Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/24680
Part-timers, then, often don’t receive health coverage. These policies tend to lock in the gender division of work: Instead of both partners in a couple working a flex- ible schedule, it makes more economic sense for one to work 9-to-5 to keep the health insurance, while the other shoulders the bulk of caregiving. Not surprisingly, it turns out that women are more likely than men (24 percent versus 13 percent) to have dependent coverage through their spouses rather than on their own. The nondepen- dent partner, more often the man, loses the flexibility to spend time caring for kids and ill family members, while the “dependent” partner, often the woman, can lose the economic security and personal independence of a good job with benefits. She also risks losing health coverage in a divorce. These problems demand a twofold solution. First, as President Obama is proposing, make insurance available and affordable to all even if they don’t receive it through an employer. This should be implemented to mean that part-timers should also gain access to group health insur- ance. As well as giving more women access to health-care insurance directly, affordable insurance could open the door to more gender equity in parenting by allowing both parents flexible work schedules. Second, reform health insurance, as President Obama is also proposing, to prevent discrimination on the basis of pre-existing conditions or gender. Many of these exclu- sions apply only or predominately to women, such as be- ing a victim of domestic violence or having a Cesarean section. Hopefully, health reform can remove such unwar- ranted, punitive insurance rules. GUARANTEE WORKERS PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE. We need to assure all workers at least seven paid sick days a year for their own illnesses or to care for an ill family member. Even today, with the swine flu loom- ing, nearly half of women workers in the private sector do not have a single paid sick day to recover from illness or care for a sick family member. Three of four low-wage N3o. THE SHRIVER REPORT: EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED Maria Shriver has teamed with the Center for American Progress to produce a massive report focusing attention on the historic landmark: Women now for the first time in U.S. history comprise half of all U.S. paid workers. “Quite simply,” concludes the just-released report, “women as half of all [paid] workers changes everything.” Two-thirds of mothers are breadwinners or co- breadwinners today, compared with just over one-quarter in 1967. Only one in five heterosexual couples today maintains a Cleaver-esque working-husband-and-at-home-wife arrangement, compared to almost half of such couples in 1975. The majority of couples now negotiate household responsibilities, and those who share both paid and domestic work maintain the most stable, high-quality marriages. Yet, the Shriver Report warns, our societal institutions have largely failed to reflect this new picture. Our media oscillates between overly cheery “women have made it” messages and outmoded sex stereotypes. Women still face lower pay and fewer benefits in the workplace, while both genders struggle to balance work and child care. Hopefully, this report, and Shriver’s media blitz trumpeting the soon-to-be-majority- women’s workforce, will help bring new, more realistic notions of work-family life to the attention of policymakers. workers—those least able to afford to take unpaid time off or risk losing their jobs—do not have a single paid sick day. Also, the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee paid maternity leave. States have begun ex- perimenting on their own: Five now require employers to offer temporary disability programs, which pay benefits to pregnant women, and a few others offer low-income fam- ilies subsidies for infant care. In 2004, California became the first state to expand its state disability insurance sys- tem to provide paid family and medical leave, and New Jersey and Washington have followed suit. NO PAID SICK LEAVE 47 percent of paid private- sector women workers lack a single paid sick day. SOURCE: Institute for Women’s Policy Research www.msmagazine.com FALL 2009 | 31