Parental Leave and Child Care

The United States of America is the only industrialized country not to mandate paid leave for new mothers. Let that sink in for a minute. The great United States is only 1 in 4 countries not to mandate paid maternity leave. That doesn't sound great to me.

The Huffington Post article, "Paid Parental Leave: U.S. vs. The World," provides some statistics about parental leave in the U.S. The article states, "New parents in the U.S. are guaranteed their jobs for 12 weeks after the arrival of a new baby, thanks to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, but they do not have to be paid during that time and exemptions apply for small companies. Only about 16 percent of employers offer fully paid maternity leave and many families take on significant debt or turn to public assistance around the birth of a child."

The article provides this infographic to compare the U.S. vs. the world.

These statistics don't seem acceptable to me. The U.S. is supposed to be one of the world's leading nations, but falls seriously behind in this aspect of the work place because of the lack of support given to women and families. What is so wrong with having a family? The U.S. should support families and help them when children are born.

But maybe we should look at things closer to home. An OU professor was gracious enough to share her experiences with OU's maternity and child care policy with me. She said:

"OU really needs to work on better benefits for employees regarding maternity leave and child care.  I took off six months of maternity leave with no pay.  I also was not given health care benefits since I was an adjunct professor.  Luckily, my husband's employer provided health insurance for me, but they were surprised that I was not covered as an OU faculty member.  I went back to work part time when my daughter was just 3 months old.  Although I was teaching classes at OU, I was paid so little that I still qualified for public assistance (WIC, food stamps, and Medicaid medical card for my daughter).  This is ridiculous, considering I was a faculty member at a public university."  

Child care has also been difficult.  The Child Development Center at OU is full with a long waiting list (there are 60 children the same age as my daughter who are also waiting for a spot, and we are almost all OU employees).  The CDC also requires parents to pay for full time, year round child care, which is super expensive (based on your income, but it can cost anywhere from $8,000 to $17,000 per year!!!).  Other child care options in Athens are limited - most places do not accept babies or children who are not potty-trained.  I have had to find a private babysitter and I am paying a lot of money out of my pocket for part time child care.  

OU should provide better benefits for all employees and students who need maternity leave, health care and child care during our childbearing years... I am impressed with the policies of other nations, particularly in Europe, where both maternity leave and child care are protected and generously compensated by the government.  I think that governments should invest more money in the lives of their children than in their military and security agencies - our priorities in the U.S. are really skewed in the opposite direction.  

These policies need to change.  It is ridiculous that so many of us are struggling to balance work and family life as if these are private, individual struggles - when really this is a social and political issue... It sometimes feels like parents are on our own when it comes to trying to balance working, providing for and nurturing our families."

I would like to thank this professor for shedding light on problems mothers have even at a public university like ours.

Family support from the workforce is greatly lacking. When discussing the maternal wall in her article "The Opt-Out Revolution," author Lisa Belkin says:

...the percentage of new mothers who go back to work fell from 59 percent in 1998 to 55 percent in 2000. Look, too, at the mothers who have not left completely but have scaled down or redefined their roles in the crucial career-building years (25 to 44). Two-thirds of those mothers work fewer than 40 hours a week -- in other words, part time. Only 5 percent work 50 or more hours weekly. Women leave the workplace to strike out on their own at equally telling rates; the number of businesses owned or co-owned by women jumped 11 percent since 1997, nearly twice the rate of businesses in general.

Though one discussion that could be had at this point, which is what Belkin goes on to discuss, is why fathers aren't hit by some sort of paternity wall, what I would like to point out is perhaps the reason so many women leave the workforce, scale down their work, or start their own companies is because the maternity leave and child care system we have in the U.S. has failed them.

Instead of helping their employees be successful workers while also being parents, businesses in the U.S. treat having children as a weakness The government doesn't help change this. Caring for children after they're born is expensive. People need to work to provide for their families, but in order to do that, they have to pay for childcare, which is also expensive. 

And in regards to parental leave, pregnancy is not a disease, yet one of the only ways for new parents to manage with the birth of their children is to take sick leave or disability. And even when parents do get time off that is allotted for parenting, it's usually not paid. Companies and the government act as if being parents to newborns is a choice. When a baby is born, he needs his parents to take care of him. Companies should understand this. And the government should support this.

