Working Parents Need a Village

D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson explained to the crowd at the National Maternal and Infant Health Summit that she has an “adversarial relationship with a proverb.” The maxim in question? “It takes a village” to raise a child.

Henderson’s beef is with the imagery. The “village” has historically centered godparents, friends, grandparents and so on. But what is oft left out are the systems and institutions — including the American workforce and U.S. employers — that are responsible for creating environments for working parents to thrive.