It’s Time to Stop Treating Parenting as a Mom’s Burden and a Dad’s Adorable Hobby

From Glamour authored by Jennifer Siebel Newsom:

“On the morning of January 7, 2019, my husband was about to become the 40th governor of California, I was going to become the first “first partner” of California, and our four young children were going to take the stage and be thrust into the spotlight with a new level of national attention.

I had a plan for how I wanted to introduce our family to our state. The fight to put on tights and button-down shirts was won, though the fight to take off one coat was lost, and their hair was combed just so. And then, just a couple of minutes into my husband’s inaugural speech, our little Dutch wandered onto the stage holding his binky and his blanket “passie”—much to the audience’s delight and my chagrin.

The media hailed Gavin as “Governor Dad,” and our son Dutch became an internet sensation. I, on the other hand, was asked by too many people to count—in that half-joking but in fact quite serious tone—how could I have possibly let him get up on that stage, and also, why did he still use a pacifier?!

I tried to pretend it didn’t bother me, but the truth is it did. It was a reminder that despite our partnership and despite the support I feel in our relationship, I will always bear the responsibility of our children in a way Gavin never will.”

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Football star whose mom died of breast cancer pays for over 500 mammograms

From The Hill authored by Aris Folley:

“Former NFL star DeAngelo Williams has paid for hundreds of mammogram screenings through his nonprofit organization, in honor of his late mother, who died of breast cancer five years ago.

The DeAngelo Williams Foundation, which is led by the former athlete’s wife, Risalyn Williams, announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday that it has “sponsored well over 500 mammograms and have no plans of stopping.”

The former Carolina Panthers running back had launched the effort after the death of his mother in 2014. The program was called “53 Strong for Sandra” in honor of his mother, Sandra Hill, who died at the age of 53, several years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Through the effort, DeAngelo Williams and his organization would pay for 53 mammogram screenings at events hosted in hospitals across the country.”

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Trending The First All-Female Spacewalk Is Finally Happening This Month

From Scary Mommy authored by Julie Scagell:

“The first all-female spacewalk has officially been scheduled for October 21, 2019, for astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir after a previous attempt was postponed because of “spacesuit availability.”

NASA announced the news Friday (via NBC News) and confirmed that there will be a series of 10 planned spacewalks, calling it a “spacewalk bonanza.” The series will begin next week and will continue over the next three months, “a cadence that has not been experienced since the assembly of the space station was completed in 2011,” NASA said in a tweet.

“It’s a really busy time,” Kirk Shireman, NASA’s program manager for the space station, said in a news briefing. ‘It’ll be exciting and fun. We’re looking forward to it.’”

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Paid Child Care for Working Mothers? All It Took Was a World War

From The New York Times authored by Lydia Keisling:

“I am typing this from inside an indoor playground in Portland. We are new to town, it’s the tail end of summer and my 4-year-old daughter can’t start her new preschool until next week. It’s also raining, and our house is full of boxes. We took a bus here and paid $11 to enter, and I am now in the awkward semiconscious state of the working parent without child care: looking down to try and remember what I wanted to write; looking up to determine whether the piercing scream is my child, or just my child’s fault. I will not make my deadline, but my daughter will be spared a gloomy afternoon inside the house, and I will be spared the guilt of letting her watch TV all day while I try to earn money.

It is painful, from this vantage, to read a piece in this newspaper, from 70 years ago, describing a different Portland scene: a room for children overlooking the Willamette River, “with windows on two sides to insure proper lighting and walls of pastel shades, in blues, yellows, apricots, depending on the exposure of the individual room.” In this paradise, one of the two new nurseries built by the Kaiser Company for the children of workers in its Portland shipyards, “the children will have an opportunity to live wholesome, happy lives” — so promises the article, written by the director of the company’s Child Service Department.

The mothers of these children were “welders, clerks, timekeepers and secretaries” many of whom had been recently mobilized for the workforce. The nurseries — a partnership between the federal government and the Kaiser Company — were open seven days a week, 12 months a year. There was an infirmary for sick children and food was provided. There was even a cafeteria where women could pick up hot meals to take home after work.”

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Uber Has New Tools for Fighting Fake Drivers: PIN Codes, Smiling, Blinking, and—Eventually—Ultrasound Waves Sent From Riders’ Phones

From Fortune authored by Danielle Abril:

“Uber is releasing five new features that aim to make its ride-hailing service safer for both riders and drivers who use its app.

The latest features, which will roll out over the next couple of months, give riders a PIN number they can use to verify they’re getting in the right car, allow in-app texting to 911, and alert riders if they’re going to be dropped off near or along a bike route. Uber is also strengthening its ID checks for drivers to prove the person at the wheel matches the person authorized by Uber. The ride hailing company is giving riders a way to report Uber driver incidents during a trip.