The U.S. needs to step up its game to support families like it should, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

- Erin

Sources:

"Paid Parental Leave": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/maternity-leave-paid-parental-leave-_n_2617284.html

"The Opt-Out Revolution" (Blackboard) https://blackboard.ohio.edu/@@/DF756A91A3F296711719D15A71B1C3D9/courses/1/WGS_2000_101_LEC_SPRG_2012-13/content/_3091259_1/Belkin-OptOutRevolution.pdf

Success or Happiness?

We all want success and happiness, but in terms of women, is it one or the other? In the article  ‘Career Women and the New Definition of Success’ written by Dr. Peggy Drexler she talks about the hardships women deal with, whether to stay at home with their children, to work, or how to manage both.

Drexler discussed surveys that have been given to whose happier, workingwomen, or stay at home moms? One survey conducted by the American Sociological Association noted that ‘mothers who go back to work within weeks of giving birth reported feeling more energetic and less depressed than those who spent months or years at home’. While another survey given by Forbes Woman found that ‘a growing number of women find staying at home to be the ideal circumstance of motherhood’. Well both surveys do protest how to be happy but they are consequently unreliable. They cannot ever be fully reliable because there are too many factors involved. For example, having a bad week at the office, or a bad week a home. There is no way to fully identify which woman is happier. One fact we are aware of however is women are continuously moving up in the work field.

Drexler gives reports from 2011 McKinsey Research which points out that women are acquiring 53% of entry-level management jobs, 37% for mid-managers and 26% for vice presidents. Drexler says ‘these shrinking numbers either mean that the glass ceiling is thicker and lower than we imagined, or that younger women on the way or quite possibly, both.’ I honestly think it is both! These numbers show accomplishment as well as room for improvement. It’s obvious that women are no longer fighting as hard to enter into what society has created to be  ‘a man’s world’ but the fight is not over.  What these women want is to be successful, but is the stress interfering with their happiness? My fear of wanting success is wondering whether it will cost me my happiness.  Is making a lot of money happiness? Sure, I would love to make a great deal of money. Certainly my life would be simpler. But am I putting myself at risk by pushing to be high up within a profession that makes me unhappy? Is the thought of making money becoming more of a priority than happiness? These questions I ask will never truly be answered, but it is true that in order to make progress you must take risks.

Women’s search for meaning is very important whether it’s to raise a family or how they decide to balance work and life, both require patience and a lot of effort.  An article titled ‘Male Decline Is No Myth. Things Are Changing. Why Focus on What’s the Same?’ by author Hanna Rosin is focused on the positive change women have made, and provides an outlook on how to accomplish a more equal lifestyle. Rosin says what’s most hopeful is that ‘women are helping to remake the workplace in an era when men and women both increasingly want more flexibility, the freedom to skip out for a kid’s school assembly or doctor’s appointment.’ Though women do have more difficult choices when it comes to their career, both men and women do want happy and easy lives. Due to where women stand in today’s society, there still needs to be change. But you can bet that women will never stop working towards having equality, success, and happiness.

Melody Bryant

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-drexler/career-women-and-the-new_b_2853809.html

The Oldest Profession

Discussions of the issues surrounding women in the workplace tend to center around a variety of different experiences and struggles of women in the working world. There’s the one who is ambitious, but stifled by the still too low-hanging glass ceiling. The one with the three kids who comes home after a long day in a cubicle only to work her “second shift” as a wife and mother. Then the woman who bags groceries all day under the eye of a flirty supervisor and then spends her nights cleaning offices to pay back a mountain of student loan debt; these are all stories we’ve heard before.

One sector of the working female population that doesn’t immediately come to mind when questions about women and work are posed are the women who perform the oldest job in history: prostitutes. While these ladies might not clock in and work a typical nine-to-five day, for millions of women, worldwide, the sex trade is where they earn a living.

A study published this year in the Journal of Sex Research found that for prostitutes, both male and female, the number one incentive to enter the “field” was the monetary benefits of the work. For most individuals who find themselves working in prostitution, other options for work are either non-existent or not ideal.

