Hillary Clinton Publishes Op-Ed About Being a Working Mother

First Lady of Arkansas Hillary Rodham Clinton with her daughter Chelsea, 13th May 1984. (Photo by Mike Stewart/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

Today, an op-ed by Hillary Clinton was published by Fortune magazine. In the article, Clinton discusses what she learned from being a working mother. She writes about how she had to struggle her career as a lawyer and raising her daughter. She goes to say that while progress has been made, more needs to be done. Clinton then outlines a number of her proposals aimed at helping working and single mothers including raising the minimum wage, ensuring that women receive equal pay, ensuring everyone has access to affordable childcare, and providing paid leave for new parents. Read the full op-ed below or on Fortune.

Hillary Clinton: What I Learned From Being a Mom Who Works
September 29, 2016

We’ve made progress, but have a ways to go.

When I was pregnant with my daughter Chelsea, I asked about the maternity leave policy at the law firm where I worked. I was surprised to find out that we didn’t have one. I soon learned why: No woman who worked in our office had ever come back to work full-time after having a baby.

Well, I wanted to come back. I loved what I did. And it was important to me to contribute to my family’s finances, especially now that we were having a baby.

Finally, as my due date approached, I decided to take matters into my own hands. When Chelsea was born, my employer agreed to grant me four months off to be home with her. I’d still earn an income, though it would be smaller; part of my income was determined by the fees I generated for the firm, which would fall to zero while I was on leave. That made sense to me. And it meant a lot that I could have that time with my new daughter, knowing that my job would be waiting for me when I came back.

These kinds of situations are commonplace today, with more women entering the workforce than ever before. Today, nearly half of all full-time employees are women. Through our contributions, talent, insights, and very presence, we’ve changed the workplace forever. There’s no going back to the days when women were fired for getting married or pregnant, or were excluded from entire professions. Thank goodness.

But let’s be real. We still have a long way to go. Our policies just haven’t kept up with the challenges women and families face today.

Too many women still aren’t paid fairly. On average, women earn 20% less than men do for full-time, year-round work. Women of color earn even less. And when a working mom or grandmother earns less than she deserves, she’s not the only one who pays the price. Her children or grandchildren—whoever’s counting on her salary—do, too.

Women also make up the majority of minimum-wage workers, which means they make as little as $14,500 a year for full-time work. That’s below the national poverty line. Many of those women are raising kids on that income. Raising the federal minimum wage would do a lot for those families.

Meanwhile, even though the number of women running companies, labs, universities, and philanthropies is growing, it’s still too small. So is the number of women serving in elected office. That means women aren’t always included in decision-making, and their needs and concerns aren’t always reflected in government policy or workplace norms.

And we’re making it too hard to balance work and family. That’s true for all parents, but especially mothers. Women are breadwinners in more households than ever, yet they still do the lion’s share of childcare.

Many are feeling the squeeze. I’ve had moms break down in tears as they describe the heartbreak of returning to work just a few days after delivering their baby, because they don’t have paid leave at their jobs. Staying with their child for a few months would mean losing too many paychecks, maybe even their job.

In April, I met a mom in Newton, Iowa, who held her four-and-a-half-month-old in her arms. She said to me, “I’m counting on you to know what it’s like to be a working mother. Please help us working mothers and fathers have more time with our babies.”

I’m not going to let her down.

One thing we can do is invest in affordable childcare. Right now, childcare is more expensive than college tuition in many states. Let’s make sure no family has to spend more than 10% of their income on childcare by making historic investments in childcare assistance and providing tax relief to working families.

Let’s finally join every other advanced economy in the world and guarantee paid leave. I’m proposing 12 weeks of paid medical leave to recover from a serious illness, and 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for a new child or a sick relative. After all, moms and dads both deserve to spend time with their babies.

Let’s encourage employers to adopt family-friendly work policies, like flexible and fair scheduling and tele-work, so parents can both work and be there for their families.

Let’s raise the minimum wage. No one who works full-time should be forced to raise their kids in poverty.

And at long last, let’s finally ensure equal pay for women. It’s time for Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act—which I cosponsored when I was in the Senate—to give women the tools they need to fight discrimination in the workforce. We also need to promote pay transparency so that women have the information they need to negotiate fairly for their wages.

These aren’t just women’s issues. They’re economic issues and family issues. And they need to be a top priority for our next president. If we’re going to build a globally competitive workforce, we can’t afford to leave any talent on the sidelines. We can’t keep short-changing working families.

I’ll never forget what it was like to be a mom at work. It wasn’t easy. And I was lucky: I had financial security, a supportive employer, and affordable childcare. Too many families don’t. I’ve met so many parents stuck in impossible situations, at their wits’ ends trying to make it all work. It just shouldn’t be this hard to work and have a family.

