From Our President & CEO Wendy Doyle
Wendy D. Doyle
Image c/o Justina Kellner
Research tells us that family leave policies are critical to the economic success of families and communities. We know that women are disproportionately affected by these policies, more often having to give up their job to stay at home to provide childcare when circumstances change. The most recent - and perhaps most destructive - instance of this impact is the increase in women staying home amidst COVID-19 challenges.
Family leave is a pillar of our efforts to increase gender equity. Of course, we are not alone in our commitment to advocating for better paid family leave policies. Melinda French Gates recently lobbied for a national paid leave policy, detailed in a Time magazine feature. As she noted, 75% of American voters across party lines support a national paid leave policy; her guess on why the support is so broad is that the need is universal. The unexpected changes in our lives, from an ailing family member or new baby to small business struggles, will impact all of us at some point and therefore must be incorporated into the fabric of our workplaces and communities.
As the Bipartisan Policy Center states, providing leave supports work, as employees can return to jobs more effectively when they’re given opportunities to take time away. While a national paid leave policy is still widely in discussion, these articles and resources prove the importance of establishing better scenarios for women and families to effectively participate in the workplace - both before, during and after unexpected circumstances - is critically important.
Here in our homeland, we’ve seen executive orders advancing paid family leave in Missouri and more recently commended and supported Governor Laura Kelly for making great progress in Kansas. Thousands of additional state employees in Kansas now benefit from paid parental leave, as the Judicial Branch and Board of Regents updated their paid family leave policies in September. Learn more about these updates here. In August, the Legislative Coordinating Council approved a significant change to the legislative employee parental leave policy. Changes included more leave for both primary and secondary caregivers.
We’re also hearing from women across Missouri in our Economic Development Town Halls that families need better policies in order to maintain - or regain - financial stability. I want to share a few comments with you directly from working women:
“There is no one of childbearing age in my leadership. Who’s fighting for us in these discussions when you talk about these different policies?...Someone told me, ‘When we had kids, my wife stayed home.’”
“During COVID, exceptions were made for families to give flexibility because schools and daycares were closed. Although we are still very much in the pandemic, we are no longer in COVID mode, [and] the expectation is you have permanent care as if you were in the office. Even from that perspective there’s the mindset that now we have to move on. The care still isn’t there, some of that is related to [being] underpaid [or] having a higher education degree.”
With national attention on the need for better family leave policies, it is more important than ever for change to stick. It is not enough to draw awareness to the statistics and the families facing difficulties; we must enact change that lasts for generations to come. Imagine a future where a national policy is in place and our economy is full of women who thrive in the workplace and at home. If we imagine this future, we can achieve it.
So, what can we do as individuals, corporations, and communities to achieve this future and improve paid family leave across our nation? I encourage you to do the following:
Individuals: Ask local policy members to step up and advocate for change to stick. Ask the women in your life what they need, what they’re missing, and how they’ve been impacted at work by COVID-19. And review our paid leave report that shares findings and opportunities for advancing policies that empower women and families.
Corporations: Implement better policies that encourage women to address their family’s needs outside the workplace, knowing they can confidently and successfully come back to work.
Communities: Ask women and families how local policies can better support them. Advocate at the city and state level. Find families like yours and listen, respond and act.
In all of our lives we will have moments of progress and times of setbacks. We will all be impacted by the need for workplace support as we face challenges. Now is the time to unite and create change that sticks, moving away from a piecemeal approach that doesn’t achieve the future we envision. I hope you share in our commitment to improve family leave policies for families across the nation. Let’s get to work.
Kindly,
Wendy D. Doyle, President & CEO