Just when you're having a preeety good Wednesday, you're reminded that actually, things kinds suck.
According to this USA Today article, Motherly recently asked 6,457 millennial moms what they think about being a mom in the U.S. And the results were mostly a big pile of steaming hot toddler poo. And let me tell you, that is the quite literally the very worst kind of poo.
A few shitty snippets:
85% of women felt that society did not do a good job of supporting and understanding mothers. Half said that stronger government policies like paid family leave and child care credits would make the biggest impact, while 22% wanted more understanding from employers such as flexible hours or part-time work schedules.
Although some companies vary on their family leave policies, the law is that employees are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. The U.S. is the only developed country that doesn't guarantee paid maternity leave.
Come on, America. We can do better than this.
I'm fortunate enough to work at a small office that not only employs moms, but supports moms with flexible schedules, a general understanding of what it takes to be a working mom and a healthy appreciation for work-life balance. But the fact this is the exception and not the norm is bonkers. Scratch that, it's utter bullshit. It gets me all sorts of fired up. So it's good that this article has 2-ish up-sides to it:
Sixty percent of working moms said their employers provide adequate support, time and privacy for breastfeeding.
A majority of women also said that being employed helps them set a better example for their kids and encourages them to be better mothers.
But allow me to throw a dark cloud over this little silver lining for a sec. Re-read that lest sentence above. Sooo...this article leads me to believe that working hard for a shitty employer in a pretty shitty country that does a shitty job of supporting moms inspires the MOMS work even harder to be BETTER mothers? While the shitty employer and the shitty jobs and the shitty country just stay...shitty?
Well, shit. Looks like my Wednesday just officially went down the toilet.
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