Over 80% of U.S. women have babies by the time they’re 44 years old, and three-quarters of moms are now in the labor force, but our family economic security policies are still stuck in the dark ages.  That’s right: Even though 177 other countries have some form of paid family leave for new moms after the birth of a child, the U.S. doesn’t.  It’s no wonder that having a baby is now a leading cause of poverty spells in our nation—which is a time when income dips below what’s needed for food and rent.   But while millions of women struggle after the birth of a new child, a few highly paid women are stepping back from taking leave after the birth of a new child at all--and sparks are flying. The announcement of Marissa Mayer, the new chief of Yahoo, that her maternity leave would be “a few weeks long, and she’ll work throughout it,” ignited a firestorm of feedback.    For one thing, not all women have the same choices and options for childcare as a millioniare CEO.  For another thing, Marissa Mayer's comment flew into the face of a long fight in the women’s movement for everyone to have access to paid family leave, which is a policy proven to decrease poverty, save taxpayers and businesses funds, and to help build healthy families.   Joining us in our lively conversation on this show about maternity and paternity leave are policy experts, celebrities, real moms, and advocates, as well as real moms who’ve been able to take family leave, and moms who’ve needed family leave but couldn’t take it

*Thank you to special guests including: Benjamin Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP; Christy Turlington, model and founder of Every Mother Counts; Debra Ness, National Partnership for Women and Families; Marilyn Watkins, Economic Opportunity Institute; Selena Allen, MomsRising mom; as well as Elisa Batista, Monifa Bandele and Ruth Martin of MomsRising.

From firefighters discussing the Mayor of Scranton cutting their pay to $7.25 an hour, to the International President of the SEIU sharing that  2/3 of all people making minimum wage are women (& sharing what you can do about it), to moms trying to get by while raising kids on low wages, and to experts explaining how CEO pay has sky-rocketed by 725% over the last 30 years as the minimum wage hasn't even kept up with inflation; tune in and join us as we talk about how the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour doesn't cut it for supporting a family.

In fact, if you work full-time, year round, at federal minimum wage, you’ll make only about $15,000 each year.  And if you follow the bouncing ball, $15,000 per year is almost $9,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of four.  You don’t need a calculator to figure out that these numbers are a problem. 

*Thank you to special guests: Julie Vogtman, National Women's Law Center; Margaret Lewis, mom and public transporter; John Judge, Scranton City Firefighter; Losia Nyankale, Restaurant Opportunity Center; and Mary Kay Henry, International President of the SEIU.

From the rumors that Mitt Romney is considering a woman as Vice President, to the so-called “Palin Factor,” this show features lively conversations about women in leadership & sexism in politics.  With women comprising only 17% of Congress, our nation ranks a low 91^st of all nations in terms of women’s representation. The United States is behind Rwanda, Costa Rica, Denmark, South Africa, Argentina and 86 other countries. We can do better.

• *Special guests include: Siobhan Sam Bennett, from the Women's Campaign Fund; Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable Intergenerational Public Policy Network; Jennifer Lawless, Director of American University's Women & Politics Institute; Adrienne Kimmell, Executive Director, Barbara Lee Foundation; and Washington State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown.

Sick days! Did you know that nearly 80% of low wage workers and 40% of all private sector workers don’t have access to a single paid sick day? Put these numbers together along with the fact that 100% of us get sick, and you can see how our lack of access to paid sick days could be a national issue with rippling repercussions to families, to businesses, and to public health.  

Join us today to hear from the Department of Labor, moms who’ve been fired just for getting sick, business owners, elected leaders, and policy experts all talking about how to build a nation where no-one gets fired simply for getting sick.

• *Thank you to special guests including Adriana Kugler, chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor; Makini Howell, business owner; Wendy Chun-Hoon, Policy Director of Family Values at Work; Marianne Bullock, a mom who was fired when her daughter got sick; and paid sick days policy champion, Seattle City Council-member Nick Licata.

Leader Nancy Pelosi, policy experts, and real moms share the lowdown on what the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision means to your health, to your family’s health, and to our economy.  The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as healthcare reform, in a 5 – 4 decision. Join us to hear what's really going on with healthcare in our nation right now.