February 10, 2010
For generations, our country has been free-riding on families. Our economy is built on the invisible and free labor of millions--many of them women--who provide essential care to their families, whether it is the education and socialization of the next generation of workers or the comfort and care...
Phoebe Taubman's picture

Compensation for Parents

February 7, 2010
Most parents are overwhelmed when first entering into parenthood. This can cause emotional frustration and financial worry. To relieve this emotional burden, all parents should receive paid maternity and paternity leave for the first two years of their children’s lives . By providing this...

Paid leave is a human right

January 25, 2010
Paid parental leave is a human right, one guaranteed by virtually every country. But not the United States! When you gave birth or adopted your kids, did you take leave without pay? How did this affect breastfeeding, your health, your baby’s health, or your family’s finances? How did this affect...
Janet Walsh's picture

Wake Up! This Is the Reality of Work/Life for American Families

January 21, 2010
We work long hours. We work multiple jobs. We can barely afford healthcare, or we’re doing without. We’re stitching together childcare, or we’re sending our kids to school with H1N1. We exert ourselves to be good spouses, sons and daughters, parents, members of our community, friends - in snatched...
Gloria Pan's picture

Start the New Year with the Power of One

January 13, 2010
You can make a difference in 2010 to open up opportunities for our children – and ourselves – to move as far as our talents and passions take us. Often, unnecessary obstacles seem to stand in the way, like old-fashioned and outdated styles in the workplace, make our lives more about juggling than...
Linda Tarr-Whelan's picture

Paid Leave for the US

December 18, 2009
From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org I've written here before about Jody Heymann's work in Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling the Myth that We Can't Afford Good Working Conditions for Everyone . The only reason we don't have...
Valerie Young's picture

The Promise of New Deal Feminism

December 14, 2009
A single mom needs work; she’s literally thinking about applying for welfare. As she writes on her blog , “I had been looking for a better job, but there were none to be had in the low-income/high-unemployment area where I lived. And I couldn’t get a full-time job anyway — I was still on the...
Morra Aarons-Mele's picture

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