Associated Press
10-25-07
Clinton Wants Better Family Policies
By AMY LORENTZEN
AMES, Iowa - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that
government should help working mothers and lower-paid workers by giving them
more time off with pay.
Clinton said that starts with extending the federal Family and Medical Leave Act,
which now allows workers at businesses with at least 50 employees to take
unpaid leave to care for ill family members or a new child. Clinton wants to drop
the threshold to 25 employees.
The New York senator and presidential candidate said she also wants states to
experiment with paid leave, especially for workers in jobs that do not provide paid
time off.
"What we have done is to give advantages, again, in our society to higher-paid
workers," Clinton told about 1,500 people during a lecture at Iowa State
University.
She added that "a lot of women who don't have that option are barely given time
off to recover from childbirth, to bond with their baby and to go to work."
Clinton said businesses should let their workers spend more time at home
through flexible scheduling and telecommuting.
"Even if it's just like one day a week, or a half a day, you get some time to be
able to better manage all of these new responsibilities," she said.
Clinton commented in response to a question from a self-described feminist who
said she is trying to decide whether to have a family, a career or both.
"Most of the young women asking me want to have both," Clinton said. "They
want to have a chance to have a family if that's their choice and they want to be
able to continue working and make a contribution to the family income as well as
to their own satisfaction. I think we make it about as hard as we possibly can for
young women.
"I think we need to do more to have a set of family policies that create a context
in which you can make the decisions that are best for you," she said.
Clinton was delivering the Mary Louise Smith Chair lecture at ISU's Carrie
Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. Past speakers have included
Republican Elizabeth Dole and Democrat Carol Moseley Braun, who both ran for
president.
Clinton said that while it was wonderful to accept the honor at ISU, she hopes
that the stage one day will be crowded with female candidates.
"I'd like to make a prediction, that while there may be plenty of room on the stage
tonight, some day there will be enough of us to transform this event from a
lecture into a debate," she said.
Clinton has spent the month reaching out to female voters; polls show they are
among her strongest supporters.