Paid Leave For All, the nation’s leading advocacy group for paid family and medical leave, and renowned global creator agency Billion Dollar Boy (BDB) are teaming up to launch a pro bono campaign aimed to rally public support for a nationwide paid family and medical leave policy in the United States. This initiative, in partnership with Caring Across Generations and ParentsTogether, ignites a renewed push for Paid Leave for All’s nationwide petition with Glamour Magazine, and seeks to harness the power of creators to use their content creation skills and audiences to create lasting change and improve the lives of millions of Americans.
Today, the United States remains one of only six countries in the world that guarantees no form of paid leave for its workers. This means that:
-
3 in 4 working people do not have paid family leave through their jobs
-
1 in 4 women have returned to work within two weeks of giving birth, while their bodies are not yet healed and their newborns are not even able to lift their heads
-
61 percent of people caring for an aging loved one, or a loved one with a disability or medical condition, are doing this while working and without support
Consequently, gender and racial disparities persist and intensify. Public health suffers and the economy falters (working families lose over $22 billion every year because of our country’s failure to secure paid leave). Studies have found that this challenge affects a significant population of digital content creators – over one third (36%) of income-earning digital content creators are working as creators full-time, underscoring the urgent need for change within this sector.
Despite being a recurrent proposal in Washington, D.C. and its historic progress, federal paid family and medical leave has not yet passed. There has been renewed energy and action in 2023, with a strong budget proposal from the President, a new bipartisan working group in the House and a growing number of champions in Congress.
Creators Helping to Drive Change
Paid Leave For All is partnering with Billion Dollar Boy and collaborating with creators for its latest push on a petition first launched this spring with Glamour. Creators are a unique and powerful channel to help drive this cause forward; as architects of culture, community and activism. They are highly effective at using their unique voices to speak up about causes they care about, inform their community and inspire them to take action, and are showcasing their power through this successful campaign.
Paid Leave for All’s goal is to win and enact a comprehensive and inclusive federal paid family and medical leave program – one that would finally make federal paid leave benefits available to everyone, including self employed workers. Through creative content, influencers will share personal stories of their trials with pregnancy, childbirth, and other family scenarios and the challenges and consequences they encountered resulting from the lack of paid leave.
Participating creators include:
Permele Doyle, Founder and President of Billion Dollar Boy, said, “Paid leave is a human right that, as a mother and a small business leader, I find absolutely shocking that our federal government has not supported. Earlier this year, I was proud that BDB announced major updates to our company’s paid leave policy, but our fight doesn’t stop here.
“We’re honored to partner with Paid Leave for All and harness the amazing power of our creator community to help drive change. This cause is especially relevant to creators – the lifeblood of our business – who are self employed and lack access to any benefits.”
Dawn Huckelbridge, Director of Paid Leave for All adds, “We’re thrilled to have support from Billion Dollar Boy for this next wave and push for paid leave. We recognize the potential of creators as agents of social change, and as this campaign unfolds it will help make our voices exponentially louder as we harness the momentum and demand policymakers finally commit to passing paid leave.”
The campaign will run from September 14th 2023, and will feature content that not only raises awareness about this pressing issue but also encourages followers to sign the petition letter demanding policy makers’ commitment to paid family and medical leave. The letter can be signed here: https://www.glamour.com/paidleaveforall.
