California NOW

Working for Working Families

Today we will be attending the California Working Families Policy Summit. The theme for this year’s half-day Summit is Our Common Cause: Confronting Current Crises & Forging a New Vision. Leading advocates will offer proposals and long-term agendas to preserve the safety net, build family economic security, and promote family-friendly workplaces. We will also get to hear speeches by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis and a taped message on working families from First Lady Michelle Obama. 

We look forward to sharing with you the results of this day, and having your support in moving forward on policies that will help Californian families during this recession.

If you are attending the Summit, please meet up with us during the networking period before the luncheon.
 

Woman, Warrior, Mother: Claudia Zamorano

 This is the testimony of Claudia Zamorano, a parent leader with the Marin Chaper of Parent Voices, at the hearing of the California Assembly Labor Committee with the Women's Caucus on "A Woman's Nation Changes Everything" How the Shriver Report Impacts California Working Families held Wednesday, February 17th. We are honored to be able to share her words, and hope to bring you more of the courageous stories of Parent Voices members who we heard that day.

Thank you for allowing me to speak before you today. My name is Claudia Zamorano. I am the mother of two beautiful children, Alicia Daniela, age 11 and Alexander, age 4. Never in my life did I expect to be standing before you telling you my story. Just two years ago I had a family, a home, a business – the so-called American Dream but since then it has taken a 180 degree turn. Now I stand here empty handed because I lost it all in a divorce.

I did not understand how hard people really had it until I had to live it. I am not a woman that likes to just sit around, so I enrolled myself in cosmetology school and completed it. However, I have not been able to continue with my training and apply for the state board license because I spent my savings on my schooling and now I struggle to pay for the license and finish what I studied so hard for. I went to school to get us out of where we are today. But in order to complete my license I would need to attend classes that are only offered in the morning, the same time when I have to work. Even if I had my license I would have to be away from my children 40 hours a week to build a clientele and I cannot afford the cost of childcare while doing it! So right now I work 32 hours a week as a nanny to make ends meet – and it is a struggle everyday. That is the irony of it all. I work to support another family so they can have work/life balance, but I do not have that same option for myself. Since last January I have been on a list waiting to receive child care assistance. How long must I wait? If I had child care I could work more and I could pay more taxes. The money I made I would spend on bills, groceries, rent, which are all things that help my local economy. And my son would be in an environment where he can develop and be with qualified caregivers who would give him the necessities when I cannot be there.

How "A Woman's Nation" Impacts California Families & Workers

 Yesterday California NOW attended a hearing of the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment dedicated to The Shriver Report, A Woman's Nation Changes Everything.

Over the coming week, we hope to be able to share with you some of the touching, inspiring, and enlightening stories shared by members of Parent Voices at the hearing. Today we will share with you some of the facts that came out of the hearing.
(Interestingly, some similar stats were recently covered at Feministe, so go take a look at the back-and-forth there as well.)

• 6 million employees do not have even a single sick day. 
• Equal Pay for women would increase women's average income by $4,000, and that amount would be enough to cut poverty rates in half. These figures took into account job position, education level, hours, region, and other factors, so they refer to cases where we can directly compare men and women's wages. 
• "Traditional" 2-parent & child(ren) families are now the minority of U.S. families. 
• 50% of workers are not protected by family leave laws. 
• 25% of families are single-parent families. 
• Only 28% of Californians know about our state's Paid Family Leave law. Only 15% of low-income workers know about the law. 

What can we do to help take care of workers and their families? Assemblymember Fiona Ma has a Paid Sick Leave bill currently on-hold due to the state's financial crisis, and there are efforts underway to expand Paid Family Leave to cover grandparents, siblings, and other extended family members.

We must work to ensure that our laws to protect workers do not interact in ways that remove protections. For example, a right to family leave is meaningless without job protection to ensure that a worker who takes leave can return to their job. We must continue to spread the word on Paid Family Leave so that all Californians know about the program and how to use it. We must prevent Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed raid of SDI funds to pay for yet another job training program. We must work to promote awareness of Family Responsibilities Discrimination among both workers and employers.

And we must continue to work towards accessible, affordable, quality elder, disabled, and child care to enable workers to contribute to our state's economy without sacrificing care for family members.

A Day in Their Shoes: Poverty in California

Last week I attended the "A Day in their Shoes" event by Step Up California, designed to help advocates and policy makers experience what life is like for a family living in poverty in California.

We were divided into "families' and each person was assigned a role in that family.  I was Al Aber Jr., a 10-year-old living with hi mother, father, 8-year-old brother, and 2-months-pregnant 16-year-old sister.  Our father was out of work, and his unemployment insurance had just run out.  Our mother brought in $1,324/month (post-taxes) at her full-time job ($9/hour).  Our bills added up to $1,545/month ($610/housing, $285/utilities, $100/student loans, $110/food, $40/clothes, $150/credit card (minimum), $250/auto loan).

As we played out a month in the life of the family, with each week a 15-minute session, our family fell farther and farther behind.  The father got a new job, only to be fired a week later.  The pregnant sister attempted to access resources, only to be told after several weeks and visits, that she was not eligible until the baby was born.  Meanwhile, she had lost school time in trying to gain health coverage for her pregnancy.  The two younger children were picked up by social services three times for neglect because we could not afford after-school care, and there was no one home with us.  The younger brother eventually turned to theft to help support the family.

Prop. 8 Federal Trial Begins - Follow It!

The Supreme Court has blocked taping of the federal prop. 8 trial while they consider whether it should be allowed to be broadcast.  The prohibition will be in place until at least Wednesday, but you can still get up to date information on how the trial is proceeding.

