Work Life Balance
Mamas on Bedrest: Denver is Poised to Pass Paid Sick Leave Bill
October 21st, 2011
Denver Colorado is poised to be the 4th US City to provide paid sick leave to its employees. Currently, Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, DC all have laws guaranteeing workers a certain of number of paid sick days-days which workers can take due to their own illness or to care for a sick relative. Connecticut is the only state with a law that guarantees paid sick leave for its employees.
According to The Denver Post, Backers submitted 12,636 petition signatures to the Denver Elections Division — more than triple the 3,973 that must be verified by election officials within 25 days to place the measure on the November ballot. The clerk and recorder certified 7,248 petition signatures. On November 1, 2011 ballot, Denver voters will vote on Initiative 300, The Paid Sick Leave Bill, and decide whether or not to make paid sick days the law.
The bill has been contentiously debated. Many businesses, legislative officials (including Gov. John Hickenlooper) oppose the bill stating that it will cost Denver too much, some $700,000 annually, and only add to the current budget shortfall. They also contend that this bill will put Denver at a competitive disadvantage compared with other Colorado Cities who don’ t have such a mandated sick leave policy. The Majority of the Denver City Council opposes the bill as well.
However, the majority of Denver voters are in favor of the bill. Huff Post Denver reports that in a press release Kyle Legleiter, President of the Colorado Public Health Association said this about the ballot initiative:
“The paid sick and safe time ballot initiative protects the public’s health. Most of the workers who will earn paid sick and safe time for the first time are lower-wage workers who may expose the public to illnesses in restaurants, childcare centers and medical caregiving, all because they simply cannot afford to miss a day’s pay.”
Low income workers and minorities stand to benefit the most from passage of the paid sick leave bill. Huff Post Denver further reports,
“A recent study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that access to paid sick days in Denver, for private sector workers 18 years and older, varied widely based on ethnicity and race, with Latinos and African Americans lacking paid sick days at significantly higher rates. Most of the jobs without paid sick time are in service industries like restaurants, childcare, home healthcare and construction, where workers have a great deal of interaction with public. Read more about their findings here.”
While the Denver battle may seem remote to Mamas on Bedrest, it is indicative of the change that is coming. No longer is it okay for women, minorities and low income workers to have to choose between keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table and caring for their health and the health of their families. Public outcry is strong and change is imminent. Let’ s hope that this wave of change will extend to paid maternity leave so that Mamas on Bedrest will be able to relax and calmly gestate their babies instead of stressing themselves out over whether or not they will be able to stay in their homes, maintain their jobs and their health insurance and be able to pay for the child that is on the way.
Are you a Mama on Bedrest in Denver? We’d love to hear your perspective on the Campaign for a Healthy Denver and Initiative 300. Share your thoughts below. You can also tweet us on Twitter @mamasonbedrest or post your comments on our Facebook page.
Mamas on Bedrest: Women need resources, financial and otherwise, to reduce their risk of depressive disorders.
August 22nd, 2011Daily I hear stories from women who are struggling to maintain their jobs, their homes, their family order and their own sense of self after being placed on bed rest. Data presented by Judith Maloni, PhD and others show that the number of depressive symptoms found in women placed on bed rest are associated with the length of time on bed rest (i.e. the longer women are on bed rest, the more depressive symptoms they tend to exhibit) and that bed rest is a precipitating factor for perinatal depression.
Delving deeper into mood disorders I was alarmed to find that women are disproportionally affected by depressive disorders more than men, and both are dramatically under treated. But what really stuck me is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) explanation for why women are at increased risk. According to WHO,
“Depression, anxiety, psychological distress, sexual violence, domestic violence and escalating rates of substance use affect women to a greater extent than men across different countries and different settings. Pressures created by their multiple roles, gender discrimination and associated factors of poverty, hunger, malnutrition, overwork, domestic violence and sexual abuse, combine to account for women’s poor mental health. There is a positive relationship between the frequency and severity of such social factors and the frequency and severity of mental health problems in women. Severe life events that cause a sense of loss, inferiority, humiliation or entrapment can predict depression.”
Now WHO is speaking about all forms of mental health disorders in all women, not just depression in women on bed rest. But looking at their statement, it is clear why bed rest can be such a difficult situation for a woman emotionally as well as physically.
Those of us who advocate on behalf of women on bed rest know that the loss of independence, the loss of a sense of well being, the potential loss of income which can lead to a loss in home and financial security and the very real potential loss of a child can all lead to depressive disorders. Yet, with all that is going on, depression in women across the board, let alone women on bed rest, remains under diagnosed and under treated. This under recognition and treatment, especially in mamas on bedrest, can lead to significant morbidity and mortality for both mother and baby. So how can we make changes in this scenario?
According to data presented to WHO by researchers, there are 3 main factors that are highly protective against the development of mood disorders, especially depression in women. These are:
- having sufficient autonomy to exercise some control in response to severe events.
- access to some material resources that allow the possibility of making choices in the face of severe events.
- psychological support from family, friends, or health providers is powerfully protective.
These are not shocking or highly complex solutions. Quite the contrary, these points could be easily implemented if we as a culture elevated the needs of women and children in our society.
It’s no secret that I am a staunch advocate for paid maternity leave, especially for women on bed rest. While one could argue that women having uncomplicated pregnancies are not actually “sick” and therefore don’t need to be paid for their time off to deliver, clearly women who are prescribed bed rest have medical issues with their pregnancies that warrant intervention and treatment. Yet, women placed on bed rest are rarely offered any sort of support for making informed choices and retaining any sort of autonomy. They typically lose or face dramatic reduction in material resources at a time when their need for such resources is dramatically increased. And finally, while some women on bed rest may have support of family and friends, many women (myself included) face their high risk pregnancies in relative isolation. It is alarming to me that the same woman could suffer a heart attack or stroke and would not face the same risk of job loss, loss of income, loss of home and security and isolation that a high risk pregnant woman on bed rest faces. We have to change this.
