Women have now become 50% of paid workers in the US. But many of the employment policies in place were enacted during a time when just 10% of women were in the paid workforce. These outdated programs were designed to support men working the same full-time job throughout their entire career and with a stay-at-home wife to provide care for their children.

Now the social dynamic has changed! We need employment policy that is appropriate for the current situation of working women and working families. Here are 5 suggestions for reform:

1.      Stop making unemployment, retirement, and other benefits contingent on steady, full-time work.  

All work - including part-time, sporadic, and low-paid work - should be treated as grounds for benefits.

2.      Don't make flexible hours a barrier to health insurance, and stop charging women more for health insurance.

Women are charged up to 140% more than men for the same health insurance. Many women who work part-time are unable to receive insurance through their employers.Insurance should be made available and affordable for everyone.

3.      Guarantee workers paid family and medical leave.

All workers should be guaranteed at least 7 paid sick days a year and paid maternity leave should be guaranteed.

4.      Provide High-Quality Daycare.

2/3 of families are single-parent families or families where both parents work. Many families need affordable, quality childcare, including after-school and summer-school programs. Make them universally available. Hold child-care facilities to higher standards.

5.      Stop taxing women's income unfairly/disproportionately.

Payroll taxes for Medicare and Social Security are flat taxes that take a larger percentage of the income of low-income workers (a category which many working women fall into). Social Security policies also disproportionally benefit breadwinner/caretaker marital arrangements and put low-earning married women at a disadvantage.

Excerpted from the article "Paycheck Feminism" by Karen Korbluh and Rachel Homer, which was published in the Fall 2009 issue of Ms. Magazine. Click here to read the full article.