If you're on Twitter, follow the live tweets of @ACLU_norcal and @AmerEqualRights. If you aren't on Twitter, you can read liveblogging on the trial from FDL and the Courage Campaign. Also check the daily analysis from Shannon Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) via Pam's House Blend. 

Unlike the previous Prop. 8 trial, in which we filed an amicus brief opposing Prop.8, only the parties directly involved can participate in the trial process. Regardless of how this case is decided, we can assume it will be appealed, and once it is in federal appeals court, California NOW will once again work to support the loving same-sex couples of california whose right to marry should be legally recognized.

This case shows how important federal judicial appointments are, and especially Supreme Court appointments. The Supreme Court decided not to allow taping and broadcast of the trial so far, and it is very likely that the Supreme Court will eventually decide the final outcome of this case after appeal.  The right to abortion is not the only one that hangs in the balance when we consider shifts in the make up of the federal courts and the Supreme Court.

Eating Disorders are Forever.

Hey, long time no post.  Things have been very hectic in my household, some good, some bad, some indifferent.  As to the bad, we lost our beloved, 14 year old Ronin-cat to kidney disease.  As to the good, we moved into a wonderful new house with a wonderful new room-mate.  The cats are happy, we are happy.  It's delightful. 

However, back to less than delightful news, my old friend Disordered Eating has reared its ugly head.  This happens every time things get stressful, like, say moving. As I get more and more wound up over what's going on in my life, I eat less and less, frequently not noticing until someone else, usually my husband, asks what I had for breakfast or lunch, and I can't answer him.  Sometimes I try to make myself eat, but when my head gets like this I always find reasons to put it off.  "I'm busy.  Just one more task and then I'll eat.  Nothing I have sounds good, and I wasn't that hungry anyway..."  Sometimes the only reason I eat at all is because I still have a lot of the sneaky-shame around Not Eating, and not eating dinner with my husband would tip him off. 

This week in therapy we talked about that, and the only thing I could come up with to describe how Not Eating felt was, "Not eating feels like winning.  It's comforting and feels good.  When facets of my life are spiralling out of my control, I can always Not Eat."

Insist Prop. 8 Hearing Be Televised!

U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker -- who will be overseeing a federal court challenge to Prop 8 starting this Monday (January 11) -- is considering whether or not to open the court room to TV cameras. 

The Anti-equality supporters of Prop 8 do NOT want the trial to be televised. We are supporting the work of CREDO and the Courage Campaign to open the courtroom to cameras to ensure transparency in this momentous case.

All comments from the public on this issue must be submitted to the court by Friday morning. Sign the petition to submit your public comment. 

Feminist Parenting: The Larger Picture

I have a suggestion for all the people out there who consider themselves progressives, and who are currently child free.

Before you decide to say that kids shouldn't be allowed on airplanes, in restaurants, in theaters, or basically out in public at all unless they're able to behave like miniature adults, take a moment to realize that you are spouting the exact same rationale that allows privileged groups to tell marginalized groups to sit down, shut up, and adapt to the world built for people of privilege rather than demanding that the world adapt to them by becoming more just.

When you say that kids need to act like adults to be acceptable in the public eye, you're in league with those who say the LGBT community should just "act straight" and not be out in public forcing people to acknowledge their existence.

When you get annoyed that kids being around impacts your ability to have the quiet adults-only experience you wanted, you are acting very similarly to those who complain that fat people walking around in bathing suits like they have the nerve to be ok with their bodies makes a day at the beach unpleasant.

Yes, the adult world is not designed for kids. Nor is the able-bodied world designed to accommodate disabled bodies, nor the cisgender world to facilitate the lives of trans people, nor the neurotypical world for NNT folks. The world we have is designed to make life easier for those at the top of the pyramid of kyriarchy. Let's pull no punches here, that means the world is designed for the comfort and convenience of white, able-bodied, straight, attractive, neurotypical, slim, educated, cisgender, high-income adult males (and there are undoubtedly some categories that I've forgotten here that also convey privilege).

Yet almost never do progressives just decide that, hey, those pyramid toppers really are the majority, so they deserve to have the world adapt to them. Folks who are in the minority, who find the world as it exists to help the pyramid toppers just doesn't accommodate or even acknowledge their needs? Well, those folks really just need to accept things as they are and do their best to fit into "normal" society. And if they can't do that? Well, then they need to at least get out of the public eye, instead of demanding that they be treated as human beings with equal rights. Because acknowledging their equal rights and changing society so that everyone can participate equally is a pain for the pyramid toppers.

And let's face it, most of us are somewhere further up on that pyramid than the bottom rung. Most of us have our areas of privilege, and it's damn easy to ignore the privilege we have in favor of complaining about the ones we don't have.

Here's one that pretty much everyone reading this has: adult privilege.

Power to the Peaceful Showed Girls Rock!

Check out the great pics from the Power to the Peaceful concert, where we sponsored the Kid's Zone and stage!  (Pictures are up in an album on our Facebook page.)

We got to support young women and girl musicians like Jaden, Pop Lyfe, The Bay Area Girls, the Peace-outs, and more!

We'll be participating in the Woodstock 40th Anniversary West Fest  concert in San Francisco on October 25th, so if you missed us last weekend, be sure to catch us there!

Social Security Credit for At-home Caretakers?

We love this idea!

What a way to show real family values and to value the work of family caregivers (often women) by crediting their unpaid work with an accrual towards Social Security benefits.

Although the "salary" they would be credited with is pitifully low ($16,000), it would be a huge step forward in acknowledging the unpaid hours of work that goes into care of a child, ill, or elderly relative.