Because care work
is work.
Care work is often invisible.
It’s just what we do: as parents, child care providers, teachers, direct care workers, family caregivers, community members - and as Maine people.
Care work is often unpaid
or underpaid.
Care work seems “free,” so it gets left out of most policy conversations. But care work comes at a cost, including caregivers’ and parents’ ability to fully participate in the workplace, save for retirement, find time to give back to our communities, and do what they need to for their families.
Care work is crucial to
our economy.
It became crystal clear during the pandemic: without care work, many other kinds of work grind to a halt. Care workers keep our economy running.
Support candidates who support care.
— NOVEMBER 8 —
Care is on the ballot this November because we need elected representatives who recognize that care work is work. Over the last few years, we’ve made significant movement toward recognizing and compensating care work in Maine:
We’ve seen major investments in increasing the number of childcare slots available and investment in childcare workforce development.
Maine’s Paid Family & Medical Leave Commission put forth a statewide plan that makes it clear that a program in Maine is possible and affordable.
Direct care workers in long-term care facilities are now seeing higher wages recognizing the hard work they do every day.
And we’re just getting started.
Your voice and vote are more important than ever.
Recognizing and compensating care work
will advance gender equity in Maine.
Paid Family & Medical Leave
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No one should have to decide between caring for their family and putting food on the table. Workers would be far less likely to lose their job because of illness, injury, or a family emergency.
Paid Family & Medical Leave supports families, businesses, and our economy. A comprehensive paid leave program means every family in Maine has the time they need to welcome a new baby, care for themselves, tend to a loved one, support themselves during a loved one’s military deployment, or recover from domestic abuse.
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A 2021 Omnibus Poll (*) showed that Mainers want paid family & medical leave: 75.5% of Mainers support creating a statewide paid leave program. This includes 84.7% of Democrats, 70% of Republicans, and 72.8% of Independents.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leaves out 44 percent of the workforce. Workers who qualify for FMLA have only unpaid leave, which millions cannot afford to take. Workers earning less than $15 an hour are least likely to be covered by FMLA, a reality that greatly impacts Latino, Asian, and Black people.
Women have lost over 5 million jobs during the pandemic, and women of color have suffered the greatest losses.
* Pan Atlantic Research (December 2021). The 57th Pan Atlantic Research Omnibus Poll. -
Investments in Child Care
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Every Maine family deserves access to high quality, affordable, and culturally relevant child care. Every child care provider should be paid a wage that reflects the essential work they do. And it shouldn’t fall on parents or providers to foot the bill - or suffer without childcare - for an inadequate system.
A recent study found that mothers who were unable to find a child care program were significantly less likely to be employed than those with child care. There was no impact on fathers’ employment.
Affordable, flexible, family-focused childcare is essential to participation in the workforce. It needs to work for all families at rates they can afford. And this women-led workforce is often underpaid. It's a vicious cycle - families can't afford childcare, and childcare workers aren't getting a living wage.
Our current unsustainable and discriminatory child care system is rooted in sexism and racism. Black women - as enslaved people and as domestic workers - have provided child care for white children. The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act left out domestic workers - excluding many Black workers - from protections like the minimum wage and overtime eligibility. The lack of recognition and protections for child care workers persist today.
Civil rights activists were key in a bipartisan national effort for universal child care. These efforts would have resulted in a law creating universal child care in the U.S. half a century ago if not for opposition from white conservatives, including white women.
We need to increase investments in child care. Broad support exists for a universal public childcare system. We need our elected officials to act.
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Our nation loses $57 billion each year in economic productivity and revenue losses due to lack of access to child care.
86 percent of primary caregivers said problems with child care hurt their efforts or time commitment at work.
Since the start of the pandemic, over 5 million women and mothers have had to leave the workforce, devastating our economy and families.
Before the pandemic, mothers were 40 percent more likely than fathers to report that they had personally felt the negative impact of child care issues on their careers.
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An Anti-Racist Approach to Supporting Child Care Through COVID-19 and Beyond
The Child Care Crisis Is Keeping Women Out of the Workforce
Principles for Child Care: A Vision for Investing in High-Quality, Affordable Child Care
Principles for Child Care: A Vision for Investing in High-Quality, Affordable Child Care
Other countries have a social safety net. The U.S. has women.
