Michelle Obama: '120-percenter'

[babylonsister]

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/05/michelle_obama_120percenter.html#more

Michelle Obama: '120-percenter'
Posted May 7, 2009 5:15 PM
The Swamp

by Mark Silva


"I personally... know the challenges of leading a busy life at work and at home, trying to do a good job at both -- and always feeling like you're not quite living up to either -- and trying not to pit one against the other, really trying to balance it so that... I call myself a 120-percenter.''



This was Michelle Obama, first lady, mother of two, pre-dawn walker of a new puppy, spokeswoman for volunteerism, one of Time's "100 most influential people,'' talking at a forum today in Washington.

"If I'm not doing any job at 120 percent, I think I'm failing,'' she allowed. "So if you're trying to do that at home and at work, you find it very difficult and stressful and frustrating.

snip//

"Twenty-two million working women don't have a single paid sick day. That means they lose money any time they have to stay home to take care of their kids.

"You know, imagine making that choice. And we do it all the time. And even when I had sick leave, I found myself, you know, hoping that the kids would stay well, just I couldn't afford to take the day off because there was a meeting, or something was going on. So your whole life is just contingent upon everything working perfectly. So imagine families who don't have any sick time. So if somebody gets sick, they have to take time off, and they lose the money that they can't afford...

"We need to discuss flexible work hours that give employees greater ability to attend to important family responsibilities like child pick-up, something as simple as that; doctors appointments for those not just with kids, but for people with elderly parents. We're finding more and more that families are in that crunch, as well.

"We need to discuss paid leave for birth or adoption of a child and when there's a serious illness that arises.

"We need to discuss quality on-site child care, something that keeps many of us up at night as families; you're just wondering where are we going to put our children where we feel like that they're being safe -- that they're safe and being loved. That will relieve many of the stresses that parents feel on the job throughout the day.

"These types of policies can be the key to whether a family remains economically viable or slips into financial uncertainty.

"I expect this day to be the first of what will be for me many conversations that I'll get a chance to participate in. We need to find ways to encourage other employers to follow your lead and adopt work-life policies that afford employees flexibility and much-needed support. We want to work together to make clear that, again, investing in these types of policies pays off for employers as well as the employees.''

So with that, I will stop and do what I love to do best, which is listen and learn. So thank you for having me. (Applause.)

END 10:34

[HopeOverFear]

1. Thank you for speaking out for working mother's, first Lady Obama.

[glowing]

2. Bravo!!! Well spoken. Please chew our President's ear off on this issue.

[islandgirl808]

3. awesome

nice to see someone who gets it :)

[Captain Hilts]

4. You can say that again!

ER: I gave up sleeping to get everything done...

[Cha]

5. So inspiring..

she's a Renaissance Woman.