Monthly Archives: February 2008

Hillary & Obama – Where do they stand?

February 12, 2008

Well, the day of the Potomac Primaries has arrived. The weather is crummy and promises to get worse, so who knows how or if that will impact the outcome of today’s votes. I intend to go cast my vote this evening after work, rain, snow, sleet or whatever.

So, in honor of the primaries in my home state today, let’s talk about where Hillary and Obama stand on issues that might matter to KT readers: maternity leave, flexible work, health care, education, etc.

As I’ve been paying closer attention, I can’t say that I like Hillary much better because I think she lacks any authenticity but she really is more detailed and thorough in her explanations than Obama. The Washington Post has a quiz you can take to gauge which candidate is most aligned with what matters to you – and I came awfully close to scoring with Hillary. Truth be told, in some of the statements, I could tell Hillary said it instead of Obama and wondered if I might have picked Obama for fear of coming out as Hill’s twin.

I actually encourage you to go to the Post’s web site and take the quiz, it will force you to really have a better understanding of where the candidates stand on all issues. I caution you this – it takes some time if you really read what they say on big issues – but it’s worth it in the end. Here’s the link:

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/candidatequiz/

With that, here is a link to Hillary’s web site. She really lays out where she stands on federal maternity leave, childcare and work place flexibility. I don’t want to really elaborate on it because I’ll start drawing my own conclusions – so best to just provide you with the convenience of a link. See, at KT, I’m like a 7-11 – quick stop shopping and easy. Quick and easy. Always been that way…..

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=3743

Our guy Obama is not quite as thorough as Hillary…….and while I noted some similarities in their ideas, Hillary’s are much more detailed. I will refrain from comment and just encourage you to read this:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20071108/ai_n21106204

Go forth and vote today, dear readers!

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Motherhood, Politics, Work

L’Amour

February 11, 2008

Ahh kittens…..so much to write about this week….between it being time to celebrate our deep love for our partners on Valentine’s Day and of course, the primaries out here in DC, MD and VA tomorrow. I can barely contain myself, so much excitement.

The thing is, I’ve got to start the week off talking about L’Amour, of course! I mean – when I stumble upon a piece discussing love and age in….France, my rightful homeland, far be it from me to pass that one over.

Indeed. In yesterday’s Post, there was a story on French women – apparently they don’t get fat and they still have a lot of sex as they age, as compared to American women.

C’est vrai. Here’s the link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/08/AR2008020801607.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

What I love about this piece is the following:

1. It’s about French women. I love France. I love Paris. I love all things French. I am a true Franchophile and my child is turning into one as well – she’s only two yet she already says she wants to “go see pretty pictures in woove” (that would be Louvre. My heart swells with pride).

2. It’s about French films respecting women of a certain age for being just that – and not trying to make them appear to be 20. Turns out women in their 50s are given roles for women in their 50s and aren’t airbrushed. I think this is one of the most important points of this piece – it shows a vast cultural distinction between the US and France. Let’s face it – female celebrities who are older than 50 in this country are revered when they don’t look their age. Don’t get me wrong, women like Glenn Close and Meryl Streep are two of my all-time favorites – but are they generally considered sexy? Or given roles that encourage them to play the role of the sexy seductress? A french actress approaching 60 is interviewed and she points out that French cinema is “faithful to its women.” What a refreshing thing to read.

3. Speaking of faithful – that would be the final thing covered in this piece – and another enormous difference between our two cultures. We all know by now that the French aren’t necessarily a faithful bunch in their marriages. Their whole view of marriage and fidelity is very different from ours. Though I’d hate to admit it, perhaps I am too American in this regard – but I just don’t know how you work through a marriage when you both are unfaithful. I don’t know how jealousy and anger and distrust don’t end up ripping it apart.  That said, the French are quite open about their marriages and affairs and it seems that older women in France are less discerning than older women in America – and are quite happy to take up an affair with married men, younger men, maybe not even the most attractive of man. Seems they enjoy having sex and they keep at it into their 70s.

So the question is this - in this week of love – should we just move to France? We can eat all the cheese and baguettes to our hearts content, walk all over Paris, receive a very generous maternity leave including cleaning ladies sent to our home by the French government, and then we will be considered very beautiful still into our twilight years as we have lots of sex.

See how I keep things simple here on KT? 

Vive  la France!  

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Uncategorized

Maternity Leave, continued.

February 7, 2008

Kittens -

As promised, I am researching where the presidential candidates stand on issues that might be important to KT readers – with a special focus on federal maternity leave policies. I am only looking into McCain, Obama and Clinton for this particular entry – refuse to waste my time on Romney or Huckabee.

That said, along the way of researching the ways these candidates have addressed issues like maternity leave, I stumbled upon stories about European countries and their maternity leave policies. Hell, even our neighbor to the north, has an incredible policy as compared to ours.

So, while you are waiting at the edge of your seat for my Campaign 08 overview, I’ll give you something to feel depressed about.

As if it’s not bad enough that we’re not all living in Europe, here’s my effort at making you feel worse.

Take, for example, this story I found on maternity leave in Norway. Norwegian women are entitled to 12 months off with 80% pay or 10 months off with full pay.

