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Why Women Should Vote (Overview)
Why Women Should Vote - For Help in Managing Family and Work Responsibilities
Millions of women struggle to meet their responsibilities at work and at home. Yet current policies don’t do enough to help them take time off to care for their children or elderly family members, or to ensure they have access to reliable, affordable, high-quality child care
The large majority of women with children are working outside the home, and parents are working longer hours
Women work in order to support, or help support, themselves and their families. Nearly 2/3 of women with children under age 6 are in the labor force, and 2/3 of those women are working full time
The number of hours worked by parents in families where both parents work has dramatically increased. In 1979, couples with children worked 60 hours a week, and by 2000 they worked 70 hours a week
Women lack the supports they need to succeed at home and at work
Nearly half (49%) of working mothers report that they do not get paid when they miss work to care for a sick child
Good child care is often unavailable or unaffordable. The average cost of full-time care for one child in a center is $3,000 to $13,000 a year, depending on where you live and the age of the child
Our leaders in Washington are not addressing women’s needs
The Family and Medical Leave Act allows a worker to take leave for up to 12 weeks for the birth or adoption of a child, care for an immediate family member with a serious illness, or her own illness. But it doesn’t require paid leave and doesn’t apply to employers with fewer than 50 employees. Bills to expand it have gone nowhere, and the Bush Administration is even considering rolling back current protections
Congress has failed to adequately fund child care subsidies. Since 2000, 250,000 children have lost federal child care assistance and the Bush Administration projects that under its budget plan, 400,000 more children could lose assistance by 2011
If you think our leaders in Washington aren’t doing what they should to address the challenges you face in your life—REGISTER and VOTE! Remember, elections can be decided by just a handful of votes, so YOUR VOTE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
To register to vote, get information on voting (your polling place, how to vote absentee, etc.), or learn about the candidates in your area, go to http://capwiz.com/nwlc/e4/ and enter your state or zip code.
The National Women’s Law Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has been working to advance and protect women’s legal rights since 1972. Women’s Voices. Women Vote is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that seeks to mobilize women to register to vote and to go to the polls on Election Day. Neither organization takes positions on candidates or elections, and nothing herein should be construed as an endorsement of any candidate or party.
