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MOTHERS is a netroots community of mothers and other family caregivers who look after children or other dependent family members.
We promote social change to enchance the economic security of those who do carework, both exclusively or in conjunction with paid employment.
Click here to learn more…
MOTHERS BREAKING NEWS
July 09, 2010: Three Minute Interview: Dr. Lynette Long and The Invisible Woman: How many statues of women are in your hometown? How many women have been pictured on US postage stamps? How many streets are named after women? Dr. Lynette Long is a lifelong counter - and she says there are remarkably few images of women in our public life. In this edition of our 3 Minute Interview, Dr. Long discusses the impact of absent female representations and what her new non-profit, Equal Visibility Everywhere, aims to do about it.
July 9, 2010: "Successful" men have spouses and children; "successful" women do not: A great deal has changed in the past 50 years for women. More of us work, many of us never marry, and we have fewer children than we used to. However, the working world remains conflicted about the presence of women in general and mothers in particular. There are more women than men in the US, and the women are more educated, yet we remain relatively few in the upper reaches of employment. In spite of having proved ourselves, financially supporting and caring for our families, the perception remains that a woman with children is a liability in the workplace.
Being labeled "mother" does more than limit compensation. Cornell University researchers conducted an eye-opening laboratory experiment involving two job candidates who were considered equal in job experience, school attended, and level of education. The only distinguishing factor? One of the applicants was identified as a parent. Shockingly, candidates identified as mothers were perceived as being less promotable, less likely to be recommended for management, and less likely to be recommended for hire than non mothers, despite having equal credentials.
Excerpted from "For Women, It's Really Lonely At The Top" in the Washington Post, Selena Rezvani, "On Leadership".
July 09, 2010: New York State's Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights: Most US workers are protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act, passed in 1935. Agricultural laborers and domestic workers, performing housework of child care in a private home, were never included in the Act, reflecting long-standing prejudice against African Americans who predominated in those roles. New York's General Assembly will soon change that with the passage of a bill protecting domestic workers from forced overtime, ensuring a minimum wage and overtime pay, one day off per week, paid vacation and sick days, and other benefits. California is the only other state in the Union that has moved to treat domestic workers like other workers. Here are two articles reporting on New York's new law: NY Times and Progressive States Network
June 14, 2010: Work Life Conflict Is SO Not a "Women's Issue" : With men bearing the brunt of job loss in this recession, more of them are learning that being the primary caregiver or "stay at home dad" can be wonderful, exhausting, and a whole lot of work. But dads at work are more sensitive to demands outside of employment as well. Work/family stress reported by men is now actually higher than that reported by women.
This is one way the recession may have accelerated social changes that were already underway, albeit at a slower pace. Gender roles have been shifting for decades, but economic forces have increased awareness of the need for reality-based employment policies, like paid sick days and parental leave. The Center for American Progress reports:
One of the key facts about work-family conflict is it’s not just about women. Men now report higher levels of work-family conflict than women. We think that this may be because the typical man no longer has a stay-at-home wife and he—and she—are sharing the responsibilities (and joys!) of working outside the home and caring for family members. While some men struggle with the rise of women in the workplace, most have accepted, if not embraced, this new way of living.
June 14, 2010: Men At (House)Work: Data from Canada suggests men see their traditional gender roles shifting, and will spend more time and effort in household operations and child care. In an online poll developed to track attitudes about gender roles, men are more eager to assume new duties than women are to surrender traditional ones. "Surprisingly, men have so far been more willing than women to divide household duties with their partners and take on jobs beyond such traditionally male tasks as mowing the lawn and taking out the garbage." Women's Enews reports here.
