Laura: Childcare is also a passionate topic in America. What does MomsRising hope to do to help?
Joan: Child care is so substandard in the US. Child care workers are paid less than parking lot attendants. Child care centers can’t afford to invest in training and there is high turnover because the workers have to feed their families. And, ironically, parents still can’t afford it!
Here are some stats:
- A third of kids entering kindergarten have inadequate language skills as their parents are working two or three jobs and not home.
- 40,000 kindergartners are home alone in the evening.
- 14 million kids are unsupervised after school and many parents lament that their children needed them the most during teenage years.
- After-school programs, there are a fraction of them to meet the demand.
We need to invest in the programs that pay back.
Laura: Is Washington State’s family leave insurance bill a model for other states to follow?
Joan: It is definitely a step in the right direction. We have one model, California. People have to realize families need this type of support. Family leave also allows time to care for an elderly family member, or time for you if you are ill. The World Health Organization ranked the United States 37th for child mortality. That’s a high death rate for children under five.
Laura: What can busy working moms do, who care about these issues, but don’t have enough time to sit down and write their congressman?
Joan: That’s why we created MomsRising. When you send a letter, it’s a good thing. But when we do it all together as a campaign—it’s most effective. It takes a concerted effort to get policies passed... When you join MomsRising, you get an email once a week to let you know what you can do. You can sign a petition, which takes a minute; get more involved and tell your friends; or dive in and throw a house party. This week we are working hard to support the passage of paid family leave in Washington State. (Paid leave is not only being able to take care of your new baby, it is about being able to take care of your sick parent, or yourself if you have a serious illness.)
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