Wake up for moms

/ 9 September 2006

Did you know that the US is one of the only four countries in the world (out of 168 surveyed) that offers no form of paid family leave for new moms? (the other three are Papua New Guinea, Lesotho and Swaziland). Or here’s another interesting statistic: “Women with children make about 73 cents to a man’s dollar, single mothers make an average of 56 to 66 cents to a man’s dollar, and women without children make about 90 cents to a man’s dollar.”

Or this:

"...there was a study in The New York Times a couple of years ago that used Census data and found that a parental couple comprised of two men are the most likely to have a stay-at-home parent. Second most likely: male and female. And the least likely is two women. You can just look at it right there and say: Economics. Men don’t face a wage gap, and don’t take a fatherhood penalty. In fact, on average, men’s wages go up when they have children."

There's lot more disturbing statistics where these come from and a powerful program for change that is being called the "motherhood manifesto" in a new book written by the founder of Moveon.Org.

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