Melinda Gates, co-president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has called on the U.S. to expand access to paid family sick leave nationwide, citing the impact the global health crisis and economic recession have had on the women.
In an interview aired Monday on CNBC, Gates said the Covid-19 pandemic opened the curtain on the U.S. assistance crisis.
“In the recovery and in that recovery, one of the things that Congress will really have to take into account is paid family medical leave. He spent a lot of time in the United States,” he said in a conversation about “Closing Bell.” “We will not achieve such a solid or rapid recovery if we do not examine this infrastructure that we have abandoned for too long.”
Gates ’comments coincide with International Women’s Day, a global effort to recognize women’s achievements and the many roles they play in society. While a comprehensive plan is critical for working women, it would also be helpful for parents and men caring for sick family members.
Paid family sick leave is an insurance program that allows employees to take time off without losing pay. The program can be used by workers to care for babies or seriously ill relatives.
A national policy would put the United States in line with other developed countries that already give privilege to their citizens. The United States is one of the only industrialized nations in the world that does not have this policy, according to the World Policy Analysis Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Nine states have laws on books that offer the benefit to residents, though Gates said that’s not enough.
Critics of the idea argue that the program would be a burden for small businesses. Advocates propose, however, that it could be funded through salary deductions.
“There are some big policies that have been passed here in the United States, state by state, so it’s time we consider it as a nation,” he said.
While paid vacation would be helpful to the workforce in general, the impact would be particularly beneficial for women, said Gates, mother of three and wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. According to paid leave in the United States, a group that aims to advance family leave policies, 1 in 4 U.S. mothers return to work less than two weeks after childbirth.
The pandemic, which has led to nearly a year of social restrictions and layoffs by non-essential businesses, left millions of Americans unemployed. The layoffs pushed women, who leave the workforce at higher rates than men, to an especially difficult place.
Since February 2020, more than 2 million women have completely left the workforce, which has caused their labor force participation rate to fall to proportions not seen since 1988, according to the National Center for Women’s Rights. .
Women are more likely to be child caregivers and other relatives, and paid family leave will help them keep their jobs. The program would also provide benefits to men, helping to break the rules of caregivers in the country, as men are less likely to take family leave, Gates said.
He noted that the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus bill, which Congress is putting to the last touch before sending it to President Joe Biden, includes money for the daycare sector, but urged no more. She is also encouraged by the record number of women occupying seats in Congress, hoping their prospects will make a mark in the debates.
“Because this care crisis is here on our faces (you know, women are interspersed between caring for young children and the older generation), I think we’re finally going to take some action on that,” Gates said.