What will the presidental candidates do for mothers?

You aren’t hearing much this campaign season about issues particularly facing women and parents, and you sure aren’t hearing the candidates offering practical solutions to the stresses facing working mothers. So I trundled my (virtual) self off to the candidates’ web sites to see if I could dig up the candidates’ positions on these issues.

First, the Democrats, at least the leading three candidates. Bottom line first, and then the details: Edwards is the only candidate, Republican or Democrat, who demonstrates that he has thought about the practical and economic difficulties specifically faced by women. The man gets it. Read this list of his proposals addressed to women and weep, as I about did, since it’s a longshot this man will be president:

Require businesses to offer paid sick days. Expand the child care tax credit and move toward universal preschool. Expand home health care and offer respite care for those caring for elders. Compensate women who pay less into Social Security, and therefore under current provision receive less benefits, because they are caring for children or other family members instead of working for pay. End poverty (disproportionately faced by mothers and children) and raise the minimum wage (two-thirds of minimum wage earners are women). Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which seeks to end wage discrimination against those who work in female-dominated or minority-dominated jobs by establishing equal pay for equivalent work. Remove some of the tax penalties exacted on low-income, two-earner married couples by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit.

And that’s just the stuff on his page on women. The proposals on his “working families” page are great for mothers too. The only major thing I see missing is paid family leave.

Obama’s offerings are nearly as good, the differences between him and Edwards on this score being largely a matter of presentation. Where Edwards speaks specifically to and about the difficulties facing women, Obama mentions only families and fathers. But, alone among the candidates, Obama mentions paid family leave (his plan is to encourage states to offer it). He, like Edwards, supports requiring employers to offer paid sick leave.

He would not only expand the child care tax credit, but make it refundable, so that low-income families could benefit from it. Obama, too, has a plan to move toward universal preschool and expanded child care funding. He would quadruple Early Head Start and increase Head Start funding. He would also expand funding for after-school programs (which always sounded frivolous to me, until I became a parent and began to wonder what you do with your kid between the end of the school day and the end of the work day).

About his plan to “promote responsible fatherhood,” I’m not too sure. (It sounds awfully like the Moynihan report, and is this where we want policy attention focused? How about rewarding responsible motherhood, or at least removing the penalties on mothers, which in the end amount to penalties on responsible fathers, too?) Elsewhere, he mentions that he would provide a special supplement to the Earned Income Tax Credit to workers who “are responsibly supporting their children on child support,” i.e. fathers. As best I can tell, his “Making Work Pay” tax credit would do little to erase the penalties on two-earner families.

Clinton’s families planks sound nice, in a vague sort of way. “Attracting and supporting more outstanding teachers and principals, and paying them like the professionals they are” is good, but precisely how? Reforming No Child Left Behind, also good, but how? “Giving new parents support and training to promote healthy development for their children” sounds all right, but not like bread and butter to me. Increasing access to early childhood education is great, but she gives no promise to move to universal preschool. She does mention expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the child care tax credit, without offering details. She mentions family leave, but says nothing about paid leave. And she, like Edwards, supports legislation to provide those taking care of elders with respite care.

There you have it, folks. Next, on to the Republicans.