The truth about sex work is that it pays well, or at least better, compared to most other options. This was even truer for women, as the study reports, than it was for the men who participated who in general tended to have more alternative options for earning a living. The incentives of working in prostitution, this study shows, are for some people stronger than working a minimum wage job. Prostitution not only pays more, but it allows the individual more freedom. They set their own hours, don’t surrender a portion of their earnings to taxes, and in some cases they are their own boss.

Obviously, this is not meant to sound as glamorous and viable an option as it does. The “work” these women engage in is illegal and very high risk, but there is something to be said about what brings someone to it.

Jacquelyn Monroe of Ohio State University wrote in the Journal of Poverty that the money prostitutes make isn’t the only incentive to entering the field, but that many sex workers are forced into it by the socioeconomic inequity they experience before they start. Thirty million people in the United States earn less than $8.70 an hour, which if you’re a single parent isn’t enough to live on, not even uncomfortably. Monroe cites this fact, as well as the income gap, as the reason most women get into prostitution.

It is important to mention, however, that prostitution is not exclusive to women chasing a comfortable life and livable wage among an array of dead end minimum wage jobs. With the cost of college tuition in the United States has increased more rapidly over the last two decades than any other product or service available, some young women are turning to the lucrative world of sex work to pay down student loan debt. While prostitution is not a typical or common means of paying off debt, it is something that happens on many colleges nationwide. A 2011 study published in the academic journal Sex Roles found that nearly half of undergraduate interviewed noted that they new a fellow student who had engaged in sex work in order to pay off student loan debt.

Like the many attitudes, stereotypes, and perceptions of sex workers that have stayed static over the years, the incentive of the earnings combined with the push of poverty remain the catalysts of the institution’s growth.

Above is a special released by National Geographic entitled, "Sex for Sale: American Escort". It discusses how prostitution in the United States has evolved with changing technology, the supply and demand of prostitution, and sex work as a trade in America. 

- Audrey Imes 

Adultery in the Workplace

For my final blog post, I chose to discuss affairs in the work place, stemming from the article we discussed in class, “Adultery,” by Laura Kipnis and an outside source I found on the internet. “How budding workplace relationships are causing a crisis of infidelity,” states that the workplace has become the number one spot for infidelity to occur. Many marriages are ending because of the romantic love created at work, while away from their significant others. Statistics show that 82% out of 210 working people have admitted to having an affair, 50% of them being women. That statistic can easily frighten people out of getting married. The number of work related affairs has increased significantly over the last twenty years. The workplace is now known as the new “danger zone of romantic attraction and opportunity.” Studies shown in the American Sociological Review and the Journal of Marriage and Family show prior to 1985, divorce rates were about equal among working and homemaking women. But, "between 1985 and 1992, the annual probability of divorce among employed wives exceeded that for non employed wives by 40 percent."

Laura Kipnis’ article is directed those who have committed adultery and the actions and feelings behind it. Are they truly in a happy marriage or are they just unsure about what they really want? Kipnis defines a sexual aspect of a happy marriage as, “ having-and wanting to have-sex with your spouse on something more than a quarterly basis. It would mean inhabiting a structure of feeling in which monogamy wasn't giving something up..” Do affairs occur solely because one is not happy with their marriage, the sex, or the lack there of. Kipnis talks about how attractive you feel during an affair. You feel “transformed,” she says. Through all the adrenaline released through the affair, the strong bond you two have made, Kipnis makes aware that “people will get hurt.” Whether its flirty emails, touching, flirting in person or actually cheating. People will get hurt. Whether its the cheater or the victim, someone is bound to get hurt. Often people wonder if there is shame after an affair happens. They already cheated on someone they vowed their trust to, are they emotionally dead? The reactions of children are also often heavily addressed. Will it ruin the family or will they never get busted? Will the children even understand what happened to their parents? There are so many questions that come up about affairs. Unfortunately, I know of too many circumstances where cheating has occurred and they’ve gotten caught. One happened to be the mother of one of my friends. She was caught cheating on her husband and eventually our whole school district found out. She was definitely stigmatized for her actions. It broke their whole family up and caused her oldest son to strongly dislike her for quite some time. It was never addressed to our district why she did it but apparently it went on for a long time. I know of another scandal that lasted for ten years. The interesting part of that affair was that the dad was cheating on his wife with his sons best friends mother. The two families went on vacations together and my friends dad and the other woman would sneak off together, leaving their spouses behind, clueless of what was really happening. That affair shocked me but most of all disgusted me. Strangely, they ended up getting married and are still together today. Although both examples weren't in the work place, it shows their is still a huge stigma against affairs no matter what the situation is.

