A group of women's equality groups gathered at the First Unitarian Church in Rochester to speak about new paid family leave legislation.
Early this week, newly elected House Speaker Paul Ryan said he would not support such legislation, much to the shock and dismay of its advocates.
But Blue Carreker is undeterred.
"If you don't have this, you know how much it hurts, and it does offer some very real positives for business. So, yeah, I think we have a very real chance."
Carreker is a community organizer with Citizens Action of New York, and they are one of the groups participating in a campaign for state-wide paid family leave legislation. It would extend the state's temporary disability insurance to up to twelve weeks and raise its cap from $170 a week to two thirds of an individual's weekly pay.
Perhaps most importantly, the legislation redefines the terms under which that time can be taken to include family time, whether that be maternity or paternity leave for both biological and adoptive parents, caring for a sick spouse, or looking after an elderly parent.
Amit Batabyal is an Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics at RIT. He says from his perspective, paid family leave makes sense because it's like an investment with a cost-benefit analysis.
"The benefits, I think, are pretty straight forward. People are less concerned, less frazzled about their economic security. They're not worried about losing a job, and at the same time, and probably more importantly, they're able to take care of one or more family members or recuperate after an illness, as the case may be."
Batabyal says the opposition focuses on the impact these policies could have on small businesses, but government-funded paid leave programs are effective and put less of a burden on the companies themselves.
The collection of groups taking up this cause call themselves the New York Paid Family Leave Insurance Campaign, and they have more events planned for the coming weeks that will address all the different people impacted by paid family leave, or a lack thereof.