It would not take much for the US systems to reverse their policies and procedures. What it will take is “We the people” standing up and demanding that we place our citizens (women and children in particular) ahead of defense spending, ahead of supporting other nations, ahead of aid to other nations and ahead of corporate taxation and compensation. It can happen. We can make it happen. And the very health of our society and culture demand that we make it happen very soon or face dire consequences.
Judith A. Maloni and Seunghee Park “Postpartum Symptoms After Antepartum Bed Rest” March/April 2005 JOGNN 17. Volume 34 (2) 163-171.
The World Health Organization. Gender and Women’s Health. Gender Disparities and Mental Health: The Facts.
Please share your comments on this post in the comments section below.
Follow us on Twitter @mamasonbedrest.
Mamas on Bedrest: On Some Level, We Are All Yoani Sanchez
August 8th, 2011Mamas on Bedrest, we must stand in support of Cuban activist and Generation Y Blogger Yoani Sanchez because on some level, we are all Yoani Sanchez.
Who Is Yoani Sanchez?
Yoani Sanchez was born in 1975 and raised in Havana Cuba. She began her studies in philology, which according to Merriam-Webster is the study of human speech especially as the vehicle of literature and as a field of study that sheds light on cultural history.However, after receiving her degree in Philology in 2000, she found that her interests were no longer in linguistics so she worked in (required) social service for 2 years before leaving Cuba and traveling to Switzerland in 2002. When a family emergency arose in 2004, Yoani returned to Cuba, against the advice and much to the chagrin of her friends and acquaintances.
After returning to Cuba, Yoani discovered her true love-computer science, and thus began her work in writing, editing and web design. In 2007, Yoani started her own blog, Generation Y, which she herself describes as, ” “an exercise in cowardice” which lets me say, in this space, what is forbidden to me in my civic action.”And while her blog has garnered worldwide accolades, its cador about life in Cuba also caught the eye of the Cuban government. The result is a government imposed filter on her blog nationally so that Cubans on the island cannot read her blog. However, her worldwide connections have created a network such that her blog is distributed worldwide in some 15 languages. She has published three books, De Cuba, Com Carinho, Vivere e scrivere all’Avana and her newest book, Havana Real, published in May 2011.
Currently Yoani is being held within her own country. Because of her writings on life in Cuba, she has had her citizenship documentation seized and she is unable to obtain a visa to travel. She continues on but needs the help and support of readers worldwide to put pressure on the Cuban government to return her proof of citizenship documentation and to authorize a visa for travel.
Why Should Mamas on Bedrest Care About Yoani Sanchez?
This blog post is a departure from my normal posts on high risk pregnancy as it looks at and stands in support of Cuban activist Yoani Sanchez. Many of you who regularly read my blog may be asking, “Why should I care about some Cuban woman?”
Because Yoani is no different from you and me. She is a woman who sees the discriminiation against her people and the inequities among her people and it bothers her, saddens her, angers her. So she lifts her voice and writes her opinions. The greatest difference between Yoani and bloggers here in the United States is that we are protected by the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees us freedom of speech. I can blog my frustration at the lack of support for high risk pregnant women. I can openly be a part of a movement advocating for paid maternity leave. As far as blogs go, I may face scathing negative comments or no comments at all, but I can be reasonably certain that I am safe from physical harm and will have no government action against me personally.
But are we here in the US really any freer, or safer than Yoani? She speaks of human rights violations in Cuba. Are the rights for which Yoani advocates really any different than human rights, women’s rights, many advocate for here in the US?
Planned Parenthood stands for the rights of women to have safe, accessible well woman care including access to birth control and safe, legal abortions. Yet, for their stand, they are currently being defunded by state and federal legislative officials.
Dr. George Tiller literally gave his life and career as a physician to provide women with safe, legal abortions. For his efforts he was targeted by anti-abortion extremists; his home and family were threatened, he was shot and wounded in 1993 and finally fatally shot on May 31, 2009.
And as I type many of you mamas on bed rest are wringing your hands wondering if you will lose your job, your income, your health care benefits and potentially your home because we don’t have paid maternity/family leave in the United States. Suddenly the guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness seems far from reach.
The issues about which Yoani writes are truly no different from issues mamas on bed rest face here in the United States. We struggle long hours in jobs where we give our all yet are still unable to make ends meet. Some of us work several jobs yet don’t have health care benefits. The recent debt debates amongsts our elected legislators held many of us in economic imbalance, wondering if we would slip between the cracks while our elected officials played a political “game of chicken” with our nation’s funds and our individual finances. Mamas on Bedrest, we are no different than Yoani Sanchez. To quote my dearly departed grandfather, its “The same s–t, different day!” (Actually its a different country, but I’m sure you get the gist of what I mean!)
We can’t ignore discrimination and inhumane treatment of people (women) anywhere. We can’t act as if it could never (or isn’t) happening here. It already has. Remember the fight for the right of women to vote? What about the Civil Rights Movement? Or the battle that ensued for women to have safe, legal abortions? No Mamas, things here aren’t entirely different than they are in Cuba.
Please stand with me in support of Yoani Sanchez and send a message to the Cuban government to return her citizenship documents and issue her a visa so that she may travel internationally. Post a comment on this blog and the blog and its comments will be sent as part of an initiative to have Yoani’s documents returned and her visa granted. Write your legislator. Write the US Embassy or sign a petition. Let the Cuban and United States governments know that we will not stand for discrimination or oppression of people anywhere.
Lend your voice and stand with/for Yoani because in the end, on some level, we are all Yoani Sanchez.