Unpaid & Underpaid Labor
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Maine women make less money than men across the lifespan and are more likely to live in poverty. Race, ethnicity, and gender have compounding effects: women of color face higher rates of poverty compared to white women across all ages.
Women are also more likely to work in occupations which have been undervalued and underpaid - in part because they are traditionally ‘women’s roles.’ Research shows that when women join industries that pay more, wages go down as employers value the work less.
85% of Maine caregivers are women. This unpaid care labor means women are more likely to work part-time or to leave the workforce, limiting their ability to access health insurance or save for retirement, and reducing Social Security benefits in later life.
Taken together, wage disparities, undervalued labor, and unpaid care labor mean that women enter their older years far less financially secure than men. Thousands of older Maine women can't meet their basic needs.
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85% of Maine’s caregivers are women.
Maine women earned $7,592 less than Maine men in 2016. The difference grew to $12,584 in 2020.*
Women are more likely to live in poverty than men. And - the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender have compounding effects: women of color face even higher rates of poverty compared to white women - across all ages.*
*U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey, 2016-2020
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Reproductive Justice
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The ability to choose when and how to have a family is essential to racial, gender, and economic justice. It is essential to our communities. 59% of people who have an abortion already have at least one child. Abortion restrictions are about controlling the power of moms, caregivers, and people who can become pregnant. Only you should decide whether you have a child - especially when you are the one bearing the costs associated with having one.
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Our elected representatives should carry our values to Augusta when making decisions on issues that matter to us: prioritizing the needs of working families and valuing and compensating care work so Maine women can meaningfully participate in the workforce.
Your vote this November decides whether
Maine continues to build better systems of care.
So what can you do?
How do you make sure candidates who support care are elected to represent you and your family? We have a few ideas!
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Here is a document with the questions we’ve listed below.
Care Questions for Candidates
Taking time away from work after a new baby joins the family or taking care of a sick or aging loved one is hard on the paycheck. Do you support a statewide program for paid family and medical leave for Maine? If not, why not? If so, would you be willing to sign this pledge committing to supporting such a program if you are elected?
Women are more likely to reduce their work hours or leave the workforce altogether once they have a child due to lack of child care options. This is a significant issue for gender equity in Maine. What ideas do you have to support affordable child care for working families?
Would you support proposals like expanding supports like the childcare subsidy or the child tax credit, so more Maine families can afford quality child care?
Would you support proposals that would provide funding to Maine child care providers to increase their ability to provide quality child care for Maine families?
How else would you help families with caregiving needs? How would you help family caregivers who are working and providing care to loved ones?
How would you work toward making sure that child care workers and direct care workers are making a living wage and have affordable, comprehensive benefits through their employer?
What other policies would you support to help care workers while also making their services (child care, health care, etc.) affordable to those who need them?
Unpaid caregivers often have to take time off of work or leave the workforce entirely to take care of a sick or aging loved one at home. What kind of policies would you support to help unpaid caregivers make ends meet?
How would you support expanding access to professional caregiving services, to support unpaid caregivers who need help for tasks they are not trained to do?
Do you support a person’s right to make their own reproductive choices?
What kind of policies would you support or introduce to ensure Maine people have more and ongoing access to reproductive health care, such as abortions, birth control, and preventative health care?
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Writing a Letter to the Editor (LTE) can feel intimidating, but it’s a great way to share your ideas with your community. The purpose of an LTE is not to be an expert, but to give a snapshot of your own experience. Most LTEs are between 250-300 words (check your local newspaper’s requirements first), and that goes fast! You can start with your point, follow it with your experience, and then connect that experience to some data if you have time.
A great resources to get you started: How To Write A Letter To The Editor
Click here for a list of Maine newspapers, the required word count for LTEs, and the contact information for submitting them. Good luck and feel free to share a link with us when they are published!
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We would love to have a treasure trove of stories from Maine people who feel comfortable sharing their care work experiences. Send us an email and we can connect with you on how to share with us!
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If you want to get your friends, family, neighbors, and community involved you can host a Care About Care event! Email us and we can get you started on ideas and provide information!
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Share this webpage with your social media networks. Feel free to use this caption or come up with your own!
Without care work, other work grinds to a halt. Care workers keep our economy running. Stand with me and support candidates who know care work is work - and will vote like it. Learn more here: mainewomen.org/votecare -
If there are local businesses you know offer paid family and medical leave, let them know that they can take action and encourage them to publicly support other kinds of care work.