Mothers Matter, Caregivers Count: Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are Mothers and Caregivers Economic Rights (MCER)?

A. All societies depend on caregiving to function. MCER work is based on the principle that caregiving is a primary human activity (not just something women do because they care about children and other people). MCER prescribes a slate of social policies that will help mothers, fathers, and other caregivers integrate paid work and family life, as well as reduce the occupational penalties and economic risks associated with unpaid care work.

These policies include, but are not limited to:

• CAREGIVER SUPPORTS, which include benefits and policies intended to improve the economic security and well-being of women and men who devote substantial time to unpaid carework and who may or may not also have paid employment.
• Worker-and family-friendly WORKPLACE POLICIES that will be of benefit to most workers throughout their work life — not just for parents and other caregivers. Example: policies giving employees more control over their working hours and the right to request flexible hours and work locations.
• Realistic JOB AND ECONOMIC PROTECTIONS that give workers the right to paid time off for urgent family needs without jeopardizing their occupational status. These policies would also protect parents and part-time workers from job and pay discrimination.

Q. What is "caregiving" and "carework"?

A. Caregiving and carework include everything we do to maintain the health, safety and well-being of others and ourselves. Usually the terms "carework" or "caregiving" refer to activities associated with caring for people with special needs or those who normally need help with daily living — children, frail elderly, people with chronic or serious health conditions and adults with disabilities who require attentive care. Many economists believe that if unpaid carework was measured and assigned a monetary value, it would equal or surpass the contribution of all types of productivity included in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Historically and culturally, caregiving has been categorized as "women's work" and, today, women continue to provide the majority of the caregiving in our society.

Q. What is the difference between a mother and a caregiver?

A. Unpaid caregivers can be a birth or adoptive mother or father, but can also be anyone caring for a child, a special needs child/relative, ailing partner/spouse, an aging parent or family member, or a friend or neighbor who needs assistance with daily life. Friends and family members who provide unpaid care for dependent adults are often identified as "family" or "informal" caregivers. Caregiving is also a paid occupation and includes female-dominated jobs such as nursing, early childhood education and care, and institutional and home health aides.

Q. Why are MCER issues important to the feminist community?

A. These issues are important to the feminist cause to promote equity among all people by acknowledging that everyone in our society, at some point in their life, will either need care or have caregiving responsibilities. In particular, social research finds that the opportunity and economic costs associated with unpaid caregiving disproportionately affect women and their economic security. Cultural and workplace disincentives make it difficult for men to fulfill their caregiving responsibilities. Race, class, age, ethnicity, ability and sexual identity also intersect with MCER issues, since intersectional inequalities affect the quality of care an individual is able to give or receive.

Q. Are these issues new for NOW? When did NOW start working on MCER?

A. NOW has a longstanding commitment to MCER issues. In the original NOW statement of purpose, drafted in 1966 by Betty Friedan with Rev. Dr. Anna Pauli Murray, feminist leaders called for several key MCER policy issues. Our nation has not yet addressed many of the MCER issues of the 1960s. For the past forty years NOW has worked continuously for economic justice for all women, and led efforts to pass pregnancy discrimination protections in the 1970's, fought for paid family and medical leave in the 1980's and child care expansion in the 1990's, and are now working to expand social security protections for caregivers, end maternal profiling and much more. The re-dedication to MCER in 2005 through the creation of an ad hoc advisory committee and a focus on grassroots organizing signals a new era in the struggle for the rights of women and our nation's caregivers.

Q. How does NOW-MCER differ from Family Law Issues?

A. While MCER and Family Law overlap in several important areas and both involve legislative issues, family law specifically addresses equity issues in the family court system—primarily issues related to parental rights, divorce, and child custody and support—while MCER covers expanding public policies related to social insurance, dependent care, labor regulations, equal opportunity, healthcare, child care and early childhood education, and public assistance.

Q. Where do MCER issues fit in with other NOW issues/constituencies ?

A. Young Feminists, Women of Color, LGBT issues, Disability Rights, Reproductive Rights, Elder Rights, Violence Against Women, Women-Friendly Workplace, Welfare Rights, Family Law - MCER intersects with all of NOW's issues and constituencies.

Q. Why is the word "mothers" being used instead of "parents" in NOW's Mothers and Caregivers Economic Rights (MCER) work?

A. One focus for NOW's MCER effort is developing a series of actions to address media misinformation concerning feminism, gender and caregiving. By reclaiming the language of family and mothers, we are correcting a decades-long assault on feminist activism. This propaganda campaign, which has been used for political gains by our opposition, presents a warped image of the women's movement as anti-mother, anti-motherhood and anti-family. The respective social and economic penalties associated with motherhood and fatherhood are not comparable and require us to address the unique disadvantages women face when they become mothers. NOW, through its MCER work, does and will continue to address the concerns of all caregivers, which also includes fathers and men who provide care.

