More Moms in Office
We want an America that prioritizes the needs of working families.
Becoming a parent is a life-changing event. For many parents, it’s the first time they personally understand how deeply American policies fail working families. It’s hard to fully grasp the economic impact of simply having a child — it’s a luxury few can easily afford.
There is a misconception that universal childcare and paid family leave are women’s issues. We lose $57 billion a year because of the lack of childcare. Families lose $20.6 billion in wages because of the lack of paid family leave.
Women’s issues are economic issues,
and economic issues are family issues.
Sociology Professor Jessica Calarco recently said, “Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women.” The World Economic Forum ranks the United States 86th globally in women’s political empowerment. The first and second places go to Iceland and Norway, countries that offer paid maternity and paternity leave, affordable quality government subsidized childcare, and flexible work schedules that make it possible for women to balance their responsibilities both as mothers and professionals.
We want
Democratic moms
at every decision making table.
Our Congress, State Houses, and country would look dramatically different if we had more Democratic moms serving in elected office.
CONGRESS
Women still only make up 27% of Congressional Representatives, and only 6% of all members are moms with children under 18.
We’re missing out on a critical voice. If we had more Democratic moms in office, we wouldn’t be the only country in the world – other than Papua New Guinea – that doesn’t have paid family leave. We wouldn’t have a Congress that let the funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program lapse. We wouldn’t have a Congress that tried to deprive 13 million American women of maternity care, at a time when we have the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world.
Moms know at a visceral level the challenges that working families face, but too often don't have a seat at the decision-making table.
Legislators use their lived experience to inform what they fight for in office. A 2019 study by Lisa Bryant and Julia Marin Hellwege found that moms with children 18 or younger serving in Congress introduce more bills over the course of their term than other Congresswomen do, and their legislation is often focused on children’s healthcare, paid family leave, childcare, reproductive rights, education, and affordable housing for families.
STATE
So many pieces of critical legislation are debated and legislated at the state level.
Women make up just 29% of all state legislators nationwide.
There are only 8 states that have passed paid family leave, 13 that have codified Roe v. Wade. More than 50% of Americans live in childcare deserts - which is a direct result of poor state decision making.
Nevada is the only state in the country where women outnumber men in both chambers, and they have recently passed paid sick leave, protections for pregnant workers, and expanded abortion access. They passed the Equal Rights Amendment, protections for victims of sexual assault, human trafficking, and domestic violence.
Representation matters.
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