EVERYTHING OLD IS….

…. all too frequently, still old.

To wit, the title of the op-ed cited above caught my eye.  Not because it’s a new concept but because it isn’t.  It’s old.  Very old, in fact.  It’s a concept that a group of working mothers working on behalf of other working mothers, tried to push forward in the mid 1970’s.  Nearly 50 years ago!

We traipsed from business to business, corporation to corporation, bank to bank, asking leaders to understand and appreciate the constraints on women trying to enter or re-enter the work force and asking for a few changes to ease that process.

The fact that the concept is still seen as fresh and/or newsworthy is deeply saddening to me. That means it never took hold.  Businesses never adopted the idea; never realized its value. 

I will cite the author’s final paragraph of her op-ed in which she nicely sums up our thinking all those years ago:

“As a token of appreciation to working mothers, we should welcome structural changes in labor markets that increase their employment options, encourage growth of the independent sector and redesign benefits to be more portable for a worker.”

Amen, Sister.  Maybe we’ll see some changes after all.  It’s never too late.