Flowers are nice, but what moms really need are better work-life policies!
“Instead of flowers and a nice brunch, what we actually need is systemic change for working parents” – this article resonated with girl geeks over Mother’s Day weekend as the United States has the least generous benefits, the lowest public commitment to caregiving, one of highest wage gaps between employed men and women, and one of the highest maternal and child poverty rates for any Western industrialized nation.
The American workplace is still organized as if it were an all-male workplace with a caregiver at home. Technology is iterating on self-driving cars and robots making pizza, yet workplaces have failed to evolve over the last century as women have entered the workplace to stay.
Olympian Alysia Montaño penned a popular New York Times Op-Ed “Nike Told Me To Dream Crazy, Until I Wanted A Baby” about the advertising industry’s penchant for uplifting women with empowerment to boost their bottom line, but not actually supporting female athletes with maternity leave.
It’s time to stop referring to maternity leave as “generous” – passing unearned credit to reluctant employers in a country that lags embarrassingly far behind in family support.
Bottom line: America’s parenting crisis is going to require a societal response, not an individual one, argues The Atlantic’s Caitlyn Collins.
We are thankful for the efforts of PL+US, a non-profit lobbying for paid leave for all. Especially if your employer does matching, please do give them a boost and donate to keep fighting for paid family leave for all working families!
Moms Returning To Work
In addition to corporate Path Forward returnships for moms– here are startups helping women reenter the workplace.
Don’t miss our weekly Girl Geek Dinners where you can connect with companies looking to hire women! Get the inside look at companies, and network with fellow girl geeks.
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