Last week, we gathered with our partners at the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable for their annual Advocacy Day at the state capitol, where we discussed the policy supports women and families in the state need to maintain their health and economic security.
A Better Balance Senior Staff Attorney Kameron Dawson joined a panel of lawmakers, academics, and advocates, which included Senator Angela Turner Ford, Mississippi Center for Justice’s Director of Health Law Linda Dixon, Mississippi Early Learning Alliance’s Executive Director Biz Harris, Mississippi Valley State University Rural Assistant Professor Dr. Shequite Wilson Johnson, and Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable Executive Director Cassandra Welchin.
Panelists discussed the various cases for policies that help bolster families’ health and economic security, such as access to child care, access to health care, higher wages for families and paid family and medical leave. We discussed how broadening access to paid leave for state employees and educators to welcome a new child is critical for keeping new parents attached to the workforce, which benefits families and helps bolster the economy by increasing workforce participation and reducing turnover, as we’ve seen in states like Tennessee. We also uplifted the fact that about 79% of workers in Mississippi do not receive paid family leave through their employers, and low wage workers are even less likely to have access to paid family leave.
Supportive workplace policies are an especially vital piece of the puzzle for promoting families’ overall wellbeing in the South. These policies also continue to be popular amongst the public; 88% of Mississippi voters support creating a paid leave program for employees to care for a sick family member, bond with a new baby, or recover from a major illness.
We’re working tirelessly out of our Southern Office to extend these essential rights to more and more workers, and look forward to continued collaboration with our partners fighting on the ground to pass these critical policies.
