Women's Rights Advocates Decry Bush's Family Leave Decision

December 9, 2002

by NOW Staff

In what feminists called an attack on family well-being, the Bush administration announced last week that it will repeal a Clinton-era regulation that allows states to use unemployment insurance to help people who take parental leave from work to have babies or adopt children.

The decision will stop legislative efforts in as many as 16 states to put the Department of Labor rule into effect, making unemployment compensation available to working parents who take time off to care for a new addition to the family.

Feminist leaders condemned the decision, saying it demonstrates that the Bush administration is far more concerned about business interests—who actively opposed the regulation when it was proposed in 1999—than it is with the needs of everyday working families.

"American families are locked in a constant struggle to balance their work and home responsibilities, yet the U.S. is still the only industrialized country on the planet without paid family and medical leave," said NOW Membership Vice President Terry O'Neill. "It's appalling that an administration that frequently gives lip service to family values would withdraw this family-friendly policy before it even had a chance."