As president, it’ll be my mission to bring our economy and workplaces into the 21st century, so all of our contributions are respected—both women’s and men’s—and families can thrive.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: Fortune

Hillary Clinton Interviewed by ESSENCE Magazine

An interview with Hillary Clinton is featured in the October issue of ESSENCE magazine. Clinton was interviewed by ESSENCE Editor-in-chief Vanessa K. De Luca, and they discussed how Clinton’s proposals would benefit black women. Clinton spoke about a number of her plans including ensuring equal pay for women, ensuring that students graduate from college debt-free, and her plans to enact criminal justice reform. Read the full interview below.

In ESSENCE Magazine’s October Issue, Secretary Hillary Clinton sat for an exclusive interview with the editor-in-chief Vanessa DeLuca to discuss her agenda for Black America.  She outlined her commitment to support women business owners, equal pay, criminal justice reform and to protect President Obama’s legacy.

ESSENCE: Thank you, Secretary Clinton, for spending time with ESSENCE. Let’s jump right in: In 2012, more than 70 percent of eligible Black women voters went to the polls and 96 percent of them voted for President Obama. How do you plan on energizing this bloc to vote for you in 2016?

HILLARY CLINTON: First, thank you, Vanessa. I’m delighted to be talking with you today. I think what’s remarkable and worthy of great attention is the percentage of Black women who vote. Black women understand that politics and government have a direct effect on their lives. I want to build on the progress that has been made under President Obama. I am absolutely unabashed in saying that I don’t think he gets the credit for what he’s achieved.

There is a very clear set of issues that are particularly important to African-American women. I will continue to reach out to say, “Look, we’ve got to build on the progress. I can’t do it without you. I want to know what you need, and I want you to know that I’m going to do everything I can to respond to those needs.

ESSENCE: In a poll we conducted with civic engagement group Black Women’s Roundtable last year, we asked our audience to tell us the top three issues they found to be the most critical in deciding whether they would vote for a particular candidate. The issues were affordable health care, living wage and college affordability. How can the middle class participate in the affordable health care plan in the ways they are prevented from doing right now?

HILLARY CLINTON: I was thrilled when President Obama got the Affordable Care Act through. I will be looking to see how we make it truly affordable so that the co-pays, the premiums and the deductibles don’t take such a huge chunk out of a woman’s or a family’s budget. Women are eligible for Medicare starting at age 65, but what about the women between 55 and 65 who are maybe facing health challenges but don’t have Medicare? What about caretakers, all the women who cut back on their work hours or stop their work life to care for a child, a spouse or an elderly relative? They are hurt when it comes to social security, so how do we take care of that? I want to look at this broadly to figure out how we help people get the quality affordable health care that everybody needs and deserves to different points in their life.

ESSENCE: Let’s shift to the second issue. Black women with a bachelor’s degree are making $10,000 less than the average White male with an associate’s degree. How do you plan to address the significant pay gaps for us?

HILLARY CLINTON: More good jobs with rising incomes is the centerpiece of how we’re going to provide a higher standard of living for people. There is still too much explicit and implicit bias in employment, hiring and promoting that, again, disproportionately affect the African-American women. I am in favor of raising the minimum wage, and support the efforts that have already been successful in New York and California to raise it to 15$ per hour. I want to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so that you’re not retaliated against if you try to find out what you’re paid. Right now if you and I are working for the same company and we’re having lunch together and I say, “Well I’m making X an hour or my salary is Y,” and you say, “But we’re doing the same job and I am making X minus or Y minus,” we could both be fired for that.

ESSENCE: A lot of our readers are excited about your student loan plan. How will it assist those of us with college loan debt, especially those who attended historically Black colleges and universities?

HILLARY CLINTON: From the very moment I rolled out my college affordability plan, I made it very clear that I wanted to get back to where we used to be, where it was possible for someone for someone from a modest-income family to afford to go to college. I have a plan to make four-year public colleges and universities tuition-free. If you make less than $125,000 a year, you should not have to borrow a penny to pay for all their other costs. I also have a really strong commitment to historically Black colleges and billion fund set aside that will help HBCUs be competitive, be able to upgrade their laboratories and be able to provide more financial support to make sure they remain a viable option.

ESSENCE: Why is that important to you?

HILLARY CLINTON: My first boss, Marian Wright Edelman went to Spelman, and another great friend of mine, Vernon Jordan, got his law degree at Howard. I’ve has close friends talk about how that experience was so important in their maturing and that they felt very nurtured—challenged, but nurtured. I have visited a lot of HBCUs and the ones that are the public colleges and universities in a lot of states are being shortchanged when it comes to funding, so they’re having to close departments and buildings. It’s not that these schools don’t have the demand; they still do. They don’t have the resources. I want to provide a floor underneath them. I have a plan to help refinance your debt, to get it paid down, to ensure you pay no more than 10 percent of your income for your debt and to provide relief. If you go into public service, and that includes teaching and law enforcement, we will forgive the rest of your debt after ten years.