An affair in the workplace that I witnessed that strikes me the most is the love triangle between three of the teachers who worked at my school. The math teacher was married to the french teacher and he started cheating on her with one of the english teachers. Soon the whole school found out and it turned real ugly. All their private business became everyone else's business at school. The french teacher would talk smack about her now ex husband and the english teacher, calling her a slut and completely trash talking them. The whole thing just showed how immature they truly were, getting the students involved. The math and french teacher had children but I’m sure all the students in my school knew more about it than their own kids. It started so much drama at school. When people would see the “afairees” walking down the hall together, people would point and stare. Some would even laugh. It created such a ridiculous situation at my high school and it only got worse as more information leaked out. 

Above is a clip from the series Mad Men. Don and Joan Harris briefly discuss why affairs may happen. Don says he "likes being bad and going home and being good." At another point in the clip, Don questions Joan because she commented how an affair they're witnessing was all the mans idea because "she can't give him what he wants." He corrects her by saying, "he doesn't know what he wants."


http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/sex_and_intimacy/managing_temptation/the_new_workplace_romance.aspx'

Jessica Singer

Peggy Olson of Mad Men

“Go home, take a paper bag, and cut some eyeholes out of it. Put it over your head, and get undressed and look at yourself in the mirror. Really evaluate where your strengths and weaknesses are. And be honest”(105). Jaarsma quotes Joan in the first episode of Mad Men, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” to demonstrate how a women’s success in the office was usually determined by how well she fulfilled her assumed feminine role. Assistants were supposed to meet certain standards. Peggy was expected to serve the men in the office by dressing in a feminine way, serving drinks, taking phone calls, organize schedules ect. Ideally women were supposed to work until they got married and then quit. Women usually did not develop careers in these settings. However we later find that she different. These two clips are meant to show the transition that she makes during her time at the first and second firm with Don Draper. Peggy Olsen is my favorite character on Mad Men because as time moves on her character continues to develop into a strong and independent career woman, unique for her time especially in the Mad Men setting.

Olsen manages to get an impressive career at the add agency despite her actions in the beginning of her career. After a messy affair with Pete Campbell, Peggy begins to assume a new identity where she is worthy competitor in the ad business. Don Draper, the main character of the show, has countless affairs with women including those that he meets in professional situations. He seems to have a complex with women who have power. To me it is as if he feels threatened by women with power and is compelled to sleep with them in order to gain his own power over them. But not Peggy.  Don discovered Peggy’s potential for a career outside of a simple assistant. Peggy and Don manage to build a constructive professional relationship that enables Peggy to contribute and thrive in the workplace. I would even say they became friends.

Don frequently made it clear to Peggy that she was successful was because of him. Don attempted to take away Peggy’s sense of pride from her progress by his taking own responsibility for it. He would make her stay very late to finish deadlines, second guess her work and take responsibility for her good ideas. And so Peggy’s resentment for Don began to build. Peggy and the writers that she supervised produced a considerable amount of successful ads for Don’s and the other partners’ accounts, and yet still no raise. Olsen felt taken advantage of.  When a job does not meet your standards, logically you are supposed to look elsewhere for a job that better suits you. Peggy had to separate her personal life from her professional life. When I watched the show I would get frustrated because she could not seem to understand Don as both a friend and coworker, separately. Peggy needed to decide if she owed Don the allegiance she was giving him. Was she so thankful to Don for discovering her talents and mentoring her despite the fact she was a women? Or could Peggy take responsibility for her own career and move on to become even more successful? Peggy decided to move on because she realized should could not progress or grow anymore at Don’s agency. Even though we will not be seeing much of Peggy anymore, I'm glad she left-Corinne Mann

