“You kind of feel like you’re behind, and it’s just nice to feel like we’re catching up,” [Sammamish worker Maia] Knox said of the new benefit.

Both political parties recognize that adopting a national policy is good for business, families, state government, and the overall economy and country. The only question is how we will get it done.

“There’s a lot of women that aren’t able to work full-time full-year, and there are consequences to this,” [study co-author and labor economist Stephen Rose] said. More than 40 percent of today’s women workers have taken at least one year off with no earnings, typically to care for children or aging or ailing family members, the study said.

Only policies that meet our complex needs can allow us to be ourselves whether at work or beyond. That’s why in addition to advocating for housing and job security, I’m a trans activist fighting for paid family and medical leave – one of the policies that is urgently needed for the trans community.

Gov. Jeff Colyer signed a paid parental leave executive order Wednesday that will apply to more than 17,000 state employees.

When Dwyane Wade introduced his newborn daughter and announced he would take time away from basketball to be a father, I braced myself for the backlash. Instead, he and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, were greeted with congratulations from teammates, celebrities and fans.

I never dreamed about the questions I would face when broaching the subject of maternity leave as an adoptive mother.

All parents of children face challenges balancing work, child-rearing, and family responsibilities. However, parents of children with disabilities often perform caregiving duties related to their child’s disability, beyond what is typical for child-rearing.

Regardless of how many women win, advocates say the attention candidates are bringing to the issue should resonate in the new Congress and potentially change national policies.

Future mothers and fathers, currently pregnant women and soon-to-be dads, new moms and dads, seasoned parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends and coworkers: We all need to speak up. Our voices can effect change for the next generation of working parents. Here’s how to get informed and fight for paid leave.

With every other developed country except the United States guaranteeing workers paid leave, the feasibility of paid leave has been well-tested across the world. But nevertheless, there still remains an underlying fear that it’ll somehow be bad for businesses in this country.

Failing to provide paid leave has especially devastating consequences for people of color that compound and exacerbate deep-seated and longstanding discrimination, institutionalized racism and vast income and wealth disparities.

Before I became a parent, it never once registered that “paid leave” was about so much more than new parenthood.

“You shouldn’t have to rely on the generosity of your co-workers to meet the needs of your family and protect your job,” [Tiffany Joekel, policy and research director for the Women’s Fund of Omaha] said.

Researchers say Hoosiers are ready for a government program that ensures all workers have access to paid family and medical leave.

“I think as a country we value hard work, supporting our family and being there for them, yet the policies to do both are not there,” Vasu Reddy, senior policy counsel for workplace programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families, said.

The [American Enterprise Institute/Brookings Institution] working group’s shortcoming is especially disappointing because there are so few issues today upon which policymakers on both sides of the political aisle in Washington can agree. Paid family leave to care for a seriously ill loved one should be among them.

It’s been 25 years since the Family and Medical Leave Act was approved by the federal government, and in the years since then, half of the states haven’t moved beyond the basics related to protection of unpaid leave.

Some seniors are still participating in the workforce, and have no support in the event of serious illness or injury. Others are themselves caregivers for their family members. But all seniors would benefit from paid leave one way or the other.

“Family leave may not be seen a dominant issue in this election cycle but it certainly is very salient to the substantial number of voters that struggle with providing care to family members,” said Chris Borick, a professor of political science at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa.