Thursday, April 25, was "Take Our Daughters to Work" day, and Donna E. Shalala, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), noted that fact at the top of the keynote address she delivered at the Annenberg Center during the spring meeting of the Trustees' Council of Penn Women.
"What our daughters are seeing today is a new world of women at work--a world forged by their mothers and grandmothers--as year by year, in different ways, women have climbed new mountains--and secured new rights," Shalala said. "Voting rights. Reproductive freedom. Economic security. Employment opportunities."
After acknowledging the progress of the past, Shalala spoke of creating a women's agenda for the 21st century. "In order to do this, we must tackle one of our nation's greatest tragedies: women in poverty," she said. "Why? Because poverty hurts our families and children. It weakens our economy. And it touches all of us, rich and poor, women and men."
Reforming the welfare system "the right way" was a key focus of the secretary's message. "I had a working-class childhood in the traditional sense of the word: everybody worked, played by the rules and taught their children to do the same," Shalala said. "Children, then and now, need to see adults working. They need to see work as an inherent part of citizenship and responsible adulthood."
Shalala said that the solution is to make work pay, so that going to work is a more-rational choice than staying on welfare. She cited the step her department took in 1993, by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit by $22 billion. She noted that this credit gives a tax refund to the working poor, including millions of female-headed households. In addition, she emphasized the importance of raising the minimum wage from the current $4.25 an hour to $5.15, which adds up to $1,800 a year for a full-time worker.
Shalala also discussed the role of fathers. "We need to counter the sometimes unconscious message that children don't need fathers--that mothers are the only nurturers--and fathers are a bonus, but hardly a necessity," she said. "Children need both parents to teach them right from wrong. Both parents to walk them to school and meet their teachers. And both parents to love and guide them through the rough waters of adolescence."
Return to Compass Features for May 7, 1996