Mother's Day

This blog post is a part of NWLC’s Mother’s Day 2012 blog series. For all our Mother’s Day posts, please click here.

As mothers across the country celebrate Mother’s Day with their children this Sunday, many will be enjoying their time together with their daughters and sons. But many mothers who have young children and work outside the home will be looking ahead to the work week with trepidation, worrying about their child care arrangements.

Some mothers will be fortunate enough to have grandparents or relatives available and willing to provide child care—just like my brother and sister, who have children ranging in ages from 3 to 14, are able to rely on our Mom and Dad to provide care and after-school pick-ups and drop-offs. Some mothers earn enough to afford high-quality, dependable child care in a center or family child care home, where their children receive plenty of attention, nurturing, support, and opportunities to learn. And some mothers are able to receive child care assistance to help them afford the care they want for their children and that they need to work and to have peace of mind while at work.

Yet, many other mothers do not have any good child care options. In many cases, grandparents and relatives live far away, have to work themselves, or are not available to provide care for other reasons. Mothers often are not able to find conveniently located, high-quality child care with slots available, or are not able to find child care that covers their work hours—particularly if they work hours other than the traditional 9am to 5pm. Or they may find a terrific child care program, but are not able to afford it. Read more »

This blog post is a part of NWLC’s Mother’s Day 2012 blog series. For all our Mother’s Day posts, please click here.

As you probably know, Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday. Here at the National Women’s Law Center, we care a lot about mothers – not only our own (although you’re totally awesome, Mom!), but also the millions of women across the country who are trying to raise kids, care for their own aging parents, climb the career ladder, save for retirement, and protect their health – often all at the same time, and often with the odds stacked against them. My work in the Family Economic Security program focuses on advancing policies that help low-income women and their families make ends meet, and if you’ve seen any of my blog posts lately, you’ll know one policy change that could really help working moms is an increase in the minimum wage. 

Women are nearly two-thirds of workers making the federal minimum wage or less. Many of them are mothers struggling to support their families on earnings of less than $15,000 a year for full time work. And on top of their tough jobs – waiting tables, caring for children and homebound seniors, cleaning homes and offices – many face the nearly impossible task of finding affordable care for their children while they’re at work, often without a single paid sick day to fall back on in an emergency.

The Rebuild America Act, introduced by Senator Harkin (D-IA) in late March, would help address several challenges that low-income working moms face by raising the minimum wage, including the minimum cash wage for tipped workers; expanding funding for child care assistance; and guaranteeing paid sick days. Read more »