The original 1970 pamphlet “Women and Their Bodies,” which became the wildly popular and influential women’s health resource Our Bodies, Ourselves, outlined the following demands:
"1. Childcare, by men and women, during working hours, provided by the employer and controlled by the workers and the community.
2. Maternity and paternity leave for men and women with guaranteed return and no loss of pay or seniority.
3. Increasing of part-time work and an end to discrimination against part-time workers.
4. Low grade work should be shared by men and women as well as housework. Housework should be recognized as legitimate work which deserves pay.
5. Communities should provide free community controlled childcare centers. "
Instead, we have no guaranteed paid maternity leave; unpaid maternity leave only under select circumstances; expensive child care centers that vary widely in quality; and rampant disparities in domestic labor along gender lines.
What we do have: breast pumps provided by health insurance; guaranteed unpaid breaks to pump breast milk; a heaping dose of guilt and shame about adhering to intensive mothering practices.
Fuck that noise.