From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog When the subject of paid leave comes up, someone will say: "Oh, no, we could never pay for that, it would be too expensive!!" It's the Voice of Doom, and I hear it frequently. So often repeated, I know it by heart. It will destroy small businesses. It would push taxes over the cliff. The government is already too far in the red. So, while everyone agrees in theory that maternity leave, paternity leave, sick leave for yourself or to care for an ill family member, school leave, and breastfeeding breaks at work might possibly be a good thing, the conversation...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog The President, the Center for Disease Control, your doctor, and your child's teacher are telling you to stay home, or keep your child home, when the body aches, the head pounds, and the fever rages. Fine. But how can you do that if you don't have any paid sick days? This was the question at the center of a hearing before a U.S Senate subcommittee yesterday, as the impact of the current pandemic was considered, and how a ‘paid sick days’ policy could mitigate the damage of the next one. So, what can you do with no sick days? A: You drag yourself to work, keep...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog Karen Kornbluh , long a hero of mine, has written an article for the current issue of Ms. Magazine . She notes the 50% workforce participation rate for women, and hails this moment as a critical opportunity to update our infrastructure, i.e. employment benefits, child care accessibility, income tax policy, and the Social Security system. Just as households and families need the mother's income to survive, so the economy needs women and their labor to thrive. Her thoughtful and practical blueprint, which she terms " Paycheck Feminism ", encourages specific...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog Author Linda Tarr-Whelan unveiled her new book, " Women Who Lead the Way ", at a recent congressional briefing. Under the shadow of the Capitol dome, she explained her "30% solution" to problem-solving and decision-making. When women occupy 30% of any entity setting policy, they can influence the agenda, affect priorities, and bring their own particular skill set to both the framing of issues and their resolution. This is the tipping point in gender-balanced leadership. Its consequences are evident in politics, business, non-profit management, academia, and...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog Written by MOTHERS volunteer Kelly Coyle DiNorcia ( ahimsamama.blogspot.com ) Before I became a mother, I spent long hours in the office. I probably logged sixty or seventy hours a week as an administrator for a non-profit organization on average - during busy times it was more than that and less during the slower months. When I became pregnant with my daughter, I notified my employer right away so we would have time to formulate a plan for my maternity leave and beyond. Generously, I was given sixteen weeks fully paid leave (during which time I continued to...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog The (Wo)man in Washington is always looking for ways to level the playing field for women. After all, the structure of our society and economy impacts men and women in different ways, and it is not accidental. Women, especially those with children, make up the majority of those in poverty for a reason - the bearing of children and caring for the young, the old, and the disabled is devalued in our culture. Those who do it are exploited. More evidence of this reality is revealed in the findings of " Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: Violations of Employment...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog The National Women's Law Center report " Nowhere to Turn: How the Individual Health Insurance Market Fails Women " exposes the use of gender ratings and "pre-existing conditions" to make healthcare more costsly for women and deny them necessary services. The report states, in part: Insurance companies can reject applicants for health coverage for a variety of reasons that are particularly relevant to women. For example, it is still legal in nine states and D.C. for insurers to reject applicants who are survivors of domestic violence. Insurers can also reject...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog It's tempting to just screen out all the noise and hoopla about healthcare reform. The TV glows with dozens of "experts" nattering on and on. Newspapers are full of charts and graphs. One group yells, another group yells louder. It would be easy to shrug your shoulders, say it's a mess, and look away. It would be so easy. But you mustn't. What happens will matter to you terribly because you are a woman. Because women have babies, they receive more medical care than men. We get mammograms, pap smears, pre-natal care. We decide when a child is sick enough to...

The New York Times published an article entitled “ A Heroine of Cocktail Moms Sobers Up ” on August 14th, highlighting the recent about-face of mommy-blogger Stefanie Wilder-Taylor when she declared she had had her last drink. After writing two books about mixing cocktails with play dates, her public admission that she was overdoing it caused many of her readers to feel that their own drinking habits had been brought into question. Is it a problem or does it have more to do with what we expect culturally of mothers and women and the ease with which we revert to a type - i.e. soccer mom,...