More Than A Magazine, A Movement
About half of child care providers have been forced to close due to COVID-19, and many face the possibility of permanent closure. The COVID-19 pandemic could lead to a permanent loss of nearly 4.5 million child care slots, leaving millions of families without the child care they need to return to work.
Right now Congress is appropriating literally trillions to keep businesses afloat in a post-corona economy. Are families less important?
With the CARES Act sunsetting in July, it’s all too obvious more help is needed. The HEROES Act both builds on the CARES Act and corrects some flaws. But the big rock in the road to HEROES assistance are Republicans in the U.S. Senate.
The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent—the highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But taking a closer look at exactly which Americans lost their jobs, we see one huge difference from the massive crisis of the Great Depression: This one has a predominantly female face. A massive rebuilding program—with guarantees for hiring women—is in order.
“If you’re an employer and you offer to bring your employee back to work and they decide not to, that’s a voluntary quit. Therefore, they would not be eligible for the unemployment money.” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and other Republicans are forcing employees to choose between their losing their livelihoods and possibly losing their lives.
“What I want to know is: Where are the women?” asked Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) before walking out on an all-male opening panel in a 2012 congressional hearing on contraception coverage in Obamacare. Fast forward to 2020—and Maloney’s question still resonates. President Trump announced his “Opening Our Country Council” last week—with 220 men and a paltry 20 women.
It was the sendoff of the season in Washington, D.C. The occasion? The retirement of Dr. Heidi Hartmann, founder and President of the Institute for Policy Research, which has been the leading think tank on issues of importance to women since 1987.
Realistic depictions of women and girls make good business sense.
It’s been over 50 years since the Equal Pay Act was passed—but the wage gap is still stuck at around 80 cents on every man’s dollar. This is what we need to do in order to overcome the barriers that perpetuate the pay gap—and achieve economic equality at last.
“Women will make the difference in the quality of leadership it brings to the Congress.”
Trump’s budget once again throws loads of money at the Pentagon and Homeland Security, including the wall. The other side of the ledger contains massive cuts impacting almost all ordinary Americans, most prominently women and kids.