Evaluating the FMLA

Christina Coleman objectively explains how the Family Medical Leave Act can benefit families in these two clips. She clearly explains what employers are required to provide to their employees. However Coleman goes on to explain that not all employers are subject to the FMLA and even if they are not all employees are qualified for those benefits. Several factors stick out when listening to Coleman’s description of the FMLA’s legal aspects. First, it seems as thought its quite difficult to qualify for these leave benefits. Second, these paternity leave and maternity leave are unpaid. Third the Family Medical Leave does not provide flexible work schedules that are necessary to raise a family once parents return to work. And interestingly enough, paternity leave and maternity leave laws are written very differently which makes troublesome implications about how employers see mothers differently from fathers. Coleman’s clear explanation of the FMLA and how many families use FMLA benefits helps point to many reasons why the FMLA is not enough. 

As Coleman mentioned not everyone is covered under the FMLA. According to 2003 and 2001 data only 60% of employers are subject to the FMLA. However not all employees work enough hours and thus only 46% of the workforce qualifies for FMLA benefits (Palley 1161). Where does that leave parents who are not covered under the FMLA? And what about single parents? If a parent has a child who is too young to enroll in public school they must risk placing there child in “unsafe situations” if they can not afford daycare. Children of low-income families who have the chance to attend a good quality head start program have a lower chance of being incarcerated as adults than children who do not (Palley 1162). Good quality childcare is crucial for families and our society. One of the most debilitating features of the FMLA is that it does extend to low-income families who are truly in need.

Even if a child’s parents are covered by the FMLA, both mom and dad may not be able to afford to take an unpaid leave. Because maternal and paternal leave are unpaid in order for one or both parents to take leave there must be other forms of income; either savings or one of the parents income if they continue working. Even if one or both parents qualify, neither may be able to afford to take an unpaid leave in order to make ends meet. What then? Early childcare is costly; in 2011 the average annual cost of full time childcare for infants to four year olds ranged from $3,900 to $11,700 annually. Because the FMLA does not give employees a paid leave it has done little for low-income families.

Also there are women who must choose not to take the leave even if they qualify. Some fear that taking an extended leave could mean consequences for their status at work. At the end of their leave a women could go back to work only to find that her chances of advancement have diminished or that her. Women who experience little repercussion in the workplace at the end of their leave are those who have “power in the employment relationship to do so” (Palley 1162). However even if a woman can take maternity leave because she can afford to and has leverage in the workplace, she still may opt-out of work. Employers are not required to help mothers excel in the workplace by for instance giving them flexible work hours. Employers who do accommodate mothers have more women who have advanced in their career. For instance in Lisa Belkin mentions that “Deloitte & Touche has more than doubled the number on flexible work schedules over the past decade and more than quintupled the number of female partners and directors” (15). The FMLA’s aid to families who qualify is incredibly limited in helping women in the workplace.

The Family Medical Leave act not also neglects most mothers but also does little to help men balance their family lives and careers. The FMLA classifies maternity leave as a disability leave where it is medically necessary for the mother to take time off of work. This is because the woman is usually presumed disabled towards the end of her pregnancy and immediately after she gives birth. However the father is not. It seems obvious that a father would be needed at to help care for mother and child during this time. However employers may view a father taking an extended leave as an unnecessary choice. In Dilemmas of Involved Fatherhood Kathleen Gerson explains how employers feel about fathers taking paternity leave “…paternal leaves are rarely considered a legitimate option for men even if they formally exist. Involved fathers wished to take time off for parenting, but like most men they were reluctant to do so for fear of imperiling their careers”(326). There is no universal parental leave program that mandates employers give parents benefits, based on the simple principle that both mothers and fathers need adequate time with their children.

