Chabeli Carrazana

Economy and Child Care Reporter

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Vicki Shabo had spent more than a decade advocating for a federal paid parental leave in the only rich country that doesn’t have it. Then in 2021, just when it seemed like it might happen, lawmakers ejected paid leave from a spending bill and sent it tumbling back down the list of priorities.

Shabo wracked her brain: Why was this issue that just about most people agreed on continuously discarded as a nice-to-have and not a need? Advocates had tried so many strategies to help lawmakers understand, but there was one, she realized, that hadn’t yet been tapped.

Politicians kept treating paid leave and other care policies as expendable because our culture treated them like that. And

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