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 Clinton said that starts with extending the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which now allows workers at businesses with at least 50 employees to take unpaid leave to care for ill family members or a new child. Clinton wants to drop the threshold to 25 employees.
The New York senator and presidential candidate said she also wants states to experiment with paid leave, especially for workers in jobs that do not provide paid time off.
"What we have done is to give advantages, again, in our society to higher-paid workers," Clinton told about 1,500 people during a lecture at Iowa State University.
She added that "a lot of women who don't have that option are barely given time off to recover from childbirth, to bond with their baby and to go to work."
Clinton said businesses should let their workers spend more time at home through flexible scheduling and telecommuting.
"Even if it's just like one day a week, or a half a day, you get some time to be able to better manage all of these new responsibilities," she said.
Clinton commented in response to a question from a self-described feminist who said she is trying to decide whether to have a family, a career or both.
"Most of the young women asking me want to have both," Clinton said. "They want to have a chance to have a family if that's their choice and they want to be able to continue working and make a contribution to the family income as well as to their own satisfaction. I think we make it about as hard as we possibly can for young women.
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 "I think we need to do more to have a set of family policies that create a context in which you can make the decisions that are best for you," she said.
Clinton was delivering the Mary Louise Smith Chair lecture at ISU's Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. Past speakers have included Republican Elizabeth Dole and Democrat Carol Moseley Braun, who both ran for president.
Clinton said that while it was wonderful to accept the honor at ISU, she hopes that the stage one day will be crowded with female candidates.
"I'd like to make a prediction, that while there may be plenty of room on the stage tonight, some day there will be enough of us to transform this event from a lecture into a debate," she said.
Clinton has spent the month reaching out to female voters; polls show they are among her strongest supporters.
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On the Net:
Hillary for President: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/splash/
Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics: http://www.las.iastate.edu/CattCenter/
[Associated Press; by Amy
Lorentzen]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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