Women belong in the House

Today, we’re bringing you another podcast from Wonder Media Network that we think you’ll love: Words to Win By. Hosted by renowned communications researcher and campaign advisor Anat Shenker-Osorio, this season unpacks real-world narrative shifts that led to real-world victories, from Brazil to Ireland to here in the United States. 

In the 2022 Midterms, Americans defied polling, pundits and precedent to stave off the predicted Republican “Red Wave” takeover. Despite significant challenges, Democrats were able to hold the Senate, minimize House losses, and flip or retain key battleground state legislatures and governorships. In the first episode of the latest season, we delve into why conventional wisdom about politics doesn’t just miss the mark, but actively impedes what we must do to prevail against right-wing efforts to seize and hold power. Hear about the research, ad making, organizing and strategy that helped deliver key Democratic victories by reminding us of the collective power we have to decide our own future. 

• Learn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.com
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When it comes to the failure of the 1971 Comprehensive Childcare Development Act, it's easy to point a finger at conservatives. But that's not the whole story.

This week, join host Julie as she dives into the battle between care feminism and career feminism, and how the winner of that match up has impacted women's right advocacy for the last 50 years. 

Although the Build Back Better Act could not deliver on all the care economy issues, there is still reason for hope. With a bipartisan oriented strategy, some of these issues can still get through the House and the Senate  – universal pre-k being one of those. On our final episode of the series, Jenny and Julie are joined by Representative Kathy Manning to discuss the importance of universal pre-k and what the future holds for care infrastructure.

This week, Julie dives deep into the economic ideology that arose alongside social conservatism and prevented public investments in care.

We’ll break down what “neoliberalism” is and what the rise of it has meant for family life -- how the mix of low taxes, deregulation, and privatization has made family life more economically precarious for the vast majority of Americans.

The American child care system is full of contradiction. For individual families, care costs keep rising. But many caregivers are barely paid a living wage. The Build Back Better Act would have been the first federal intervention in this sector in fifty years. Without it, this broken cycle continues. On today’s episode, Jenny and Julie are joined by Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark to discuss the precarious state of our care economy.

How did the U.S. become a society that treats caregiving as a private family responsibility rather than a public good?

In this episode, Julie explores the longstanding and continued role racism has played in preventing investments in public goods that would benefit everyone, including caregiving. We’ll also do a deep dive into the 1970s when the U.S. nearly invested in universal childcare -- and how fear was deployed to block it.

The need to take family or medical leave touches every American. Yet, despite overwhelming popularity, the U.S. stands alone as the only industrialized nation without paid leave. On today's episode, Jenny and Julie are joined by Representative Lauren Underwood to unpack why America continues to lag behind and the ongoing political fight around this crucial issue.  

This week, host Julie Kohler travels back to the mid-20th century to examine the creation of the “traditional” nuclear family — a myth only made possible through the exploitation of Black women’s domestic labor — and how the family values and nostalgia of this era continue to exist in today’s debate over “caring economy” policies.

In this new season of Women belong in the House, we’re examining America’s caregiving crisis. In our first episode, Jenny and Julie explore the child tax credit with one of its longtime supporters -- Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic became a global health crisis. But from it bore a whole set of complementary crises: an economic crisis and a caregiving crisis.

The pandemic erased more than 30 years of gains in women’s labor force participation, while simultaneously leaving women to shoulder the majority of the family responsibilities. But the conditions for these crises existed long before COVID-19 hit American shores. How exactly did we get here?

In this new season of Women belong in the House, we’re examining America’s caregiving crisis. After years of a pandemic that disproportionately affected women, Congress is still working to pass legislation that would address some of our most pressing needs.

To dive into the care economy, host Jenny Kaplan is teaming up with another Wonder Media Network original podcast, White Picket Fence, and its host, Julie Kohler. 

Jenny’s going to talk to the women in the House that are championing legislation that – if we could get it passed – would transform American families.

Women Belong in the House is created by Jenny Kaplan. It’s produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley and Taylor Williamson. Original music by Miles Moran. Special thanks to Julie Kohler.