Reshma Saujani

This is why I love Patagonia.

Over the past year, I've been thinking a lot about what the women of Iceland did in 1975, when 90% of the nation’s women went on strike on a Friday to protest wage discrepancy and unfair employment practices. Instead of going to the office or doing housework and childcare, women took to the streets and shut down the entire country. 25,000 people out of Iceland’s entire population of 220,000 gathered in Reykjavik that day. In Iceland, it become known as the Women’s Day Off. And it was successful. The following year, Iceland’s parliament passed a law banning wage discrimination based on gender. 5 years later, Iceland voted the first democratically elected woman president in the world into office. The strike paved the way.

For a while, I've been wondering if it's time to borrow a page from the women of Iceland. I thought about it again last Friday. What would happen if we let things fall apart? Even just for a day.

Our elected leadership, on the other hand, suggested we peacefully protest and vote our way out of this mess. I'm sorry, but the notion that we can simply vote or march our way to reproductive freedom feels woefully inadequate. This moment calls for a different approach entirely.

We have to make our anger heard. We have to demand that our elected leaders who claim to be saddened by the court’s decision at least try to exercise their power. It’s crucial to remind them that their inaction — their failure to expand the court, abolish the filibuster and codify abortion access into law, to set up abortion sites on federal land, not just to score political points, but to save lives — is a choice. And it costs us, and the nation as a whole, dearly.

So what do you think? Is it time to strike?

P.S. You can read my full op-ed on NBC News here: https://lnkd.in/gB4ApEMq

#MarshallPlanForMoms #Strike #WomensStrike #Iceland #BansOffOurBodies #moms

Words cannot explain how meaningful it was for my father, an Indian man, to spend Diwali at the Vice President’s house, our first South Asian Vice President. The smiles on our faces say it all.

To those of you with a heavy heart today: please remember to take care of yourself first. As moms, we have a tendency to put everyone else before ourselves. Seek whatever comfort you need in this moment. And when you’re ready, it’s time to channel our outrage into power and organizing. Plug into this fight in whatever way feels right to you. You have something unique to contribute. And men, this is not a time to sit on the sidelines. We need you in this movement.

Be prepared to be in it for the long-haul. The anti-choice movement didn’t just suddenly decide to overturn Roe — they spent DECADES building toward this moment. This is all about the LONG game. I’m ready to fight and I know all of you are too.

As for what you can do today, here are a few things.

1. For those in a position to do so, donate to AbortionFunds.org, KeepOurClinics.org, and PayPal.me/IWRising.

2. If someone you know needs an abortion, send them to ineedana.com.

3. Get educated on abortion pills. Go to PlanCPills.org and mayday.health.

#MarshallPlanForMoms #BansOffOurBodies #RoeVWade #AbortionIsEssential #PaidLeave

Imagine that!

And on the subject of employers subsidizing #ChildCare, it’s really not as radical as some might think. Child care isn’t just key for parents — it’s also good for the business's bottom line. And now we’ve got the data to prove it!

Earlier this year, Moms First and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released a report looking at 5 companies who offer some form of child care benefits. Every single company saw a positive return on their investment, ranging from 90% all the way to 425%. In fact, our report found that retaining as few as 1% of eligible employees can cover the cost of providing child care benefits for all of those who are eligible within a company.

It’s pretty simple: parents can’t work without child care.

Source: https://lnkd.in/eRCc6dUx

Read Matthew Boyle's story in Bloomberg News here: https://lnkd.in/eePWBFhJ

A lot of you asked if I’d post the speech I gave at the Bill Gates Summit. I'm afraid I don’t have it. But this is even better. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of giving the commencement speech to Yale's class of 2022.

I went to Yale Law as a transfer student. I applied THREE times before I was accepted. So my path to being the class of 2022’s speaker was not traditional, to say the least. When Yale asked me late last winter, I almost fainted. I am not a former President, a famous media personality, or a cabinet member. I don’t have a Grammy or an Oscar. But I am a mom of two who has lived in the corner of her bedroom on Zoom for the past two years, and is obsessed with teaching girls to code and fighting for moms. And that’s exactly where I pulled my inspiration from.

#PayUp #MarshallPlanForMoms #Yale #ClassOf2022

This is everything.

“The runner said the burden of child care costs is 'the biggest barrier' to women continuing to compete at a high level...

'It's just a way really to ... say we can show up and support women, and they don't have to choose between motherhood and anything else,' Felix said.“

Thank you for all that you do on behalf of moms, Allyson F.

Happy #FailureFriday. So as you may know, my dog Stan is dying from cancer and four months ago the vet gave her three weeks to live. And here we are, over four months later, and she is ALIVE and doing so well. It's just a blessing for so many reasons. Caring for Stan has made me slow the hell down and given me a routine. I am fast, I talk fast, I move fast. But when you are taking care of a dying dog, you know that you cannot move fast with them. Stan has made me slow down and live in the moment, two things I am always failing to do. Normally when I wake up, I grab my phone. Now Stan wakes up, whether it's 5:00 or 6:00 am, and when she has to go she has to go. No room for error or else you are cleaning up her mess from the carpet. So, I leave my keys, leash, and change of clothes at the door so I can run out the second I hear her pitter patter. When she gets outside, we move at a snail's place. She makes me take a breath, listen to the sounds, and people watch because if I look at my phone and start doing my fast walk, she will inevitably tumble over (this has happened) and half of New York is giving me a dirty look, rightfully so. So here's to remembering that tragedy sometimes gives you blessings. And slow down!