June 2, 2010: "Having It All"; Who Can, Who Can't, and Who Should?: It makes me mad that aiming for success in both your personal and professional life is a worthy goal for a man, but if a woman should pursue it, she's accused of trying to "have it all". Who wouldn't want satisfaction in many areas of life? What are we supposed to do, mutely accept marginalization and second-class status because we have children as well as professional goals? The workplace of 2010 is a holdover from the workforce of 1960. Nowadays, people who work have all sorts of other obligations, not to mention goals and dreams beyond the day-to-day, hand to mouth existence. The solution isn't to tell parents not to want so much. The solution is to bring the workplace up to date so that workers can not only put food on the table, but actually sit down at the table with their family and eat it. The Washington Post recently asked: "Can a woman (or man) have both personal and professional success at the same time?" The answer ought to be an emphatic yes! Public policies which bring us closer to that answer, like paid sick days, part-time worker parity, and paid family leave, are the ones to follow.
June 2, 2010: Could You Care Less if Elena Kagan Becomes a Supreme Court Justice?: Before you dismiss the judicial nomination hearings as more political "blah blah blah", take a minute and consider - women's lives are greatly impacted by who sits on the court, and what decisions they make. For example, Supreme Court decisions made contraception legal and removed the prohibition that kept women from serving on juries. Before a Supreme Court decision made the change, only husbands had control over marital property, even if it belonged to the wife. Public aid was available to families with an unemployed father, but not un unemployed mother. Do you remember when there was no such thing as a sexual harassment claim, because the very notion that sexual harassment could be damaging didn't even exist? The US Supreme Court changed that. Women gained admission to state funded military academies and could sue for gender-based pay discrimination because the Court said they could. There are 9 justices on the court, and most decisions are decided 5/4, meaning that a single judge can change the whole opinion. Who is on the US Supreme Court does matter. And it matters a lot!
June 2, 2010: No Child Care, No Work: Budget Cuts Push More Mothers onto Public Assistance: The recession impacts women differently than men. State budgets are shrinking, and public funds that used to subsidize a family's child care bill are drying up all over the country. Because women are more often responsible for looking after their children, the missing money means mothers have to give up their jobs because they can't pay for child care on their own. Some mothers who have always worked are now applying for welfare - one of the few ways to secure child care. Going on cash assistance is an unsatisfactory solution. As one mother said in this New York Times article: “It’s a blow to my own self-image and self-worth as a person who can take care of myself ...I’m totally able, physically and intellectually, to continue working. But I can’t work without child care, and I can’t afford child care without work.” Read "The New Poor: Cuts to Child Care Subsidy Thwart More Job Seekers"
June 2, 2010: Mothers and Employment - 2009 Data Released: In 2009, 71.4% of US women with children under 18 were either working or looking for work. US women with children under 6 had a lower rate of workforce participation, at 64.4%. When the youngest child is between 6 and 17 years, mothers' employment rate rose to 77.3% If the woman has a child under a year old, the employment rate is only 56.6%. Married mothers have a relatively low rate of unemployment, at 5.8%. Unemployment for mothers in other marital statuses was significantly higher - 13.6% American mothers "work", in all senses of the term. And they work a lot!
US DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment Characteristics of Families 2009".
May 10, 2010: Mommy Contract Revolution: Ever thought of renegotiating your "Mommy Contract"? Us neither, but we like the idea! What would be an important commitment you'd like your family to make? My neighbor has a standing date with herself every Wednesday night. For a couple of hours she holes up in a neighborhood book store with a cup of tea, leaving her five daughters under Dad's care. Another friend assigns all pet chores to her children, in return for agreeing to have a dog, a cat, and a guinea pig at home. Everyone in my house gets to pick one bathroom to clean and one other major housekeeping task to perform on a weekly basis. Mothers do a lot, and it can be taken for granted. Everyone benefits when the work of running a home and family is shared. What terms would you re-negotiate if you could?
May 10, 2010: "Mothers Need More Women in Government": So says Siobhan "Sam" Bennett, President and CEO of the Women's Campaign Forum, in a recent Huffington Post column. Issues of child care, equal pay, social security, and the value of family carework are political, and have a direct impact on our economy, financial, and national security. Because these issues are interwoven in women's lives, they get attention from women legislators. Male legislators ..... not so much. The most effective way to spur social change is by electing more women, and more mothers, to political office at all levels.
