Category: News
Help us ban BPA in Multnomah County!
Moms from around the county are coming out to a public hearing tomorrow to show their support for a BPA ban that will ensure that kids are no longer exposed to BPA in the products we use to feed them. If you can’t join us, will you back us up by making some calls to …Read More »
The High Cost of Child Care
I’ll never forget that first check I wrote to pay for child care. It was so much money! Did you know that in Oregon, child care often costs more than college tuition? That’s right. Full-time infant and toddler care, for example, costs an average of $10,392 a year, while college tuition averages $6,790. And we have 18 or so years to sock money away for college! Not so for child care, which many of us start paying for as soon as six weeks after birth. A shocking reality for most new parents. Read the rest.
NPR Airs Story on Working Mom Conundrum
The recent brouhaha in the national news media around Ann Romney’s work as a stay-at-home mother of five has yielded some excellent commentary that — happily — reaches far behind the old “mommy wars.” Because today’s mothers know that there are much more important issues at stake, ranging from the high cost of child care to lack of workplace flexibility and paid time off to care for sick family members. Plus, most of us do stints of paid and unpaid work throughout our time as mothers, so the divide is no longer relevant (if it ever was).
Take a minute (or four) to listen to this excellent NPR story on the challenges of working mothers in the United States — it’s another positive outcome of the hullaballoo.
Report on Paid Family & Medical Leave!
The Center for American Progress (CAP) just released a new report (April 12, 2012) documenting the need for a national paid family and medical leave program. The report, “The Effects of Paid Family and Medical Leave on Employment Stability and Economic Security,” explains how — “though it may seem counterintuitive — providing paid family and medical leave when people cannot work due to caregiving responsibilities actually helps keep people employed. Read the rest.