Democrat Hillary
Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that government should
help working mothers and lower-paid workers by giving them
more time off with pay.
Clinton said that
starts with extending the federal Family and Medical
Leave Act, which now allows workers at businesses with at
least 50 employees to take unpaid leave to care for
ill family members or a new child. Clinton wants to
drop the threshold to 25 employees.
The New York
senator and presidential candidate said she also wants
states to experiment with paid leave, especially for workers
in jobs that do not provide paid time off.
''What we have
done is to give advantages, again, in our society to
higher-paid workers,'' Clinton told about 1,500 people
during a lecture at Iowa State University.
She added that
''a lot of women who don't have that option are barely
given time off to recover from childbirth, to bond with
their baby, and to go to work.''
Clinton said
businesses should let their workers spend more time at home
through flexible scheduling and telecommuting.
''Even if it's
just like one day a week or a half a day, you get some
time to be able to better manage all of these new
responsibilities,'' she said.
Clinton commented
in response to a question from a self-described
feminist who said she is trying to decide whether to have a
family, a career, or both.
''Most of the
young women asking me want to have both,'' Clinton said.
''They want to have a chance to have a family if that's
their choice and they want to be able to continue
working and make a contribution to the family income
as well as to their own satisfaction. I think we make it
about as hard as we possibly can for young women.
''I think we need
to do more to have a set of family policies that create
a context in which you can make the decisions that are best
for you,'' she said.
Clinton was
delivering the Mary Louise Smith Chair lecture at ISU's
Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. Past
speakers have included Republican Elizabeth Dole and
Democrat Carol Moseley Braun, who both ran for
president.
Clinton said that
while it was wonderful to accept the honor at ISU, she
hopes that the stage one day will be crowded with female
candidates.
''I'd like to
make a prediction, that while there may be plenty of room
on the stage tonight, someday there will be enough of us to
transform this event from a lecture into a debate,''
she said.
Clinton has spent
the month reaching out to female voters; polls show
they are among her strongest supporters. (Amy Lorentzen, AP)
