Today [Campus Progress'] parent organization, the Center for American Progress, is hosting a series of panels and speakers to coincide with the release of its report, The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation. Maria Shriver, daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver (brother to President John F. Kennedy), wrote an essay in this week's Time magazine to bring attention to something that was happening quietly for years. It is no longer an anomaly that women are working. Today, more than two-thirds of families either have a woman as the sole breadwinner or women who are part of dual income households. Still, women make between two-thirds and three-quarters of what their male counterparts make.
For some of us who grew up in homes where our moms worked (like me) this is hardly surprising. Women have been taking place in the working world for some time now. But although we have a federal law that allows for family leave, employers can decide whether or not that leave is paid. Although it is no longer legal to fire a woman for getting pregnant (or not hire her because she could become pregnant someday), paid maternity leave is still not required by law. In other words, women still get the short end of the stick.
The report includes pieces from awesome feminsts like CAP's own Heather Boushey, Feministing's Courtney Martin, and marriage expert Stephanie Coontz.
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