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The mid-term elections are less than one month away. Predictably, women as both candidates and voters are making news. Read on for this and more.
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Happy fall,
Mom-mentum (formerly National Association of Mothers' Centers
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provides programs that empower mothers, fathers and caregivers to find solutions that work for their families, their work lives and their personal lives.
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Not far from Capitol Hill you can find a lively campaign with a gender angle, where phrases like "the war on women" and "she's nothing but an empty dress" get slung around. Women voters hold the outcome of this match in Virginia's 10th congressional district in their hands, and the strategists know it. "The campaigns, in other words, are chasing after women with an unprecedented intensity this year. Both sides are working on the assumption that the candidate whose message resonates with more women is the candidate who will win on Nov. 4" reports the Washington Post.
Women's entry into the political sphere is still new enough to be a stumbling block for experienced office holders. Florida incumbent US Rep. Steve Southerland had trouble recently. "Earlier this year, his supporters hosted a male-only fundraiser with an invitation that read, "tell the Misses not to wait up." Southerland responded to news reports on the event by comparing the event to a lingerie shower" according to Roll Call. Not alienating half your constituency might be an election strategy worth considering.
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Women Frame the Mid-Term Elections
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 Women have influence in framing the issues during this campaign season. "Female voices are being muted by men at the tables of power. According to Kate Black, research director at American Women, women's health care and economic security are the top two most significant issues in American this year for all people, not just women. Voting polls conducted by Bloomberg, CNN, and the Kaiser Family Foundation also show these issues are leading the list, just ahead of terrorism and immigration reform" according to Elle magazine. A majority of Senate seats are up for grabs in this election, and that will matter when issues of pay equity, workplace policy, and economic security arise in the next congressional session.
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| Motherhood Gives You the Edge |
 "In 2014, a woman's status as a mom shouldn't insinuate that she's somehow any less competent-if anything, it might just make her a stronger employee. But don't take it from me. Take it from these powerhouse working moms, who've answered the question: "What should being a mom say to employers?" in a wholly modern way." Read the rest of Glamour's "Motherhood Penalty, Begone" here. |
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Paid Family Leave is Good Business
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"According to a 2012 report from the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University, women who reported taking paid leave are more likely to be working nine to 12 months after a child's birth than those who take no leave. In addition, there is a positive correlation between paid parental leave and increased wages following the leave, as well as lower likelihood of receiving public assistance." So, paid family leave is good for babies, moms, dads, employers, and the national Treasury. That's good policy.
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Motherhood and the Wage Gap
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Does motherhood have anything to do with the wage gap? You bet it does. "Michelle Budig, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has sliced and diced wage data and, in both testimony before Congress and in a recently released report, found one of the biggest culprits behind the wage gap: motherhood." Read Brigid Schulte's
The Wage Gap; A Primer from The Washington Post.
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