Womenstake, NWLC's Blog

Why Does Elisabeth Hasselbeck Think Ending Discrimination Against Women Means “Sticking It” to Men?

Posted by Sharon Levin, Director of Federal Reproductive Health Policy | Posted on: September 25, 2013 at 05:07 pm

Tuesday on Fox News, Elisabeth Hasselbeck did a segment in which she claimed that Obamacare “sticks it” to men because it has good benefits for women and children.

Particularly, she thought it was unfair that men would have to buy a benefit package that will include services they’ll “never” use:

  • Pediatric Dental and Vision: I think Hasselbeck has a point here. Why should any adult have to get a plan with this service? Let those pesky kids pay for their own darn insurance… oh, wait. This is for adults to use who have dependent children. Well, then Hasselbeck’s point must be that men do not have kids? No, that can’t be right…
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Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Care, Health Care Reform, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | 1 comment

Pregnant Workers in NYC Gain Important Workplace Protection

Posted by Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant | Posted on: September 25, 2013 at 04:45 pm

Great news out of New York City today: a city-wide version of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act has passed! This bill will protect those pregnant workers in NYC who need temporary modifications to continue safely working during pregnancy, like a reprieve from heavy lifting duties, permission to take more frequent water and bathroom breaks, or the ability to sit on a stool behind a cash register. These protections will be hugely important especially to low-wage workers, who are most likely to work physically demanding jobs, like in retail and in food service, and whose workplaces are likely to have little flexibility in their policies. It ensures that workers who need adjustments to the job because they are pregnant have the same right to accommodation as workers who need adjustments because of disability.

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Tags: Pregnant Workers, Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), Pregnancy, Parenting, and the Workplace, Employment | 2 comments

Dear ADAAA, Happy Birthday! Love, Pregnant Workers

Posted by Lauren Khouri, Fellow | Posted on: September 25, 2013 at 04:21 pm

Today is a day for pregnant workers to celebrate. Five years ago today, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) became law and restored the promise of the ADA, making the workplace much more accessible for people with disabilities.

But wait, you might be saying, pregnancy is not a disability, so how does this protect pregnant women? Here is why we are celebrating the ADAAA:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communication, and government activities and requires reasonable accommodations in the workplace. The ADAAA, signed into law on September 25, 2008, expanded the universe of disabilities that employers are required to reasonably accommodate—meaning, an employer must make an adjustment in the employee’s daily work that helps a person do his or her job.

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Tags: Americans with Disabilities Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Pregnant Workers, Women at Work, Pregnancy, Parenting, and the Workplace, Employment | Add new comment

4 Reasons to Fund Early Learning with a Tobacco Tax Increase

Posted by Amy Qualliotine, Outreach Associate | Posted on: September 25, 2013 at 01:25 pm

When President Obama announced his groundbreaking early learning plan, he proposed to fund the expansion of preschool and voluntary home visiting with a tobacco tax increase. Today, with eight other organizations invested in young children and/or public health, we released a report that explains the twofold benefits of this plan. Here are just four of them:

  1. In the first year of the program, nearly 335,000 children from low- and moderate-income families will gain access to high-quality preschool. By the 10th year of the program, two million children will have access to these opportunities. TWO MILLION – somebody will need to order a whole lot of those teeny tiny chairs for all these teeny tiny learners!
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Tags: Child Care, Child Care, Child Care & Early Learning, Child Care Agenda, Early Learning, Strong Start for Children, Strong Start for Children Campaign | Add new comment

“Most New Moms Could Use Help… And Thanks to Obamacare, Help is Available”

Posted by Anna Benyo, Senior Health Policy Analyst | Posted on: September 25, 2013 at 10:00 am

A recent NPR blog To Succeed at Breast-feeding, Most Moms Could Use Some Help details problems many new mothers have when initiating breast-feeding. But blog does not mention some exciting news—a new health care benefit that is already helping mothers start and continue breast-feeding. Breast-feeding is good for moms and good for babies, and new moms can get the help they need getting started, thanks to the health care law, also known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

The law requires all “new” health plans to cover breast-feeding support and supplies without cost sharing, which means not paying for a co-payment, co-insurance, or deductible.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act (ACA), Breastfeeding, Preventive Health Care & Services, Expanding Health Coverage, Health Benefits for Women, Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights | 1 comment

Their Day In Court: Low-Wage Women Workers and Forced Arbitration Agreement

Posted by Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant | Posted on: September 24, 2013 at 10:04 am

Imagine that you’re a live-in housekeeper. One day, your employer asks you to sign an arbitration agreement – meaning that should any claims arise against your employer, they will be handled out of court. You sign. Later on, you accept a subpoena on behalf of your boss. He proceeds to beat you up. When you sue him, the court points to the arbitration agreement and tells you the matter must be worked out outside of court.

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Tags: Employment, Low-Income Workers and Families, Employment | 1 comment

Extreme Poverty Increased for Older Americans

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: September 23, 2013 at 01:35 pm

Many of the stories about the Census data released last week reported that poverty rates flatlined last year – and it’s true that there were few statistically significant changes. Indeed, the Census didn’t report statistically significant improvements in poverty rates for any demographic groups nationally. But there was one group that that saw statistically significant increases in extreme poverty: Americans 65 and older.

What’s extreme poverty? An income below 50 percent of the federal poverty threshold. That’s just $5,505 for a single person 65 and older.

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Tags: Census Bureau and Census Data, Poverty, Data on Poverty & Income, Poverty & Income Support | Add new comment

Poverty at home: How’s Your State Doing?

Posted by Emily Wales, Fellow | Posted on: September 20, 2013 at 02:50 pm

Not in my backyard.

We all know it’s easier to brush off problems that happen to other people, in other places. You might be frustrated about the injustices happening out there, but at least you can go to bed imagining things are okay right here.

NWLC just crunched some more state-by-state poverty data that the U.S. Census Bureau released yesterday, and I can tell you this: Things are not okay right here, wherever you may be.  

The national poverty data released on Tuesday showed that national poverty rates didn’t improve in 2012 and women and children continued to be disproportionately affected by poverty.   Some of the facts in the state-by-state poverty data will also make you cringe:

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Tags: Census Bureau and Census Data, Poverty, SNAP (Food Stamps), Data on Poverty & Income, Poverty & Income Support | Add new comment
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