Community & Government
Valuing Caregiving and Invisible Labor
Lesson time 21:31 min
Tina and Gloria examine how perceptions of caregiving and domestic labor impact people’s lives and offer advice on how to advocate for caregivers and paid leave policies.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Valuing Caregiving and Invisible Labor Making Invisible Work Visible Rethinking Paid Leave
Gloria Steinem and Noted Co-Instructors
Four women’s rights activists discuss the feminist movement in the U.S., ways they’re creating change, and how you can join the fight for equality.
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- Take one. - This is, like, quite an operation. - I know. I know. I'm already worried. - - I-- you know, I thought it was a conversation, just the two of us, right? You know? - No, no, this is bigger and bigger. - I know. [MUSIC PLAYING] - Tina, I am so happy to be able to talk to you. And one of my problems is how to describe you. - - I mean, you're the daughter of immigrants. - Right. - You're a very distinguished lawyer. - A lawyer. - Nobody has done more things than you. - Well, here's the thing. It wasn't planned. I just happened to be in Springfield, Illinois right at the moment that Springfield, Illinois in 1978 was, as you know, the hotbed of American feminism, because we were trying to get Illinois to be one of the last three states to ratify the ERA. Now, I'm all of, like, 20-something. I did a three-year crash course with Ellie Smeal and folks coming into Illinois. And that is where this passion for gender equity started. - We have just begun to fight. And we know one thing-- we are determined to change the face of American politics until women are not only equal, but until there is justice in our society. - But then I went to law school, and I kind of followed the path to get into big law firms. And I had the privilege of being an executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls under President Obama. And one of the things, as a women's community, we pushed the incoming Biden-Harris administration on was to have someone in the White House who is really focused on gender equity issues. The caregiving crisis that we are experiencing right now in the United States affects everyone. Obviously, if you're raising young children, you're experiencing it every day right now. You're trying to find care. But if you don't have kids, you may have an elderly parent, or you have parents who are aging their way into becoming elderly. And we have 4 million people in this country turn 65 every year. Well, right now, there is no support for that from the federal government. Home-based and community-based care services have not been invested in. So if you're the son or daughter of older parents, that's a way that's going to affect you. You also never know when you or your loved one, your spouse, your brother, your sister may contract an illness that requires long-term care. And right now, if you don't have paid sick time, if you don't have paid leave, if you don't have a way to access caregivers that you can bring into your home, you're going to find and be in the middle of the caregiving crisis. We have historically been a country that believes that issues of caregiving or your paid leave, how do you take care of your kids, how do you take care of your parents who are ill, how do you take care of your loved one, your spouse, who gets ill-- that those are just things for workers to take care of. That'...
About the Instructor
Women’s rights activists and political changemakers Gloria Steinem, adrienne maree brown, Amanda Nguyen, and Tina Tchen know there’s strength in numbers—especially in the fight for equality. Now, they’re coming together to dissect the issues women have faced in the U.S., talk about their advocacy efforts and personal challenges, and introduce ways you can play an active role in the feminist movement in your everyday life.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Gloria Steinem, adrienne maree brown, Amanda Nguyen, and Tina Tchen
Four women’s rights activists discuss the feminist movement in the U.S., ways they’re creating change, and how you can join the fight for equality.
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