Advocates fight for a cause, in favor of something, an idea, a person, a principle. What is advocacy? Advocacy is the act or process of public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy. It is any activity by an individual or group that aims to influence decisions within political, economic and social systems and institutions.
There is a movement for national paid family leave programs in the world of work. In this case, a dadvocate is a person or group who is fighting for paternity leave legislation.
On this day, dadvocates will present petitions with more than 40,000 signatures to the staff of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They are pressing for movement on a national paid family-leave program. The group, Paid Leave for the U.S., and one of the dadvocates are meeting with Pelosi’s office to ask for federally mandated paternity leave legislation.
The group also held a paid leave day of action in Washington, D.C. in October, 2019. This group is pressing California’s leaders for action on their cause. They say that paid leave allows families crucial bonding time that pays dividends for years to come. So true!
It’s not just about the fact that you’re forming these important relationships for the rest of your life. It’s also about just the mental and spiritual health of the family as a whole.
The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not have a national paid leave program. These dadvocates believe that it can happen this year, with bipartisan support. They also have garnered support from businesses and families.
It is time to bring this proposed legislation to a vote. It is and has always been a priority for families and should be a priority for Congress.
1 in 4 new mothers in the United States is back to work just two weeks after childbirth and most fathers don’t have one day of paid paternity leave. Fathers are important to the healthy development of children, but do not reflect this principle through our legislative support.
Paid maternity leave is important for working mothers, especially in single female-headed households. It helps to maintain the financial supports that are possible through employment, while also helping the bonding process between babies and their mother in the early months of infancy. What it doesn’t do is provide pay that allows for longer leave periods.
By the same token, fathers receive minimal to no supports during the critical period after childbirth. The message this lack of consideration for parental leave sends is contradictory to research and the importance of the family, parenting and children’s well-being.
What we seem to be saying in America is, unless issues such as this directly impact our political leaders and representatives, there is no movement towards comprehensive change. The message is that if we choose to have children and adults work outside of the home, they must go it alone-without support for them, jeopardizing their job security, absent support from employers, or support for their children or family members.
Paid family leave programs not only support newly born, adopted or fostered children, they also support workers who must care for family members with serious health conditions. Leave programs would also assist when a spouse or partner, child or parent is deployed overseas on active military service. Ultimately, allowing the legislation of whole family leave programs promotes the financial stability of households, and thus the economic prosperity of the nation.
Though a handful of states, California, New Jersey, Rhode Island and recently New York and soon Washington, D.C., have paid family and medical leave laws, dadvocates are lobbying for a nationally mandated paid family leave program which includes fathers, as well as mothers, spouses and family members, as a total group covered within the framework. This is where inclusiveness must characterize legislation.
Why would we not support ‘dadvocates’?
DIVERSITY University 