And before you go spewing your coffee all over your keyboard in a fit of rage, allow moi to just make it worse and rub it in – fathers are encouraged to take as much time off as possible as well – and are required to take the first four weeks off. Apparently they believe in parental equality over there and somewhere along the way, someone got the memo that forcing fathers to stay home and learn how to take care of their own children, puts working women at an advantage because their spouse is then equally as participatory.

Wow. How shocking.

And further evidence that we are screwed here in the US – five out of 6 Norwegian mothers work.

You heard me. Five out of Six. And finally – to finish it off – they have state-sponsored daycare facilities in Norway.

So the next time we hear yet another story in the news and read a review of yet another book about why educated, professional women are “off-ramping” and staying home – perhaps we could stop a minute and realize the answer isn’t that difficult. It’s called lack of support from employers and our federal government.

And before I go and get all Michael Moore – one sided on you – it is important to realize that the Norwegian government and employers can afford such a generous plan because the taxes in Norway are sky high. That’s the catch. We have to be willing to pay substantially higher taxes to reap the benefits of such a system. But again, the flip side to high taxes is that when the sweet little babies grow up and want to go to college, instead of having to fork over $100k a year, university is free there. So what do you prefer? Pay now or pay later, kittens.

The woman featured in this piece on Norway ends with a quote on equality between men and women that should give you something to chew on because this, frankly, never occurred to me because if women in American can’t even get paid time off to have a baby, then we’re light years away from addressing equality between men and women in the workplace when balancing families:

“The system will not be completely fair to women until parental leave must be shared 50-50 between mother and father, by law. Only then will women be completely equal in the work market, and perhaps then we will choose to have even more children.”

If you’d like to read the article and start looking into moving costs to Norway, here it is kittens:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4786160.stm

And if you’d like to get paid 10,000 euros to have a baby, then you should move to Poland:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4768644.stm

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Husbands, Motherhood, Politics, Work

No Federal Paid Maternity Leave – why doesn’t everyone know this?

February 4, 2008

This morning I caught a few minutes of the Today Show as I was getting ready for work. For once, it was actually an interesting and helpful segment for working women, this time it was on maternity leave. It never fails to amaze me that people don’t know just how backwards our country is on this subject – but it seems most people just don’t focus on it until it personally impacts them.

So let’s get started with maternity leave 101. The United States is one of 4 countries that has no law guaranteeing paid maternity leave. If you are wondering in who’s company do we keep – the answer is: Swaziland (any clue where Swaziland is?), Liberia and Papa New Guinea. Oh, and the grand old United States. Those are the four countries that do not offer women paid time off for maternity leave.

And yet, people still believe the conservatives that have been running this country into the ground – care so much about family values?

But I digress.

So – if you didn’t know that before – then shame on you – and now you know it. It is imperative that KT readers are informed.

What I’ve also noticed is that once people recover from the shock of learning that, then they learn that under FMLA, women who work for companies with 50 or more employees, can leave their job for 12 weeks and return to their job or one similar. This is NOT PAID TIME -  it is 12 weeks. But again – the caveat is that this law only applies to companies with 50+ employees.

OK – so Meredith covered this in the segment this morning with a reporter who’s story is in the most recent Cookie Mag. (anyone read that mag? I do on occasion but feel like it’s really meant for those who shop only at Neimans and Saks and I’m not sure it really applies to my lifestyle most days). Though I was outraged that Meredith, who has been a reporter for how many years, didn’t even know that we don’t offer paid maternity leave in this country – I recovered when I learned something really surprising.

Apparently only 8% of women receive paid maternity leave in this country. 8%. WOW – that is really disturbing. It was disturbing enough to think about the fact that it’s not a federal law – but I orbit a world where pretty much all the moms I know have received some form of paid leave. Was it overly generous? Only in one instance.

Was it more like 6 weeks off paid and then saved vacation cobbled together to eek out 12 weeks paid home with a new baby and a slowly recovering body and mind?

Yes – but still – it was paid time – and let’s not call it ‘paid time off’ – because could that be anymore misleading? I wasn’t “off” when I was on maternity leave. In fact, I’d never been more on call in my life.

Again, I digress.

So basically – it’s just another sad example of class distinctions in this country. The 8% are women of privilege – right? Women who have college degrees, probably Masters degrees, professional jobs, disposable income and nannies. We all need the time home with the baby and to recover physically – whether we went to college or not – and it’s just a sad state of affairs that we are bedfellows with under developed, poor countries – on an issue that involves the health of women and the bond between mother and child.

The legislators and President should all have a red face over this one.

The little that I’ve learned from the Cookie Mag piece (http://www.cookiemag.com/homefront/2008/02/maternityleave) and MomsRising is that, like many other legislative issues, this particular issue is being taken up at the state level and changes at the state level are our best shot at forcing change on the federal level. Right now California is the bellwether state, mandating some form of paid disability leave.  Massachusetts, Washington state, New Jersey and New York have proposed bills:

http://www.progressivestates.org/content/369/maternity-and-paternity-leave

I frankly, don’t know where the presidential candidates stand on this issue. Check back later this week and I promise to give you an overview. The one thing I do know is that Senator Dodd has been a long-time advocate of a federal policy on maternity leave – so it’s too bad he didn’t last longer in the presidential race as it might have given this issue more of a platform.

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Motherhood, Work
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