Y'all, did you know that in 1967 there was wide support for the idea that quality childcare should be seen as a public good and funded similarly to libraries, parks, and public schools?
Conversation
Childcare access was positioned not only as an essential service for the increasing numbers of mothers entering the workforce but more generally for women to contribute to society in any way they saw fit.
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Universal childcare wasn’t initially envisioned as merely a tool to enable women to work in traditional 9 to 5s. It was conceived as a necessary right in order for women to have time for themselves...
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– for their own interests, activism and self-actualization outside the lonely drudgery of raising children in a nuclear family.
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Universal daycare passed both houses of Congress with bi-partisan support...at was vetoed by Richard Nixon. But it wasn't JUST the veto that did in the movement, it's the way he framed it.
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His veto statement promoted the idea that universal child care was un-American, an affront to individualism and the nuclear family, with plenty of subtext sprinkled in that daycare also went against traditional Christian values.
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So here we are, 52 years later, paying the literal price for Richard Nixon’s veto because he wanted to look tough on communists for the 1972 election.
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Rather than fighting for the idea that childcare should be widely available and affordable for all to enjoy, like a public park...
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we now must spend our time fighting for summer camp spots at 9:01am on January 27th to even get access to pay thousands of dollars so we can work and support our kids, contribute to society and the economy.
Replying to
I had a great time reporting this newsletter and digging into feminist history with the support of at
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