May 10, 2010: And It's Not Only Government...: Women are MIA in many levels of leadership, including the corporate world, the professions, academia, even in non-profit organizations. The Harvard Business Review, not generally known as an outlet for work/life issues, recently addressed the failure of women to permeate the upper echelons of industry in spite of women's educational attainment, years of mentoring, and the voluntary implementation of "family friendly" policies at some workplaces. The Mama Bee blogger offers up her analysis of the HBR piece:
She goes on to advocate for "a different mindset," suggesting that the core problem is an unwillingness to admit that there are still profound inequities in the workplace. It should not be acceptable to tolerate corporate cultures that assume women are "less reliable" employees because they may have children; penalize women for motherhood even if they take no more than a few weeks of maternity leave; and characterize women who actively negotiate as whiny or bitchy or a host of other stereotypes - but that is exactly what women experience over and over again.
The value of women at work is intrinsically tied to the value of women in society at large. When we craft policies that respect family carework and those who provide it, women will find a greater measure of equality in paid employment as well. As long as men are preferred as workers, as members of society, as humans even - women are going to be pushed to the margins, and mothers may end up getting stuck there.
May 10, 2010: Why not us? Why not here?: Every year, Save the Children, an international child welfare agency, publishes its "State of the World's Mothers Index". Would you be surprised to learn that the US is not the number 1 country for mothers? In fact, it's not even in the top 5. Nor the top 10. It's not even in the top 20!! Nope, the US ranks 28th. If a country can't promote the welfare of mothers, how will it ever realize the maximum potential of its children? Dr. Jody Heymann, a distinguished researcher on women and work around the world, explains one aspect of our poor performance:
The United States is exceptional when it comes to workplace policy -- and not in a way that benefits American women, men or companies. One hundred and seventy-seven countries guarantee paid leave for new mothers; more than 100 guarantee 14 weeks or more of paid leave. Seventy-four countries guarantee paid leave for new fathers, 163 countries guarantee paid sick leave, 164 guarantee paid annual leave, 132 guarantee breastfeeding breaks, and 157 guarantee a weekly day of rest. The United States praises good practice but guarantees none.
Do you think more women in elected office might do something about all that?
May 10, 2010: Working Moms: It's the System That's Crazy, Not YOU!: We thought as much, but it's nice to get affirmation from others! And why limit it to "working" mothers? (Seriously, have you ever met a "non-working" mother? We think not.) US News & World Report interviews Sharon Lerner, author of the provocatively named "War on Moms: On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation". Buy two copies, and send one to your Member of Congress.
May 10, 2010: Even the Wall Street Journal Weighs In...: There's a common perception that raising children and pursuing a serious career is simply too much, and a woman shouldn't expect to be able to do both at the same time. Is the answer putting mothers in high profile jobs, to provide young girls with role models? Or is the answer making jobs in general less hostile to both men and women who are parenting children? We're following this discussion in the Wall Street Journal:
Critics of the Beast's argument say advocating for more role models misses the central point - that combining ambitious careers and motherhood is still way, way too hard. These critics see a double standard at work that does more damage than any lack of inspiring role models. For example, working dads draw praise for "helping" with the kids and the housework, based on the assumption that such things are women's work. But ambitious working moms, lacking social support and laboring under a second shift at home, are hard-pressed to meet the outsized expectations heaped upon powerful professionals in our society. And the corresponding stereotype about singles - the "she-has-no-life" label assigned to unmarried childless women - just reinforces that message ...
Whatever the answer, when the debate has penetrated the pages of the WSJ, some progress is being made.
April 20, 2010: Three Minute Interview - Tara Brettholtz and the Power of a Purse Campaign: Tara Brettholtz is a mother, women's advocate, and a director of Mothers & More. Her organization's "Power of a Purse" project distributes stylish and gently used purses to women seeking employment, often overcoming significant personal and economic hurdles. Our (Wo)Man in Washington, Valerie Young, caught Tara between press events in upstate New York, for this month's 3 Minute Interview.
