Carolyn Maloney Quotes About Children
-
In my research, I found that since 1979, women have lost the equivalent to one night's sleep due to the pressures of balancing work and family. And as more women have gone into the work force because they have to, and when you discriminate against a woman's pay you discriminate against her children or her husband or her significant other in terms of what the family income is.
→ -
Usually women are the lynchpins of the family. They carry the brunt of the work at home and of being mothers and of taking care of the children. Not always. I have a wonderful husband, who is a great father and has helped tremendously at home. And I think that men are getting in touch and I think that the role that they have is so important, to be a good father and have a good career and be a good husband. But I think that as more and more women go into the workforce, you have to have more help at home and it becomes more of a sharing of responsibilities.
→ -
I just remember when my first child was born I called the personnel office and I asked them about their leave policies. And they said, "Leave policies? Women just leave and they don't come back." And I said, "But I want to come back." They said, "We have no leave policy." And then they said, "Why don't you apply for disability?" Well, having a child is not a disability.
→ -
More women are working because they have to, that's what it takes to put the food on the table and pay the rent. And yet we have not changed our policies to support the family. The right wing goes to the floor, and they did when they were in power, and talk about family values. Well, where are they? Family values is support for child care. Family values is equal pay for equal work so that women are paid appropriately.
→ -
As more women have gone into the workforce, they find it harder to be a good mother and a good worker. When I go into the office, I always feel guilty. I'm thinking about the children. When I'm at home, I'm thinking about my work. So you're always under tremendous pressure. Women feel very stressed. They feel like they're working harder and harder and harder. And society is not really helping them.
→ -
I firmly believe that if you help a woman, then you educate a child, you help the family. Because women are very focused on health care and education and on the family. So if you help a woman, you help the family, you help the village, you help the country. And so empowering women is a very important part of moving, not just women forward, but the economy of the nation forward. Particularly in very substandard nations.
→ -
You see we're a country that talks about family values. But we haven't passed anything to help family values since the Family and Medical Leave Act. And the Family and Medical Leave Act was one of the first things I voted on when I came to Congress. It was very thrilling to me, because when my first child was born, I was terrified of being fired. When my second child was born, I was a member of the city council, and in some ways it was easier to respond to 250 constituents than it was to respond to one employer.
→
Related Authors
-
Sean Patrick Maloney U.S. Representative -
Steve Israel U.S. Representative -
Eliot Engel U.S. Representative -
Yvette Clarke U.S. Representative -
Kirsten Gillibrand United States Senator -
Jose Serrano United States Representative -
Carolyn McCarthy Former U.S. Representative -
Reshma Saujani Lawyer -
Stephen F. Lynch U.S. Representative -
Nita Lowey U.S. Representative -
John Mica U.S. Representative -
Joseph Crowley U.S. Representative -
Louise Slaughter United States Representative -
Grace Meng United States Representative -
Nydia Velazquez United States Representative -
Jerrold Nadler U.S. Representative -
Charles Schumer United States Senator -
Charles Rangel U.S. Representative -
Eleanor Holmes Norton United States Representative -
William Lacy Clay, Jr. U.S. Representative