Q. Do many NOW members identify as mothers or caregivers?

A. Statistically, 81% of U.S. women give birth to one or more children by the age of 44, and 90% of women in the workforce become mothers through birth or adoption at some point during their working lives. An estimated 44.4 million Americans age 18 and over provide unpaid assistance and support to older people and adults with disabilities, and between 60% and 75% percent of family and informal caregivers are women. 27% of same-sex couples in the U.S. are raising biological or adopted children. Additionally, 20% of all women and girls in the U.S. are living with disabilities. It's likely that these demographics are reflected in our membership as well.

Q. I am a full-time, stay-at-home mom. How does the NOW-MCER initiative address my concerns?

A. Caregivers often leave the workforce or work part time in order to care for a child, spouse, or parent. Although most mothers return to work by the time their youngest child is 3 years old, fewer than half of U.S. mothers with school age children work full time, year round. Surveys also show that many non-employed mothers would prefer to work at least part time if a good job and affordable, quality child care were available. Mothers with special needs children may decide they need to be home full time. Married mothers may also leave the workforce because their spouse is working extremely long hours or travels frequently and they feel it's important for at least one parent available to meet the family's needs. Some families simply feel it's best to have one parent at home full time.

So, when it comes to work and family, there is no "one size fits all" choice, and NOW understands and values the time, energy, and love that parenting and caregiving requires, and we believe that every mother is a working mother.

Many of the caregiver supports included in NOW's MCER policy agenda—such a Social Security "family service credits" and disability coverage for non-employed caregivers, a refundable caregiver tax credit, universal health care, counting unpaid caregiving in the GDP and affordable continuing education and vocational training for adults—would help full-time unpaid caregivers by protecting their long-term financial security. Many of the recommendations and policies to promote worker- and family-friendly workplace hours would support unpaid caregivers when they need or want to return to paid employment. And more humane welfare/public assistance regulations will help very low-income mothers who want to have more time to care for their children when they are infants and toddlers.

Q. Aren't the policies NOW-MCER recommends just a special handout for parents at other workers' expense? What about childfree workers—won't they get stuck with the work parents and other caregivers leave undone when they work shorter hours or take time off?

A. No. MCER work is based on the principal that all workers have a need and right to control their working time, and business owners who expect childfree workers to "pick up the slack" of workers with family responsibilities are ineffective managers. Childfree workers may have other caregiving responsibilities, community commitments and personal interests that require time away from work. Childfree workers may need extended time off for their own health and medical needs, and as they age (or if they become disabled) they may need quality long-term care. The MCER policy agenda addresses all of these concerns.

Q. I'm neither a mother nor a caregiver. Why should I be concerned about these issues?

A. We are all care receivers, and all potential caregivers, regardless of what our lives look like at a given point in time. Children require constant care in the first years of life and considerable care thereafter to develop normally and stay healthy. Adults usually need care at the end of life, and the consistency and quality of care they receive directly affects their sense of well-being and level of comfort. Even healthy, independent adults get sick or injured and need time off work and/or periods of assistance from friends and family. Many adults also have friends, parents, siblings, spouses or partners who may one day have a serious or chronic health condition and need help with daily life. In that case, the workplace flexibility, job and earnings protections and caregiver supports proposed in the MCER policy agenda will ensure workers can take time off from work without putting a job or financial security at risk.

Q. I am disabled and/or I provide unpaid care work for a disabled relative. How do my needs factor into MCER advocacy work?

A. Most of the policies recommended in the MCER policy agenda would help family and informal caregivers meet their caregiving responsibilities without putting their jobs or financial security at risk. Also, MCER advocacy raises public awareness about caregiving as a primary human activity and an essential social function, including the social and economic value all types of carework and the diversity of caregivers.

Q. I am a professional paid caregiver. How will these policies help me?

A. As long as the value of care work is underestimated in our society, everyone who provides care will be vulnerable to financial insecurity and related hardships. Both organized and non-union paid care workers can agree that caregivers deserve safe and healthy working conditions, reasonable control over working hours, health care and retirement benefits, and a living wage. They also deserve the same protections all other workers deserve to ensure that they don't lose pay or lose their jobs when they need time off to care for their own families. All workers should have access to excellent and affordable elder care, child care and after school care so that the people they love are well cared for when they are on the job.

Q. I want to get active in my community around these issues. Can you suggest some ways that I can get involved?

A. Yes! There are many opportunities to make a difference, from media activism and advocating for legislative change to the everyday work of making our communities more family-friendly. Simple actions can improve mothers' mobility and access to local services and shared spaces, and/or raise public awareness about MCER issues in your community. Some ideas include ensuring a diaper deck in all commercial and public bathrooms, or organizing informal discussions or community meetings on barriers to integrating work and family in this country. NOW recognizes that while mothers and caregivers as a group have common, basic needs, they also have different—and often urgent—needs depending on the specific risks and challenges they face in their daily lives. One of the most effective things you can do is connect with groups of women, mothers and caregivers in your community, sharing concerns, and thinking of ways to work together to support mothers' and caregivers' economic rights.