April 18, 2010: It Aint Over 'Til...: Family caregiving may have started with our children, but for most of us, it certainly will not end there. Increased longevity means more people will live longer and need more care from their spouses, grown children, and loved ones. What will this mean for the caregiver? And for society as a whole?
April 18, 2010: The "Change" - No, Not Menopause: When a mother who stayed home returns to the paid work force, she faces many changes. Of course, everyone in the household will be affected, and it is often a tricky, complicated dance of transition. The Washington Post recently devoted it's weekly Magazine cover feature to this topic.
April 18, 2010: More on Equal Pay Day: The Wall Street Journal takes note of Equal Pay Day and what it does and doesn't show about men, women, and employment. Is the gap evidence of gender discrimination? Or does it simply reflect that men and women tend to congregate in different fields and industries, and that women's fields (teaching, nursing, etc.) just pay less? In either case, the author notes that women leave paid work more often to care for others, and for longer periods than men do, and that women are more likely to pursue lower paying and part-time work, to allow for the unpaid carework they must do. But women are now better educated than men, and even in the same professions, they tend to be paid less. Is pay disparity the result of more than one factor, and what should be done?
April 18, 2010: Equal Pay Day : Are We Missing the Point?: It takes the average working woman until April 20, 2010 to earn the same amount that the average man earned as of December 31, 2009. Equal Pay Day highlights the wage gap between men and women, working full-time and year round. However, a blogger at the Harvard Business Review says the real problem isn't a wage gap, but a business structure which cannot use female talent effectively, and ignores the massive buying power women hold.
The real issue isn't salaries. That is a symptom of a deeper issue: a massive corporate mis-adaptation to today's talent realities and the subsequent inability to retain and develop women as well as men. I call this "gender asbestos." It's hidden in the walls, cultures and mindsets of many organizations. But ridding the structure of the toxins will require more than pointing accusingly at the mess. It requires a detailed plan for how to move forward - and a compelling, attractive portrait of the result.
April 18, 2010: Health Reform and Pumping at Work: The recent health reform bill will change the status quo for new mothers at work who want to continue breastfeeding their babies.
The new law gives nursing women the right to unpaid time and a private place "other than a bathroom" to pump breast milk at work for the first year after a child's birth. It applies to all employers, with some exceptions for businesses with fewer than 50 workers that can show that complying would cause "undue hardship." The provision covers hourly workers - including wait staff, retail workers call center workers, some factory workers - who are most likely not to have access to a time and place to pump. Regulations are yet to be issued.
The National Partnership for Women & Families has a page up about this aspect of the bill here.
March 15, 2010: Your Breastmilk vs. Your Financial Security: Breast is best - that's one message that no new mother has missed for decades. But even breastfeeding plays a role in the economic impact of motherhood. The longer you breastfeed your baby, the longer it may be before you return to the paid labor force. Six months here, six months there - before you know it, your lifetime earnings and savings have taken a hit because you devoted that time, energy, and 'liquid gold" to your child. As the Wall Street Journal work/life blog points out, health outcomes aren't the only measure of success when it comes to child-rearing. Economic outcomes, for parent and child, count too.
