Issue Position: Families

Issue Position

A strong family unit is critical to social stability. Wealth inequality and social welfare policies that aggressively divide families have jeopardized the fundamental family unit. Women and children continue to bear the consequences. Women earn 40% less than men, but still provide 40% of family income.. Beyond the issue of equal pay, women also hold seven out of ten minimum wage jobs. Gender equity demands greater emphasis on the social value of what women do. Twenty-six percent of America's children are in single-parent homes. Seventy-nine percent of custodial single mothers are gainfully employed. Fifty percent of them work full time. The fastest growing family model is single parent fathers. Ninety-five percent of single parent fathers work.9 In 1966, the organizers of the National Organization of Women, recognized that equality demanded economic independence for women, requiring a social restructuring that wouldn't simply create employment opportunity for women but create economic value for the work done by women. Community work and childrearing would have to be shared more equally by husband, wife, and society. That remains true today more than ever. A broad paid family leave policy10 is a proven policy shift that reduces pay inequity and drives gender equity.

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