American thinking, policy should shift as wellMaria Shriver, in partnership with the Center for American Progress, recently released a ground-breaking report.“The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything” outlines how the shift in women's roles in a single generation has changed “everything about how we live and work today.”According to the report, women currently make up half of the U.S. workforce and serve as the primary or co-breadwinners in almost two-thirds of American households, a trend that has changed “how we all work and live, not just women but also their families, their co-workers, their bosses, their faith institutions and their communities.”A recent Tribune editorial calling for additional child care funding in the state drew a number of online comments. The jist of several: If mothers would just stay home with their children, child care wouldn't be needed. As highlighted by The Shriver Report, that scenario simply isn't the norm in this day and age. Many, if not most, families can't make ends meet without two incomes. And the current economic recession, which has seen men lose jobs at three times the rate of women, hasn't helped. Of course, many women simply make the choice to have both careers and children. The report goes on to say that many of our “societal institutions, from government and businesses to our faith communities ... rely on outdated models of who works and who cares for our families.”It's time to accept the reality of this new generation: More and more women — whether by choice or necessity — work outside the home.As The Shriver Report says, “Clearly we aren't going back to a time when women were available full time to be their families' unpaid caretakers, so we need to find another way forward.”Women have an unprecedented role in today's America, and thinking should be adjusted accordingly.

American thinking, policy should shift as well

Maria Shriver, in partnership with the Center for American Progress, recently released a ground-breaking report.

“The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything” outlines how the shift in women's roles in a single generation has changed “everything about how we live and work today.”

According to the report, women currently make up half of the U.S. workforce and serve as the primary or co-breadwinners in almost two-thirds of American households, a trend that has changed “how we all work and live, not just women but also their families, their co-workers, their bosses, their faith institutions and their communities.”

A recent Tribune editorial calling for additional child care funding in the state drew a number of online comments.

The jist of several: If mothers would just stay home with their children, child care wouldn't be needed.

As highlighted by The Shriver Report, that scenario simply isn't the norm in this day and age. Many, if not most, families can't make ends meet without two incomes. And the current economic recession, which has seen men lose jobs at three times the rate of women, hasn't helped. Of course, many women simply make the choice to have both careers and children.

The report goes on to say that many of our “societal institutions, from government and businesses to our faith communities ... rely on outdated models of who works and who cares for our families.”

It's time to accept the reality of this new generation: More and more women — whether by choice or necessity — work outside the home.

As The Shriver Report says, “Clearly we aren't going back to a time when women were available full time to be their families' unpaid caretakers, so we need to find another way forward.”

Women have an unprecedented role in today's America, and thinking should be adjusted accordingly.