ESSENCE: How will you deal with the ongoing issue of police brutality and racial profiling should be elected president?

HILLARY CLINTON: I think there are four issues that we have to address simultaneously. One is policing reform and I think President Obama’s policing commission has excellent recommendations. What I intend to do is use the federal budget to incentivize and catalyze the 18,000 police departments we have in America to follow those kinds of recommendations. I want there to be national guidelines on the use of force, particularly lethal force, that every department would accept and that they would then train their police and hold them accountable. I want independent investigations of any police incident that results in the death of any person.

ESSENCE: Beyond a grand jury?

HILLARY CLINTON: New York, after some of our regrettable, terrible incidents, made the right decision by legislating that the attorney general of the state would take over these investigations. I want to have a better approach to accountability and justice. I want to provide second-chance programs for people coming out of jail and prison, but I want to do much more to divert people from ever getting their in the first place. Honestly, young, Black kids, particularly young Black boys, for being kids. I want to replace the cradle-to-prison pipeline with a cradle-to-college or –career pipeline and really emphasize that.

ESSENCE: Obviously the country is in a very precarious state right now. There’s lots of division and failure to see the other side. How would you bring us all together?

HILLARY CLINTON: I hope that by reaching out to people—especially across the aisle to Republicans as I did when I was First Lady, as senator and as secretary of state—I will demonstrate that I’m walking the walk as well as talking the talk. I know that it takes time and investment of your energy to build relationships, but investment of your energy to build relationships, but there’s no substitute for that. I intend to begin doing that as soon as I possibly can. This will determine what kind of lives we have and certainly what kind of lives our children and grandchildren will have. Are we going to be fairer, more just society with opportunity for all, one that builds an inclusive economic prosperity that people can feel is helping them get ahead? Are we going to stand against discrimination, bigotry, bluster and bullying? Those are all core beliefs that I have about the kind of country that I think we must be, and in our better moments, we are.

ESSENCE: Should there be resistance, how will you push back against that?

HILLARY CLINTON: I expect there will be resistance, but you have to work to find whatever common ground you can. I don’t know if you have seen the wonderful musical “Hamilton” but there is a point where George Washington says that he is going to step down and people are shocked.  But he said, “It’s the right thing to do,” and then he said, “History’s eyes are on us.” I think history’s eyes are still on us. We’ve got to keep working together and that means creating common ground and common purpose wherever we can. There will always be naysayers; there will always be haters. But we can’t let them drive our agenda. What we’re trying to do is much bigger than them and much more hopeful than they even understand. I am going to keep reaching out, and based on my experience I think we can make progress.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: ESSENCE

Hillary Takes Part in Equal Pay Roundtable, Celebrates First Year of Campaign

Tuesday was Equal Pay Day and Hillary Clinton attended a round table event at Glassdoor where she outlined her plan to raise the wages of women across the country. She called for the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act which would make it illegal for an employer to fire someone for finding out how much a co-worker makes. Clinton also said she would require every company to review its compensation and evaluate whether women are paid equally. She also vowed to work with states to ensure current equal pay statutes across the country are still being followed. Clinton called for more transparency saying, “There’s not enough transparency, and we don’t know exactly what the pay gaps are in many settings, predominantly in the private sector. We need to use the federal government, the Department of Labor and others, to really encourage more transparency, to get more public information.”

The conversation included: World Cup Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Megan Rapinoe; Glassdoor CEO Robert Hohman; Make It Work Co-founder & Co-executive Director Tracey Sturdivant; Clayman Institute for Gender Research Executive Director Lori Nishiura MacKenzie; Gap Foundation President and Gap Sustainability Vice President Dan Henkle and award-winning journalist Diane Brady. A full video of the roundtable event is below and a transcript of Clinton’s remarks is available HERE.

Clinton then traveled to Florida where she attended three fundraisers. The first event was in Manalapan where she attended an event at the home of Marsha and Henry Laufer. Clinton’s second event was in Miami Beach and included a conversation with Congressman Joaquín Castro, Kristin Davis, and Raúl De Molina. Singer Carole King also performed at the event. The final event of the day was held at the Miami Beach home of Tiffany and Alex Heckler. Congressman Castro also attended the event with Hillary.

Today also marks one year since Clinton announced her plans to run for president. Since April 2015, Clinton has received millions in donations, leads in the race for the Democratic nomination, and has rolled out an comprehensive platform. To celebrate the occasion, Hillary for America has put together a fact page with information about the campaign and the donors. In fact, you can type in your name and see how many other donors share your first name! A lot has been accomplished in the last year, but it is a long road to November.

For all the latest, follow our revamped Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: Think Progress