I promise you this: we are pissed off and we are going to be pushing #ChildCare onto the national stage all election long.

This isn't some joke. This is our lives. Too many families are in debt because of it. Too many women have been pushed out of the workforce against their will. Too many child care workers and educators — the people we entrust with taking care of our precious little ones — are just barely making minimum wage. They are overworked, under-resourced, underpaid, and under-appreciated.

Last night was just a small taste of what we can do when we work together. WE, all of us, got CNN to ask our question. That's HUGE.

They better believe we aren't going anywhere until we get the answers and the solutions we deserve. Who's in?

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(Graphic: theSkimm)

Ok, here’s my message for everyone about to cast their ballot: stop questioning whether Kamala can win. Stop qualifying your support for her with an asterisk. Stop fueling the imposter syndrome narrative that saps women of their power. Don’t text your group chat and say “I’m excited, but…” If you support her, don’t apologize for it. We have nothing to gain from hedging our bets on the question of whether or not she can win — but we sure as hell have a lot to lose.

There are a lot of women out there who know what it feels like to be underestimated by powerful men. Lately, I’ve been thinking about one in particular: Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated to be vice president by a major political party. In 1984, one voter described Ferraro’s candidacy this way to the New York Times: “We [women] look at ourselves and think ‘I couldn’t handle it so I don’t know if she could, either.’”

But then she paused. “Maybe that’s the wrong thing to do … men don’t do that.’’ It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now. If we want a strong woman to lead, then we need to step back and actually let her lead.

When The New York Times emailed me 7 years ago to do a profile about what I do on Sundays, I made sure to talk about breastfeeding and I requested they use a photo of me nursing Shaan. Because you know what I did on Sundays in 2015? I was breastfeeding a newborn. It was a job in addition to the full-time job I had as CEO of Girls Who Code. Everything about my schedule revolved around finding the time to feed Shaan. So the requirement I made for doing the profile was to show me breastfeeding.

Back then, you wouldn’t find a ton of CEOs breastfeeding in the New York Times, so I think there was a little bit of debate in the editorial room. There weren't pump rooms in airports or in many offices. We’ve come a long way in normalizing breastfeeding, but we still don't make it easy for those who make that choice. We judge them, we even sometimes shame them if they do or don't.

But even with its challenges, having the freedom and flexibility to breastfeed is still a privilege in the U.S. For many single moms, moms of color, low-income moms, and disabled moms, the choice is made for them. And it’s not as if formula feeding doesn’t have its own challenges. But what if we treated breastfeeding — and formula feeding — as the work that it is?

When Sai was born, I couldn't breastfeed him because he was born through surrogacy. Our incredible surrogate, Amber, who is a nurse in the ER, pumped and shipped breast milk every week to Sai while navigating all the other challenges of the pandemic. Nihal and I wanted to give both our kids breast milk because we have autoimmune disease and allergies, and breast milk is supposed to help with fighting them. What Amber did for our family was WORK, so I paid her for the labor she was undertaking to give Sai breast milk.

So bottom line as we continue to have these conversations around the formula shortage, let's remember that it's about choice — a mother's individual choice — and it’s also about what we consider work. This moment is yet another example of how the U.S. puts expectations on mothers to do something for their children, but then makes it hard as hell to succeed at it.

#MarshallPlanForMoms #Nursing #FormulaShortage #Motherhood #BabyFormula #Breastfeeding

A few years ago, if you had asked me if I ever thought there would be a national summit shining a light on child care as a driving force for economic growth, I probably would have rolled my eyes and said, “In my dreams.“

Well, sometimes dreams become a reality. Just last month, while pushing CNN to bring child care to the presidential debate stage, the Moms First team and our National Business Coalition for Child Care partners took to D.C. to put child care front and center.

From the White House and the Hill to key meetings with CEOs, economists, and policymakers, we made one thing abundantly clear: the child care crisis is not a burden for mothers to take on alone. It is a critical economic issue that demands support from the private sector.

Together — businesses, moms, and government — we are building a movement to fight for real solutions for moms. We can, and will, create a world where no parent is forced to choose between their job and their families.

A huge thank you to our partners and allies in this fight: Council of Economic Advisers, The White House, JBS USA, TIAA, UPS, Morgan Stanley, Chobani, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Ralph Lauren, Etsy, Deloitte, Bobbie, Community Offshore Wind, The Adecco Group, Adecco Group US Foundation, First Five Years Fund, U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Chamber of Commerce for making our 24-hours in D.C. one for the books.

And special thank you to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo for always championing women and girls.

Learn more about our work fighting for child care here: https://lnkd.in/giwMYA3F
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#ChildCare #ChildCareCrisis #ChamberOfCommerce #Commerce #MomsFirst