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Expert advocates family friendly policies at work
September 14, 2007
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner’s personal epiphany came a decade ago, when her son was born with an auto-immune disease that required her to make a painful choice between her high-octane career as a political consultant or her son’s health.
For her, there really was no choice. She quit her job to become a full-time mom and caretaker to her son, who is now a healthy, soccer-loving 11-year-old. But the experience galvanized the Kirkland resident to take action.
“It became clear to me that this country has so few family-friendly policies which parents in other countries take for granted,” she said. “These policies mean that many families are living close to the edge if something doesn’t go exactly as planned.”
Rowe-Finkbeiner is now the executive director of Moms Rising. Rowe-Finkbeiner has also authored the book, “The F Word,” which looks at the demise of feminism in the United States and has co-authored the book, “The Motherhood Manifesto.”
Focusing her energies on the web-based political action group Moms Rising is an attempt to change the political thinking and laws in this country. Rowe-Finkbeiner will discuss the importance of her organization’s work in a lecture on Monday, September 24 at 7 pm in Ingram 100.
Her lecture follows the showing of the film, “The Motherhood Manifesto,” on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 1:45 p.m. in Morken 103. The film depicts the varying levels of social and economic support provided for parents in different parts of the world and will be followed by a panel discussion of PLU faculty and staff.
Rowe-Finkerbeiner, is a wellspring of statistics on how the motherhood penalty affects working women every day in this country.
While a woman with no children is now generally earning 90 cents for every dollar a man earns, that earning rift widens to about 73 cents for a working mother. For a single mother, it stretches even further to about 65 cents, she said.
Programs such as flexible work hours, paid maternity leave and quality after school care “are absolutely critical” to a country’s economic success and women’s success, she stressed.
“Without this cultural support, we see women taking the brunt of the hit,” both economically and emotionally, she said.
Harvard University released a study this summer looking at 168 countries and their maternity leave policies. Only the U.S., along with Papau New Guinea, Swaziland and Lesotho, did not have paid maternity leave for its mothers, she noted.
Rowe-Finkebeiner said she really couldn’t pick one policy advocated by her group that she feels is the most important. “They are really so intertwined,” she said.
In her books and talks, Rowe-Finkebeiner stresses that being family friendly makes good business sense. Businesses such as jetBlue Airways that offer family flex time or work-at-home policies experience less turnover, fewer recruitment costs and make more money than businesses that don’t embrace these policies, she noted.
“It seems to be one of the only airlines not in bankruptcy,” she said of jetBlue.
Aside from encouraging members to push their congressional reps for nationally mandated family-friendly policies, the site also offers chats, book offerings and blogs for mothers, and dads to talk.
By putting the political push online, the organization is letting women know they aren’t alone, she said.
The lecture and film showing are the final events in the series “Motherhood: Take a Second Look.” Sponsored by the women’s and gender studies program, the series highlight the issues facing parents today.
For more information, email history professor Beth Kraig.
“It became clear to me that this country has so few family-friendly policies which parents in other countries take for granted,” she said. “These policies mean that many families are living close to the edge if something doesn’t go exactly as planned.”
Rowe-Finkbeiner is now the executive director of Moms Rising. Rowe-Finkbeiner has also authored the book, “The F Word,” which looks at the demise of feminism in the United States and has co-authored the book, “The Motherhood Manifesto.”
Focusing her energies on the web-based political action group Moms Rising is an attempt to change the political thinking and laws in this country. Rowe-Finkbeiner will discuss the importance of her organization’s work in a lecture on Monday, September 24 at 7 pm in Ingram 100.
Her lecture follows the showing of the film, “The Motherhood Manifesto,” on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 1:45 p.m. in Morken 103. The film depicts the varying levels of social and economic support provided for parents in different parts of the world and will be followed by a panel discussion of PLU faculty and staff.
Rowe-Finkerbeiner, is a wellspring of statistics on how the motherhood penalty affects working women every day in this country.
While a woman with no children is now generally earning 90 cents for every dollar a man earns, that earning rift widens to about 73 cents for a working mother. For a single mother, it stretches even further to about 65 cents, she said.
Programs such as flexible work hours, paid maternity leave and quality after school care “are absolutely critical” to a country’s economic success and women’s success, she stressed.
“Without this cultural support, we see women taking the brunt of the hit,” both economically and emotionally, she said.
Harvard University released a study this summer looking at 168 countries and their maternity leave policies. Only the U.S., along with Papau New Guinea, Swaziland and Lesotho, did not have paid maternity leave for its mothers, she noted.
Rowe-Finkebeiner said she really couldn’t pick one policy advocated by her group that she feels is the most important. “They are really so intertwined,” she said.
In her books and talks, Rowe-Finkebeiner stresses that being family friendly makes good business sense. Businesses such as jetBlue Airways that offer family flex time or work-at-home policies experience less turnover, fewer recruitment costs and make more money than businesses that don’t embrace these policies, she noted.
“It seems to be one of the only airlines not in bankruptcy,” she said of jetBlue.
Aside from encouraging members to push their congressional reps for nationally mandated family-friendly policies, the site also offers chats, book offerings and blogs for mothers, and dads to talk.
By putting the political push online, the organization is letting women know they aren’t alone, she said.
The lecture and film showing are the final events in the series “Motherhood: Take a Second Look.” Sponsored by the women’s and gender studies program, the series highlight the issues facing parents today.
For more information, email history professor Beth Kraig.