My friend and colleague in the fight for family caregivers, Janice Lynch Schuster, recently had a conversation with her children about what may happen when she becomes older. It went like this, as Janice wrote in Fierce Urgency of Now: Family Caregivers and the Future that is Upon Us for the blog Disruptive Women in [...]
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Paycheck to Paycheck, The Disaster Waiting to Happen
On Monday, March 17, you can watch The Shriver Report’s new documentary “Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert” on HBO. This film traces the daily frustrations of a single mother of three kids who works as a direct care aide in a nursing home. While the film drills down into the details [...]
Mothers of the Moment
We’re poised at a sweet spot between the release of The Shriver Report in January, and the arrival of March as Women’s History Month. Momentum is growing for paid leave and paid sick days, candidates for the 2014 mid-term elections are shaping their campaigns, and think tanks in DC are churning out data on women [...]
Sexy, Sexy Social Security
There is nothing remotely chic or glamorous about being poor and elderly. Yet women are far more likely than men to find themselves in that exact situation. Women make less and live longer, so smaller resources have to stretch to cover longer years. In many cases, if they’d clued in sooner, many women could have improved their [...]
Why Women Are More Likely To Be Poor
I spend more time than I’d like talking policy with people who will never in a million years agree with me. I suppose that’s an occupational hazard in my line of work. Sticking up for a position is no way to avoid conflict, but I’ve learned to live with disagreement, listen to contrary opinions, say [...]
Without Us, You’re Nothing
Remember when Mika Brezezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, put out her book Knowing Your Value? It was advertised as a “surprisingly honest and unexpectedly revealing look at gender inequality in the workplace.” Mika argued that women generally underestimate their own worth and, for this reason, don’t advocate vigorously for themselves, and thus don’t receive the pay [...]
You’re Pregnant? You’re Fired!
Did you get the message, loud and clear? Now, workers are caregivers and caregivers are workers. Discrimination against family caregivers and pregnant women at work is against the law. This kind of bias is the most common form of gender discrimination occurring today. Employers need to understand their legal duties, and women need to know [...]
“The Wealth of a Nation Starts in a Woman’s Womb”
“When we are mothers we have access to important insight, wisdom and compassion. For that reason ,we must insert ourselves into these broader conversations. And we must do so fearlessly.” I recently discovered a motherhood blogger who styles herself “The Ultimate Outcast”. Like me and a lot of women, she read Ann Crittenden’s “The Price of [...]
The Care Crisis: Unpaid Leave is No Leave At All
Unlike the rest of the world, the US does not guarantee mothers and fathers paid time off from work when a baby is born or child adopted. This comes as a total shock and surprise to many. Some people, especially professionals and those at large companies, will be offered a certain number of weeks with [...]
Put "The Price of Motherhood" In Your Stocking
Seems like only yesterday… …but it was really 10 years ago that Ann Crittenden wrote The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued. A special 10th anniversary paperback edition has just hit bookstores, and makes the perfect holiday gift for any and all family caregivers you [...]
Mothers Book Bag on Goodreads.com
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