Housing

By Allie Bohm*

As a colleague recently reminded me, our system of government was developed not to pass laws, but to make change slowly. Take, for example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the international treaty dedicated to gender equality. Although the U.S. played a major role in drafting the treaty and signed it in 1980, it still has not been ratified by the Senate. We’re hoping to change that this year.

July 23, 2009 posted by Hunter McCord*

When we close our eyes and think of a family, most of us will assign to it the image of a different-sex married couple and their children. But when we open our eyes, we immediately notice that families vary in numerous ways—by income, marital status, number/presence of children or partners, etc. Recent studies confirm the diversity of families in the United States (US). Almost 40% of children today are born to unmarried mothers, and nearly 40% of different-sex unmarried households include children. Furthermore, fewer than half of all households in the US are headed by a married couple. It is time to broaden our consideration of what constitutes a family today.

July 24, 2009 posted by Amy Sueyoshi*

This Sunday (July 26) while others will be celebrating National Parent’s Day, I will be honoring my ancestors at the San Francisco Buddhist Temple Obon Festival. Though I have no children of my own, I am, perhaps ironically, the god parent of my Catholic niece and nephew and have played a parental role for my immigrant mother since the day I could speak English. While I recognize the need to honor people who have their own children, I long for a world where we can embrace and respect all types of families and networks of care in which we willingly (but more often unwillingly) become involved.

July 26, 2009 posted by Rebekah Spicuglia*

National Parents Day, unlike the heavily promoted and merchandised Mother’s and Father’s Days that by their very nature tend to reflect gendered expectations around parenting, really broadens the discussion of family in all its diversity. Today’s celebration is inclusive, celebrating ALL parents, and without a strict definition of mom+dad+baby=family. So we are not excluding same-sex couples, single parents, noncustodial parents, step-parents, extended families, or anyone who might sometimes feel left out of traditional holidays framed around out-dated expectations of how most children are parented.