It's been over 20 years since the federal government enacted legislation to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families.
In 1993, President Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, which requires certain employers to provide workers with job protections and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. It was the last piece of legislation aimed at protecting women from discrimination if they had to leave work to take care of a sick child or a sick parent.
Since then, European countries have expanded family friendly policies like covering the cost of child care and paid maternity leave for up to one-year.
Unlike in the United States, these policies have lead to an increase in the amount of women in the workforce in Europe. At home in America, the number of women working peaked in 1999 and is now declining.
Claire Cain Miller is a reporter for The UpShot, a New York Times website covering policy and everyday life. She says that women are often leaving the workforce because of a lack of worker protections. Read her piece "Why U.S. Women Are Leaving Jobs Behind" here.