-Corinne Mann

Elizabeth, Palley, and Shdaimah Corey. "Child Care Policy: A Need For Greater Advocacy." Children And Youth Services Review33.(n.d.): 1159-1165. ScienceDirect. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.

http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2012/cost_report_2012_final_081012_0.pdf

"Adressing Kids on issues Women face in America"

http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/nick-news-137-full-episode.html  (No EMBED possible)

 

I cannot express the feeling I got when I first saw the preview for Nick News’s new episode. The title was ‘Are We There Yet?  Women’s History, Past, Present and Future’. This is a show I remember watching as a kid and I was happy to see that it was still on the air. Nickelodeon created a show that updated kids on current events, and gave them an opportunity to share their opinion. This is a great use of multimedia because the network is directly based to young kids and teens. The focus point for our group is ‘Women in Work’ but I feel this documentary addressed many issues women have faced in the past and ultimately reinforces our goal for equality. This TV presentation is an easy way to approach the topic of  ‘Women’s Rights’ for it is a very serious matter in our country.

        The first detail about the episode that I felt was appropriate is host Linda Ellerbee defining ‘feminism’ as equality for both men and women. She defines it with very simple words, which I feel is important because the video is being targeted at a younger audience. This showed to me that this discussion was going to get right to the point. Right off the back the episode began to recap the history of women in our country throughout the decades. They covered gaining the right to vote in 1920, the expectations of women in the 40s and 50s, to be perfect housemothers, and wives. In the 1960s, the direction of women began to change due to the Civil Rights Act. Influenced from the Civil Rights Act women were given a model of how to do a protest movement, as well as learning from the anti war movement to not be afraid to question those who were in power. The women’s’ movement made advances for women in the work place but feminist today continue to face criticism and resentment. A quote from feminist Gloria Steinem says ‘I think it’s important to understand where we’ve come from and how we’ve gotten there because it really informs our sense of going forward’. This is such a motivating statement from Steinem and I believe it reinforces our belief that women will continue to make progress within our country.  This brings me to an article we read in class by author Stephanie Coontz ‘The Rise of Women Does Not Mean the End of Men’. She says ‘how irreversibly women’s options are gender power relationships have changed’ and in in her book A Strange Stirring she emphasized the enormous gains women have made since the 1960s. Women have undeniably made significant process that cannot be reversed. Host Linda Ellerbee follows up with a question for the panel of teens, asking ‘Are we there yet? In terms of equality?’ The majority of the teens stated that there has been a change within the movement, and a lot of advances have been made, but there is still much to be accomplished. When hearing these teenagers speak so eloquently about the women’s movement gives me hope. Hope that we are influencing our children in a positive way. Encouraging them to speak up and use their voices, and to teach them the importance of equality. It is very apparent that I believe women should be treated as equal within the workforce and should have every advantage that men do. But what about the rights to the women that do wish to say home?

Ellerbee brings up the point that some women do desire to stay home and take care of their children, but sometimes this just may not be possible for the women and their families cannot economically survive. The household usually depends on both the income of men and women. Could this be a result of feminism? Are women causing this because they are taking all the jobs? This was a point brought up by one of the teens and really struck me because I feel that it should not matter. It shouldn’t matter if the woman or the man wants to work or stay home, the jobs themselves should be able to be accommodated by both men and women. 

        One of the last major points discussed in the documentary is the Equal Rights Amendment. As of now the United States constitution does not recognize gender equality. The ERA was brought to attention during the Women’s Movement in the 1960s and it wasn’t until 1972 that congress passed the ERA but in order for it to be official it needs approved from 38 out of the 50 states. A ten-year deadline passed once the amendment was approved and it did not receive the votes it needed. Since then the ERA has been brought up in every session of congress, since 1982.  I felt that this was a important fact to bring up during the discussion with the teens, for it was something I knew very little about. Some are unaware that our constitution does not recognize gender equality. To my surprise the teens were very knowledgeable of the topic and all were in favor. The importance of the teens being aware of the ERA shows how our country has changed, and where the direction is headed. In author Stephanie Coontz’s new book Intimate Revolutions she intends to show the positive trends of gender equality and the transformation of interpersonal relationships at every stage of life, from birth through old age, for better, and for worse. I feel the teens shown in the documentary are a perfect example of what Coontz’s is trying to advocate, that there has been significant change within our country’s social dynamics. The discussion concluded with the question being asked again ‘Are we there yet?’  All teens replied no, but they are all hopeful, and ready to move forward. That we will we all will continue on making choice possible for everyone.  

Melody Bryant