The safety features come after numerous reports of sexual assaults, kidnappings, and deaths from both riders and drivers using the service across the world. Last month, for example, a suspect was arrested in Maryland for allegedly shooting another passenger and his Uber driver after being picked up. In New York a 32-year-old Uber driver was charged with kidnapping and threatening to sexually assault a teenaged girl in July. And there have been several instances—and an associated death—of people faking to be Uber drivers in order to take advantage of unsuspecting riders.”

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My Husband Paid Me to Do Housework

From The Atlantic authored by Sophie Knight:

“A couple of years ago, I started invoicing my husband for housework. It made sense to us: While our goal was to divide the work equally, I ended up doing much more because he worked in an office and I worked at home as a freelancer, using my breaks to cook, vacuum, and do laundry.

We split all our bills down the middle, except for rent, which we each paid in proportion to our income. But if we felt financially even, we didn’t when it came to time. It seemed unfair that I was doing most of the housework, even if I found it easy to fit into my day and was more proficient at it. So we came up with a system: He would pay me for every hour of housework I did more than him. We set my rate at €11.50 (about $13, at the time) an hour—the price of a cleaner where we lived, in the Netherlands. This seemed like a way to ease my resentment, to make our chore imbalance visible, and (I hoped) to incentivize him to take on more tasks.

The idea of paying your partner may sound absurd. But domestic work is work, and sometimes it cut into the time I wanted to spend working each week. If he was doing less of the housework but earning more, shouldn’t he pay someone to complete his half?”

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GENDER EQUALITY IS WITHIN OUR REACH

From Harvard Business Review authored by Melinda Gates:

“In January 2010, Rosie the Riveter appeared in the mailbox of my home near Seattle, flexing her iconic bicep on the cover of the Economist. The cover story struck a triumphant tone, reporting, “At a time when the world is short of causes for celebration, here is a candidate: Within the next few months women will cross the 50% threshold and become the majority of the American workforce.” To mark the occasion, the magazine revised Rosie’s famous call to action from “We can do it!” to “We did it!”

As much as I appreciated Rosie’s enthusiasm, her declaration of victory felt premature. Even though American women did reach that 50% threshold in 2010 (and currently comprise 49.8% of the nonfarm workforce), the same old inequalities have simply followed us to new places. We still aren’t earning as much, rising as high, or having an equal voice in decision-making….

…Across all aspects of American life, it is most often men who set policy, allocate resources, lead companies, shape markets, and determine whose stories get told. Meanwhile, what gains have been made typically haven’t extended to all women. The women historically the most marginalized in this country — including women of color, poor women, and lesbian and trans women — are still the most likely to be trapped in minimum-wage jobs, the least likely to hold managerial roles, and the most likely to face sexual harassment and gender-based violence.”

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Delta Flight With All-Woman Crew Brings 120 Girls To Visit NASA

From Scary Mommy authored by Julie Scagell:

“Delta had reason to celebrate after another successful International Girls in Aviation Day success. This is the fifth time their WING (Women Inspiring our Next Generation) flight took off carrying 120 girls and an all-female crew to show the younger generation that a career in aviation is possible.

The flight took girls ages 12-18 from Salt Lake City to NASA in Houston with the goal, according to Delta’s website, of “closing the gender gap in aviation.” WING Flight 2019 was, from nose to tail, ‘planned and orchestrated exclusively by women – including the pilots flying the plane, ramp agents working on the ground, gate agents boarding the flight, and women in the tower guiding the aircraft on its way out.’”

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Olympian Allyson Felix Broke a Record Held by Usain Bolt Just 10 Months After a C-section

From Glamour authored by Abby Gardner:

“Over the weekend, Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix won her 12th gold medal at a track-and-field World Championship—breaking a record formerly held by Usain Bolt, the runner often referred to as the world’s fastest man.

Felix, 33, took the world medal-count record from Bolt in Doha after a 4 x 400 mixed-gender relay race victory. She’s competed in four Olympics and won nine medals, six of them gold, but what makes this victory even more important is that it’s Felix’s first since giving birth to her daughter, Camryn, 10 months ago.

The birth wasn’t easy. People reports that the Olympian suffered from severe preeclampsia and gave birth via C-section. “It’s different, definitely challenging. I think for any new mom when she returned to work just, you’re exhausted and you’re balancing your family and what it all looks like,” she told the magazine in July about getting back into her training routine.”

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We need to stop treating mentally ill people like criminals

From The Hill authored by Jackie Lacy:

“At a time when homelessness in California has reached a point of crisis, criminal justice leaders need to finally address the way we treat the mentally ill and how our institutions respond to incidents of mental health crisis.

The criminal justice system needs to better treat people living with mental illness for a wide variety of reasons, as the current system is bad for taxpayers, public safety officers and most importantly, the people struggling with mental health issues.

During a mental health crisis, people are more likely to encounter police than get medical help, and as a result, end up in the criminal justice system, frequently for minor nonviolent offenses.”

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