Re: Int'l petitoin endorsement letter & latest petition
Alicia Dorsey
Red Hen Exploring Our Conditions
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DHEx Enterprises, LLC
P.O. Box 44158
6353 Germantown Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19144
PhL 215-844-4200
www.dhexenterprises.com
Request for endorsement
Dear sisters and brothers,
We are requesting your endorsement and active support for An International Petition demanding A LIVING WAGE FOR MOTHERS AND OTHER CAREGIVERS (see below and attached). The petition was introduced in several US cities and countries in the Global North and South during March, International Women’s Month. The petition campaign is part of the growing movement in the US and internationally for a living wage for all workers, and for pay equity in the US and in the global market. All workers are entitled to a living wage, including mothers and caregivers -- the hardest workers and the most neglected!Caregiving is the foundation of the economy and society in the US and around the world, estimated some years back at $1.5 trillion to the US economy. The human race, the planet and all other forms of life cannot survive without caregiving work. Yet this work, mainly done by women, when done outside the home is devalued and underfunded. In the home and in communities, urban and rural, it is not funded at all.
Women continue to do 2/3 of the world’s work. Some women have advanced as professionals and politicians; some have even joined the 1% which has gotten richer and richer. But most women, especially mothers, are struggling to keep ourselves and our loved ones afloat: in the US, the richest country in the world, one third of children live in poverty. The poorer we are, in communities of color, rural and other communities, the more survival and other work we must do.
Those in your community, organization or networks have, as with so many of us, been likely impacted by and are struggling against the growing income divide (indeed many elected officials seem afraid to even mention the word “poverty”) by: the dismantling of the safety net including “welfare reform” which also undercut the wages for those in the waged labor force, and other cuts; the low wages of homecare and domestic workers and others in the waged caregiving industry; single mothers and our families becoming the fastest growing population among the homeless and single mothers the fastest growing population in prison; food insecurity; the alarming rate at which children are being removed from their homes largely due to poverty and racism and placed in foster care
This is an opportunity for those of us who are in waged work to stand together with those of us who are unwaged. With your support, investing in caring work would help to close the income gap between women and men. It would draw more men into caring. It would redirect economic and social policies towards survival, health and well-being – for every individual and for the planet which sustains us all.
We hope you and/or your organization will endorse the international petition and circulate it widely for signatures. You can endorse online here or on our website http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/ where you can also find the petition in several languages – we welcome any offers of translation. Please get in touch if you want to get more involved in the petition campaign.
Also, please send us your stories, we want to know and share with others what is happening to mothers and other caregivers in your community – what struggles you are involved in, what your demands are, what repression you are facing, what you are winning. We want to work together to raise the status of the hidden workforce of caregivers in the US and around the world.
Invest in caring, invest in a living wage!
Margaret Prescod for Women of Color in the Global Women’s Strike/US
Phoebe Jones, Global Women’s Strike/US.
Pat Albright, Every Mother is a Working Mother Network
Sam Weinstein, labor union activist, former labor union officer, member Payday Men’s Network
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Petition to ALL governments
A living wage for mothers
and other caregivers
Caring for others is the foundation of every society, yet this work, done mostly by women, is devalued and underfunded.
We demand that:
1. Every worker be paid a living wage, including mothers and other caregivers.
2. National and international budgets redirect financial support and resources to mothers and other caregivers.
Issued by: Global Women’s Strike (GWS) & Women of Color in GWS phi...@globalwomenstrike.net 215-848-1120 www.globalwomenstrike.net
Ask your organization / group / union to endorse.
We demand a living wage for mothers and other caregivers because:
· Every worker is entitled to a living wage. Women do 2/3 of the world’s work – in the home, on the land and in the community – but most of this work is unwaged.
· Women are the primary caregivers everywhere in the world, fighting for the survival and well-being of children and sick, disabled and elderly people, in the home and outside, in peace as in war. Women grow most of the world’s food.
· Most caregivers, starting with mothers, get no wages and aren’t considered workers.
· Many caregivers are themselves disabled; many are children caring for younger ones or for their disabled parents; many are grandparents leaving retirement to care for their children’s children.
· Caregiving is demanding work but the skills it requires are undervalued even in the job market – domestic work, homecare, childcare and even nursing are low paid.
· Valuing caregiving work would help to close the income gap between women and men. It would also draw more men into caregiving.
· Financial dependence when caregiving work is unwaged often traps women in violent relationships.
· Many mothers do several jobs and have to fit time with their children around their job – this is exhausting and stressful for all.
· When mothers are impoverished and overworked, children suffer: hunger, ill-health, violence and exploitation.
· Mothers who have to return to other work soon after childbirth are less likely to breastfeed.
· Workers who take time off to care for children or other loved ones lose pay, promotion, social security and future pension.
· Devaluing caregiving work devalues people, relationships and life itself.
· Investing in caregivers redirects economic and social policies towards survival, health and well-being – for every individual and for the planet which sustains us all.
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