March 15, 2010: 3.2.1. launch!: Resuming paid employment after time for family carework or another reason is becoming more common. Re-entry is daunting to the job-seeker and can be a cause for employer concern as well. However, "relaunchers" come back with more to offer, and are getting better at making their case. Are you worried about the consequences of leaving work for home? Thinking about leaving home and going back to work? Check out this interview with the author of 'Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-At-Home Moms Who Want to Return To Work'
March 15, 2010: Tricky Timing: When Should You Have a Child?: Becoming a parent is a life-changing event, worthy of serious thought. Now that women are half the US workforce, and that 80% of women have at least 1 child by the age of 40, timing parenthood and career is a major decision. About 20% of us wait until 35 or later to become mothers. (I had my first child at 33 and the second at 37, and didn't feel ready a moment sooner.) A Forbes magazine survey reports that the ideal age is between 25 and 29. What do you think? Is that too late? Too soon? Email me your opinion at
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March 15, 2010: The Maternal Wall - Opting Out or Boxed In?: There is no one way to be a mother, and no two women confront exactly the same set of circumstances. But one thing is certain - whether you're home or at work, mothering is hard and often stressful work, partly due to impediments well beyond your control. Inadequate child care options, and workplaces designed for a different age, are a large part of the problem. So is the total lack of regard for carework and childrearing reflected in our national values. The book Glass Ceilings and 100 Hour Couples discusses the absence of any real "choice" and how women cope.
Many of the women Moe and Shandy interviewed reported stalls in their careers due to the maternal wall. They either stayed at the same level, moved laterally, or moved downward. For many, this was the push they needed to decide to stay home. Moe and Shandy do report a number of women who relish the role of motherhood and planned to stay at home once they had a family all along, but out of their research sampling, these were the minority.
March 18, 2010: On The Radio: NPR broadcast a three part series about women, work/life balance, and how the workplace is changing - slowly, and at last - to reflect that fact that working people have lives outside of work.
February 22, 2010: The Problem with Maternity Leave...: is that women take it. If men insisted on a period of paid leave when a child was born or adopted, the whole family leave conversation would be radically different. While a mother's wish to be close to her child is seen as completely normal, a father's wish for the same can put him in a different light. The Wall Street Journal, surprisingly, posted this piece.
February 22, 2010: Tax Time Looms: As a result of the stimulus plan, more tax credits are available to more families this year. The National Women's Law Center has information here. Every year, taxpayers leave millions of dollars to which they are entitled unclaimed in their tax returns. Are you sure you know if you are eligible or not?
February 22, 2010: The Economics of Marriage: Marriage, like so many other things, has changed significantly in the past few decades. People marry later in life, wives are as educated as their husbands, and the gap between the earnings of married partners has narrowed. What this means for economic decisions in the home and policy decisions in a larger context is the subject of a riveting radio discussion. You can listen on your computer here.
February 19, 2010: The Recession, Men, Women, Work, and Staying Home:The economic hard times persist and force change on the home front. More women continue to work or leave home to start working (for money, outside the home, as opposed to the uncompensated labor they do inside the home). More fathers are out of the paid work force and finding themselves more engaged on the front line of housework and childcare. It's a fascinating time to be looking at these shifts, and what they reveal about carework. Two recent articles are worth reading. One from the Washington Post, about families adjusting to mothers going to work:
Magazine became part of the decline in the ranks of stay-at-home moms, whose numbers have fallen from 5.3 million in 2007 to 5.1 million in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. There was no statistically significant difference in the number of stay-at-home dads.
One from a recent New York Times blog, about fathers not being encouraged to pursue fulltime fatherhood:
In the grand sweep of American lifestyle choices, stay-at-home fatherhood is possibly the only one that doesn’t get eulogized in our popular culture.
February 10, 2010: No Getting Around the Maternal Wall: Having it all...redefining success...the work life balance...if this sounds like lip service to some sort of nirvana, or holy grail, I'm with you, sister. Perhaps we cling to one common hope. Surely, somewhere, someone has figured it out. Or maybe you believe you could figure it out, if there were only more money/time/help/sharing of the housework. Or ...maybe not.
