Womenstake, NWLC's Blog

by Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy
National Women's Law Center

by Karen Schulman, Policy Analyst
National Women’s Law Center

New Census data released last week provide more evidence that paying for child care can be a tremendous financial burden for families, particularly for families with low incomes.

Families with incomes under 100 percent of poverty who pay for child care spend an average of 29 percent of their income on child care, according to the new Census data. Families with incomes between 100 percent and 200 percent of poverty who pay for child care also spend a significant portion of their income on child care — 14 percent. In comparison, those with incomes at or above 200 percent of poverty spend 6 percent.

The Census data also demonstrate that low-income families have less access to good child care and after-school options for their children. Only 7.8 percent of children ages five to fourteen with incomes under 100 percent of poverty and 10.3 percent of children ages five to fourteen with incomes between 100 percent and 200 percent of poverty participate in enrichment activities (including organized sports, lessons, clubs, and before- or after-school programs), compared to 17.6 percent for children ages five to fourteen with incomes at or above 200 percent of poverty.

by the National Women’s Law Center Staff

March is Women’s History Month. To celebrate, the staff here at the National Women’s Law Center have been thinking about a few of the women who inspired us to become the people we are today.

Almost 110 years ago, Susan B. Anthony sent a letter asking for support for the cause of women’s suffrage. She wrote, “With these dollars, we can push the work still further ‘till all women inside the home, as well as outside, shall be free to do as their consciences dictate, rather than as custom demands.” Her tenacity, and those words, have inspired me for many years. — Marcia Greenberger, NWLC Co-President

Hands down, no one inspires me like Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress, who made a run for President in 1972. She energized and galvanized people who felt completely left out of the political process. How can you not adore a woman who titled her autobiography Unbought and Unbossed? — Jill Morrison, NWLC Senior Counsel

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) believed that everyone (including women) should be in control of their own bodies. Her column, started in 1912, entitled “What Every Girl Should Know”; her establishment of the first birth control clinic in the country in 1916; and her establishment of the America Birth Control League (later renamed Planned Parenthood) gave women the power to be whoever they wanted to be. Although we still question some of her positions, such as her support for eugenics (even though she claimed this support was intended to counter a popular view that only rich women would use birth control), her bravery and tenacity started a revolution that echoes today for each and every one of us. — Judy Waxman, NWLC Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights