For millions of American families, securing affordable, high-quality child care is a challenge if not an impossibility—one that Senator Elizabeth Warren is all too familiar with.
On Wednesday evening, the Massachusetts lawmaker delivered the keynote address at the National Women’s Law Center’s 45th anniversary gala and in a heartfelt speech, revealed that if it hadn’t been for the help of her 78-year-old Aunt Bee, she likely wouldn’t be a U.S. Senator today.
Warren started her career as a teacher, but when she ended the school year pregnant with her first child, she wasn’t asked to return. Throwing herself into life as a mother and wife, Warren knew she wanted to do something more. After law school, she got a job teaching law, but her life was quickly thrown into chaos when her babysitter quit. Cycling through different child care options, managing the requirements of her job, and raising two young kids was an endless struggle—one Warren felt she was failing at. During a phone conversation with her 78-year-old Aunt Bee, Warren broke down crying and decided the only option she had was to quit her job.
Without hesitating, Bee told Warren that, though she couldn’t arrive until Thursday, she would be there to help. Sure enough, she arrived with seven suitcases and her Pekingese in tow—and stayed with Warren and her family for 16 years.
“I’m a United States Senator today in part because my Aunt Bee rescued me on that Thursday in 1979,” Warren said. Without child care, I was a goner. And I know how lucky I was because so many working moms don’t have an Aunt Bee who can fly in and help out.”
Though plenty has changed in the decades since Warren began teaching law, affordable, high-quality child care remains one of the most significant challenges for working parents. According to a recent report from the Democratic staff of the Congress Joint Economic Committee, American families spend an average of 15 percent of their income on child care—and in states like California, New York, Arizona, Colorado, and Oregon, it’s not uncommon for that total to hit the 20 percent mark.
For many mothers in two-parent households, leaving the workforce entirely is a more viable financial option than staying at their jobs and paying for child care. But for millions of mothers who serve as the head of household, this is not an option—and they’re spending anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of their earnings on child care. And in order to make ends meet, they may have to sacrifice the best child care options for ones that they can afford.
It goes without saying that the benefits of high-quality, affordable child care are vast—for both women and their children. Women not only have more education and professional opportunities but stand to earn significantly more money during their careers if they’re able to find top-notch child care options for their kids. This is especially true for low-income moms who, according to the JEC report, could earn up to $90,000 more over the course of their professional lives.
And for kids, enrollment in first-rate early learning programs often benefits them beyond their adolescence and well into adulthood. They’re more likely to get higher grades in school, enroll in college, earn more once they’re in the working world, and have overall better health.
Warren, of course, knows just how valuable high-quality child care can be, and she’s taking steps in the Senate to make this a reality. She’s backing legislation that would help cut child care costs for low- and middle-income families. She’s introduced the Schedules That Work Act so that low- and minimum-wage workers so can have some basic fairness in their schedules—and not have to scramble with going back to school, scheduling doctor’s visits, and, of course, handling child care because they work jobs with unpredictable hours. And just like public schools provide a space for kindergarteners to learn how to read, write, do math, and interact with other kids five days a week, she wants to create programs so that two-year-olds, three-year-olds, four-year-olds—and their families—have opportunities to access this type of early childhood education.
“It’s a big goal, but no one builds a future without investment,” Warren said. “Whether you and I have small children or not, we have an interest in the future of this country—and that means we have an interest—and a responsibility—to invest in America’s children. And that means making sure that their teachers and caregivers are adequately paid and trained…and it means making sure that when parents are working, their children are safe and loved and learning and growing.”
As she concluded her remarks, Warren drove home that access to quality child care can’t be a solo endeavor—it’s one that everyone needs to get behind.
“Until we decide, until all of us decide—men and women, married and single, black and white, old and young—that we are willing to invest more in all our children, then we cannot build a country in which women have an equal opportunity to build a future,” Warren said. “The energy to make these changes will come from people like you, people who fight for equality every day. And most importantly, the energy will come from the many people all across the country who have joined this fight and made it a part of their lives.”