Cheer up - better educated, richer, more talented, and privileged women than you have tried...and failed. The Rhodes Scholarship Program, which sends exceedingly gifted students to Oxford University in England, began admitting women just over 30 years ago. Now, supposedly in the full flower of their talent and training, these women report quite a few thorns amongst the roses. Research indicates that US Rhodes alumnae experience frustration with their professional and home lives, as most women with children do. Dr. Ann Olivarius, founder of the Rhodes Project and a Rhodes Scholar herself, writes:
What I think will be of particular interest -- if no particular surprise --are the inequalities (both at home and at the workplace) that Rhodes mothers face: 81% of Rhodes mothers said they had "limited or turned down career opportunities because of their children" while only 43% of their (mostly male) partners had. At the same time, 48% of the women said they did not spend as much time with their children as they wished. Finally, 48% said they found it harder to get promoted or recognized at work because they were female, and 40% said they felt that way specifically because they had children.
This is a project worth following, and we will. The "maternal wall" apparently doesn't recognize class or educational status. If the smartest, best educated women in America can't make it work, the problem, it would seem, lies not with American women, but with America.
February 10, 2010: Carework is Unskilled Labor: It's not a news flash that women in the direct care, home care, or health aide field are poorly paid. Perpetuating the misconception that carework is unskilled labor these employees are not protected by the usual labor laws, such as minimum wage, overtime pay, etc. A technical legal distinction, classifying them as "companions" rather than workers, is responsible. Both the US Department of Labor and the US Congress have the power to make this change. Neither has chosen to address this unfair and exploitive instance of discrimination, according to a recent New York Times article:
Like Ms. Coke, who was born in Jamaica, home care workers are often immigrants. Most are women, minorities and earn a low income. They are not mere companions. They typically help to feed, dress and move their elderly and disabled clients, plus keep house. Home care also is one of the nation’s fastest-growing occupations. Currently numbering around two million, they are among the lowest-paid and most-exploited in the work force.
Feed, dress, move, clean, care, help....sounds like mothering, also regarded as unskilled labor. Coincidence?
February 09, 2010: FY 2011 Budget Reflects Women's Interests:The White House's discretionary spending freeze is not going to hit a number of programs dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls. In fact, some of them received small increases rather than cuts. This is good news for female athletes, teens at risk of getting pregnant, those impacted by domestic violence, and others.
February 09, 2010: Britain Expands Paid Leave to Fathers: Encouraging states to consider paid leave programs with funding in the FY2011 budget is a good step. But we'll have a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the world. Recently, Britain expanded its paid leave policy to new fathers, offering them 3 months paid, and three additional months unpaid. American parents continue to do without something regarded as a basic right in the rest of the world, like health care.
February 09, 2010: Family Responsibility Discrimination in Chicago: Dena Lockwood worked for two years selling medical services. She never missed a sales target or received any criticism. One day, she asked to stay home with one of her two children, who had contracted pink eye. She was summarily fired, then found out she had been paid less and received a lower commission than her colleagues without children, who easily arranged to stay home and meet the plumber or attend to other occasional emergencies. She filed the first suit in the Chicago Commission for Human Rights under a local Chicago law prohibiting discrimination against those with family caregiving responsibilities, and she won.
February 01, 2010: Hilda Solis FY2011 Budget:Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor, announced a request for $50 million in funding for the US DOL's 2011 budget to give grant money to states to initiate paid leave programs for workers needing to care for a seriously ill child, spouse or parent, or bond with new or newly adopted baby. This program will reinforce job retention by keeping workers connected to the paid labor force, and keep them on a career path to the middle class. Paid leave would benefit millions of American workers, especially those who bear a disproportionate share of family carework, who are not eligible under current law, or who cannot afford to take unpaid leave.
January 25, 2010:The Stimulus Plan, Tax Credits, and Women: It's no surprise that women-headed households have higher rates of poverty. The rate could go as high as 46% for 2009 because of increased unemployment caused by the current recession. The stimulus plan is designed to provide some relief by making the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit available to more women and families working and supporting their children. If you didn't qualify before, it's worth looking again. It's easier to be eligible, and the amount of the benefit may be larger. These changes expire at the end of 2010, though, because the stimulus plan is intended as a temporary fix to (what is hoped to be) a temporary problem. The National Women's Law Center has more information here.
