Manchin's Build Back Better opposition could badly hurt America's working women
Manchin's Build Back Better opposition could badly hurt America's working women
Build Back Better would mostly benefit women, as the infrastructure bill mostly benefits men.
By Jessica Levinson, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
Failure to pass President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan will be a failure for women, particularly those who are poor or working class. The plan, which is at the top of Biden’s legislative wish list, is a $1.8 trillion initiative to strengthen this country’s safety net and address our climate crisis. The plan would, among other things, provide free preschool for 3- and 4-years-olds, fund child care, paid family leave, a child tax credit, care for elderly and disabled people, rebates and tax credits to promote clean energy, and an expanded Medicare program.
We know that women bear the lion’s share of the responsibility of taking care of children and elderly relatives. We know that these inequalities were exacerbated during the pandemic, as women took on three times as many unpaid child care hours as men did. Almost 2 million women were also forced out of the workforce, and out of their incomes.
A failure to pass Build Back Better would quickly follow Biden signing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The majority of the jobs created by those government programs will be performed by men. This is no surprise, men currently hold 90 percent of infrastructure jobs. That’s not to say the infrastructure package is bad law; it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t spend government money on jobs that will be held predominantly by men. It means that the passage of the infrastructure bill would make the impact of not passing Build Back Better more glaring. The people who will feel the failure of the Build Back Better plan the most deeply are women.
READ MORE: Manchin's Build Back Better opposition could badly hurt America's working women https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/manchin-s-bu...
Build Back Better would mostly benefit women, as the infrastructure bill mostly benefits men.
By Jessica Levinson, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
Failure to pass President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan will be a failure for women, particularly those who are poor or working class. The plan, which is at the top of Biden’s legislative wish list, is a $1.8 trillion initiative to strengthen this country’s safety net and address our climate crisis. The plan would, among other things, provide free preschool for 3- and 4-years-olds, fund child care, paid family leave, a child tax credit, care for elderly and disabled people, rebates and tax credits to promote clean energy, and an expanded Medicare program.
We know that women bear the lion’s share of the responsibility of taking care of children and elderly relatives. We know that these inequalities were exacerbated during the pandemic, as women took on three times as many unpaid child care hours as men did. Almost 2 million women were also forced out of the workforce, and out of their incomes.
A failure to pass Build Back Better would quickly follow Biden signing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The majority of the jobs created by those government programs will be performed by men. This is no surprise, men currently hold 90 percent of infrastructure jobs. That’s not to say the infrastructure package is bad law; it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t spend government money on jobs that will be held predominantly by men. It means that the passage of the infrastructure bill would make the impact of not passing Build Back Better more glaring. The people who will feel the failure of the Build Back Better plan the most deeply are women.
READ MORE: Manchin's Build Back Better opposition could badly hurt America's working women https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/manchin-s-bu...
