By Public Policy Chair

Marilyn Treiman

halamari1@juno.com
Text Box: Public Policy Text Box: Volume 29, Number 7 March, 2009 Page # Text Box: As the nation's largest single employer with over 2.7 million employees nationwide, the U.S. government should be leading the way in family friendly workplace policies.  Instead, it lags far behind.   Urge your senators to take an important step toward changing this by supporting the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act (S. 354). This important legislation will provide federal workers up to four weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child, and will be a significant step towards paid parental leave for all Americans.  While the House passed this measure in the last Congress, the bill never got a vote in the Senate.  With your senators' support, that could change this time around.   A report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research found the U.S. to have the least generous parental leave policies of the 21 high-income countries surveyed.  A February 2007 study by Harvard and McGill University researchers found that the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in their survey - along with Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea - that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave.    While federal workers are eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act, many cannot afford to take the time off while not receiving a paycheck, especially these days.  The Federal Employees Paid Text Box: Parental Leave Act will allow federal workers the ability to take care of and bond with their newborns and newly-adopted children, which is critical to the health and well-being of the child and the parent, without the increased burden of the loss of wages.    In these tough economic times, going without a paycheck could mean financial disaster for many families.  The U.S. government should ensure that its employees can afford to take the leave they need to care for themselves and their families by making this leave paid.  Such protections and improvements are critical to women's equal opportunity and economic security.   Take Action! Urge your senators to support the Family Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act (S. 354) so that America's federal workers don't have to choose between keeping a job and caring for a new child.  Click on the "Take Action" link in the upper right corner or copy and paste the following URL into your Internet browser.  Then follow the instructions to send your message. http://capwiz.com/aauw/issues/alert/?alertid=12652136&type=CO SPECIAL EVENT IN CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY AAUW is partnering with CARE and over thirty other women’s organizations to promote the 2009 celebration of International Women’s Day. The centerpiece Text Box: will be the presentation at over 450 theatres throughout the US of the acclaimed documentary film A Powerful Noise. This film highlights the important role women play in bringing lasting solutions to global poverty by telling the stories of three extraordinary women, in Vietnam, Bosnia and Mali, who are working to help other women in their communities. Following the film there will be a panel discussion (advertised as live from New York, but recorded for the Pacific States and Hawaii) featuring Madeline Albright and three other notables. This nationwide event will take place on Thursday, March 5. Unfortunately, there is no showing scheduled for Corvallis; the closest one is in Springfield at 8PM at the Cinemark 17 theater. The cost of the show is about $15 per person and tickets can be purchased in advance. Additional information is available at the website: www.apowerfulnoise.org. More about CARE and its work with women and girls can be found at www.care.org. This would be a great way to celebrate International Women’s Day. If you’d like to go, call me at 758-6337 and we will make arrangements. See AAUW's position paper on family-friendly workplaces on their web site www.aauw.org.