January 22, 2010: Michelle Obama Promotes Work/Family Policies: Mrs. Obama continues to make the rounds of all the federal agencies in Washignton and talk to employees, most recently appearing at the Department of Labor. She specifically noted the need for paid family leave, paid sick days, flexibility and access to affordable child care. Drawing on her experiences before assuming the role of First Lady, Mrs. Obama acknowleged the tension between the roles of worker and caregiver, and how conflict and guilt can undermine one's performance in both places.
January 22, 2010: Pregnant at Work: More women in the workforce means more pregnant women on the job. In 2008, 61% of all expectant or new mothers were getting a paycheck. How will the workplace cope? It's a very mixed bag, according to the Wall Street Journal.
January 21, 2010:The Three-Minute Interview - Allison Stevens, Journalist: Allison Stevens is a writer in Washington D.C. She has a new baby, her second, and will soon have a new blog on Women's eNews, too. Lately, she's been multitasking, juggling writing with breastfeeding, often simultaneously. We spoke about mothering and work for this month's Three Minute Interview.
January 12, 2010:The Motherhood Penalty: The research is starting to pile up. Eight years after publication of MOTHERS founder Ann Crittenden's "The Price of Motherhood", more evidence of the unfair treatment of women with children is being studied. Social scientist In Paik discusses the unequal treatment experienced by women with children, as opposed to childless women, childless men, and men with children. Fascinating facts emerge, such as women earn about 5% less per child than other workers, controlling for education and other employment factors. Mothers in the workplace are regarded as less competent, less dependable, less authoritative, less committed, but more approachable and likeable than non-mothers. The discrimination arises from tension between our cultural attitudes towards mothers and those towards "ideal" workers. Read an interview with Paik about the discrimination revealed in her laboratory experiments and research here.
January 12, 2010: Note to Self: Request Flexible Schedule:Do your New Year's resolutions include asking for an alternative work schedule? To prepare, the Women's Bureau at the US Department of Labor offers information, newsletters, and a slew of good arguments you can use in bringing a flex option proposal to your employer. Check it out and be confident.
January 12, 2010: We Could Do It Differently: As the debate swirling around health care reform has revealed, other countries provide their citizens with medical care in a variety of different ways, almost all at a lower cost than ours, and with better outcomes. The implications of the path we choose, however, will affect the lives of women in a more dramatic way, because women do more of the work of looking after family members. In this recent article from the Washington Post, an American compares notes with her Scottish and French friends all of whom are caring for their aging mothers.
I am struck by all that Fiona's mum and Juliette's maman can take for granted. They enjoy access to services far beyond free and full medical and prescription drug coverage. In England, my mother's $5,800 hearing aid would have been free. While Mum and Maman get house calls from their doctors and cash compensation for family members who care for them, I often had to take time off from work -- an expensive proposition for a self-employed psychologist and writer -- to help Mom. Taking her back and forth to her medical appointments ate up entire days and, with her disabilities, she could barely get in and out of my car. This was hard work, not quality time with an aging parent.
You will find the whole article here.
January 08, 2010: Hidden Costs of Being Female: The health care debate in Washington recently revealed that women are routinely charged more for insurance coverage. Apparently, the gender price gap doesn't stop there. Comparisons of razors, body wash, haircuts, moisturizers, and other products marketed to women can cost up to 50% more than comparable products designed for men, even when made by the same manufacturer.
If that were the end or it, I'd put down my pencil and stop taking notes. But there's more. Women are significantly more likely to carry subprime mortgages than men with similar income, which means their higher interest rates ratchet up the price of the loan by thousands of dollars a year. So, from drug store purchases, to dry cleaning bills, car loans, mortgages, and insurance coverage, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that gender discrimination continues to exist acrosst the board. When women earn less than men, pay more for a vast range of products and services, and when women with children have a harder job getting hired and are paid less than childless women as well as fathers - well, you wonder why we continue to allow ourselves to be devalued and manipulated.
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