The days when the two-parent family was the norm, and the male was the sole breadwinner are long gone. Many families have been replaced by dual-earner couples and single parents. Within the last 34 years, there has been a large increase in the number of households headed by women.
Women now make up almost half of the workforce.
Their participation rates are impressive. As a result of these long term demographic shifts in labor force participation rates by women, public and private employers, spurned on by Union demands, are being forced to consider our needs. Some employers are responding by including women and family benefits as part of their benefits plans. Forty-four percent of employees could take unpaid paternity leave in 1992. In 1994 ninety-three percent of eligible employees could take unpaid family leave benefits.