Dr. Susan Feiner

Two recent commentaries, one by a policy analyst with the National Women’s Law Center and the other by a feminist economist, draw attention to the future of the direct-care workforce and the place of women in the federal economic recovery plan.

On Feb. 2, Womenstake, the blog for the National Women’s Law Center, published a column by policy analyst Bridgette Courtort titled “Care for Caregivers=Care for Women.”

Part of a series titled “Women and Health Reform,” the piece discussed the challenges facing direct-care workers, including their lack of health care coverage. It referenced the recent editorial from The New York Times which called workers in the home health field the “lowest paid and most exploitable.”

In a commentary called “Three Steps to Women’s Fair Share of the Recovery” published at Women’s eNews on Jan. 28 — the day the House passed a version of the recovery bill — economist Susan Feiner argued that the plan was too small and too male-oriented to save the American economy.

A professor of economics and women’s and gender studies at the University of Southern Maine, Feiner was speaking for a newly formed group of feminist scholars called W.E.A.V.E., or Women’s Equality Adds Value to the Economy. She stated that she and W.E.A.V.E. are pushing to help women, and by extension their children and families, survive the bad economy. WEAVE  was formed to strengthen the call for Obama and Congress to include more jobs for women and people of color in the stimulus package.

In her commentary Feiner warned, “Unless the president and Congress step in, we could see wave after wave of collapsing local services. Direct care for children, the disabled and the elderly will disappear. Education and health will suffer massive cuts. These are vital community services and employ huge numbers of women.”

These concerns echo PHI’s recent request to Congress to expand the economic recovery Beyond Shovel Ready Jobs.