In November, Maine voters will have the opportunity to institute the first-in-the-nation universal homecare system. In taking this vote, Ai-Jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and 2014 MacArthur Genius Award winner, said that Mainers will not only have the chance to “significantly address a real crisis facing millions of people in the U.S.,” but also “to create a society that reflects our values.”
In a column published at the national, progressive news site Truthout last week, Poo, who is also codirector of Caring Across Generations, a national campaign that is supporting the Homecare for All citizens initiative, outlines the scope of the crisis, which includes more than 100 million people in the U.S. today who are “directly affected by the need for better family care.”
“With a growing older population and growing numbers of people who need assistance with managing chronic illnesses, or simple activities of daily life, the need for elder care, particularly in the home, is exploding,” Poo wrote. However, she noted, we no longer live in a society where women are expected to stay home and take care of children and aging parents. With the changing of the American economy, families now require two incomes, but are still left with caregiving needs.
Poo continued:
Family caregivers alone number 44 million in the United States, from all walks of life, income levels, educational backgrounds and ages. The caregiving workforce is around 3 million people, mostly women making poverty wages. In 2015, there were 19 million people under the age of 65 and 14 million over 65 who needed this kind of care. Then you have caregivers in assisted living facilities, family members coordinating care from afar or helping to pay for a loved one’s care. Add up all these numbers, and almost one out of every three Americans is in this Caring Majority.
Unfortunately, Poo added, the care workers entrusted to help this population are often saddled with “poverty wages, lack of access to benefits or a safety net, along with unpredictable or long hours.” Such conditions, she said, lead to high turnover rates and general workforce instability which “contributes to the overall insecurity of families who struggle to ensure their loved ones can age with dignity.”
“Rarely do we have policies that directly reflect what people need,” she wrote. But in Maine, Poo said, with the submission of more than 67,000 petition signatures in support, people have come together to put forth what she describes as a real solution– for the state and nation.
“Home Care for All is an example of how voters are taking the future into their own hands at the state level this year,” said Poo. “They are showing us that this year in U.S. politics can be what we make it. They’re expanding what’s possible not only for Mainers, but for all of us. Which state is next?”
The piece was published as part of Truthout’s “Visions of 2018” series, in which activist leaders discuss what they believe to be a bold idea for transformation that could provide inspiration and guidance for the year ahead.
Ai-Jen Poo in 2016 speaking at a UN Commission on the Status of Women panel on care work as a key to economic growth. (Photo: Ryan Brown/ UN Women)
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