Child care used to be a family matter, taken up household by household, depending on a variety of circumstances. But times have changed and child care now moves appropriately to the public policy realm. The experts at the Center for American Progress look at three available child care options – a stay at home parent, privately [...]
About Valerie Young
Valerie Young is a public policy analyst who is mad as hell about the status of women in the United States and is doing her part to promote social justice by arming mothers with information and a healthy dose of outrage. She works for the NAMC as the Advocacy Coordinator of their MOTHERS initiative. Follow her on Twitter @WomanInDC and on Facebook as Valerie Young and Your (Wo)Man in Washington.
Child Care: Family Matter or Public Policy?
I’ve been to two child care/early education briefings in less than one week. Clearly the issue is gaining momentum, likely fueled by the President’s push to expand pre-school programs. This is a good thing, since nothing could be more directly tied to women’s economic security. Access to child care is necessary for mothers of young children to work, and [...]
A Room Of Our Own – Interview with Jocelyn Elise Crowley, Author of Mothers Unite!
With Mother’s Day less than a week away, my thoughts turn towards what change mothers can bring about by working together. Mothers are getting together all over the country, sharing their experiences and stories, and pushing our legislators to make our families stronger and safer. Researcher Jocelyn Elise Crowley, author of Mothers Unite! Organizing for [...]
“Mothers Unite! Organizing for Workplace Flexibility and the Transformation of Family Life” by Jocelyn Elise Crowley
It is very loud in the second-floor meeting room of a public library in a medium-size eastern city, the noise coming from twelve toddlers, all under the age of four, running around the room. At this meeting of the local NAMC chapter, eleven group members have put their chairs in a circle in preparation for [...]
Single Mothers, Double Standard
A lot of press about single mothers seemed to surface this week, I’m not sure why. It’s on my radio (NPR, Tell Me More) and in my morning paper (The Difference Between Feeling Like a Single Mom and Being One, WashPost, 4/18,2013). Whatever it used to mean, as an identifier “single mother” it is not very [...]
Strangers On A Train
On my way home for an Equal Pay Day demonstration downtown, I noticed a woman on the subway pull out Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In from her bag. My mother’s advocate radar started humming, and I impulsively decided to do a little field data collection right there on the train. Throwing my shadow across the page [...]
Uncoupled – Marriage and Motherhood
There is a significant change coming, and I expect the lives of our daughters and sons may not play out so much like ours as we expect. Researchers looking at how we live, love and commit have found that women are less inclined to “put a ring on it” and willing to embrace motherhood without [...]
Women Without History
I opened my daughter’s history book the other day and it hit me all over again. We may be in the 21st century, but our history is still the history of men. Men who were kings, who invented machines, conquered weaker nations, compelled religious conversions, made scientific discoveries, sailed to foreign lands, and slaughtered each [...]
Sheryl Sandberg’s Most Important Words
“Success for me is that if my son chooses to be a stay-at-home parent, he is cheered on for that decision. And if my daughter chooses to work outside the home and is successful, she is cheered on and supported.” Sheryl Sandberg, NPR’s Morning Edition, March 11, 2013. If you stacked up everything that’s already [...]
Marissa Mayer, I Say Thank You
I could not be more delighted about the furor over Marissa Mayer’s nixing of the telework option at Yahoo! Really, it’s all good. Anything that puts the focus on women, motherhood and work makes me gleeful. The fact that these issues finally get a public airing has been so long in coming. Fully integrating women into all [...]
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