yet they experience hardship resulting from their gender in disproportionately high numbers.
​
In nearly half of two-parent families, both parents work. Work issues facing women have a major impact on families.
Women make up about half the work force,
Sexual Harassment
In a recent survey, 58% of Maine's women reported sexual harassment at work. It is a major obstacle to the fair access to employment for women. Nearly half of ALL respondents, men and women, reported sexual harassment. It can be stopped.
Source: https://www.mecando.org/research.html
Pregnancy and Family Leave Discrimination
​
The U.S. lags far behind other developed nations in providing adequate pregnancy and family leave employment policies for its young families. With an increasing number of working parents in the workforce, we are seeing that issues of pregnancy and family leave are clearly linked to economic stability for families. Discrimination against women for their pregnancies is sex discrimination. It is a terrible waste of talent and productivity to train our young people for the workplace and then leave them to work and raise children without policies that support those workers and their families.
Discrimination in hiring and promotion
​
We have laws prohibiting sex discrimination in hiring and promotion, yet they are difficult to enforce when our work culture regarding pregnancy and family leave is left to individual employers to determine. This leaves women, in particular, at the mercy of the employer. The employer is at the mercy of the bottom line and the American family is losing out in a big way. We need a national attitude change that puts a fair value on half the working population who also bear the children and perform a disproportionate share of family care as well.