WhackyNation

I remember it well. Maybe that’s because I’m still amused and also disappointed by an Associated Press report about a year or so ago concerning the Microsoft Corporation, which is based in Bellevue, Washington, and is the world’s largest computer-software company. The A.P. said it was rated as one of the best places in America for mothers to work in.

I was amused, because I thought it was high time that American industries and professions started considering the value of hiring mothers for responsible positions. What a waste of human ability it was in all those earlier years, when most companies frowned on employing too many women, whether they were mothers or not.

The A.P. report quoted Carol Evans, C.E.O. of Working Mother magazine as saying that a growing number of companies are offering customized schedules.

“There are some very, very creative ideas,” she added, “and this is all related to what we saw in the past, with women dropping off the edge of a cliff, when they said it’s either working full time or not at all.

“Our country needs women to have babies, our companies need women’s brainpower and time. These two things going together really demand that companies wake up to this new culture.”

In praising the companies that have hired many women to good jobs, Ms. Evans said the magazine used five main criteria as the basis for its judgments in honoring those companies that have given mothers special attention: Flexibility, leave time for new parents, child care, elder care, and the number of women occupying top jobs

My disappointment in the magazine C.E.O.’s announcement came with the fact that she didn’t mention a program I have been pleading for in all American industries, professions, and services. In fact, I tried it on the C.E.O. of the TV/Radio station I served as a commentator and editorial consultant for a dozen years.

Because there were many young, struggling mothers working at the station and having a difficult time arranging day care and schooling for their children, I proposed to the station C.E.O. that he set up a daily day-care facility right at the station so that mothers (and fathers, too) might look in on them at intervals to make sure they were behaving and were being well cared for by professional attendants.

I then suggested to the C.E.O. that he and other executives at the station appeal to our congressional delegation to support new legislation calling for tax write-offs and other financial benefits for employers who set up daily day-care facilities at their companies to care for employees’ children.

What a boon the plan would be for mothers who find they have to work to keep families going! At the same time, on-site day-care facilities would give employers an extremely important advantage in hiring competent mothers — women they might not otherwise be able to coax to take a full-time job in their companies.

It should be a relatively easy task for Congress to write such legislation and to provide the incentives employers would need to establish in-house day-care facilities for their working mothers. The law would undoubtedly encourage employers across the nation to find space for such facilities.

Whenever the issue of caring for children comes up— and that’s quite often — I’m reminded of my dear Mom, who died in 1990 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. She was a very talented woman, who should have had a career as an actress or an operatic performer. She was that good.

However, the dictates in the society in which she grew up in Italy and in the U.S. forced her to forgo any thoughts of a career other than motherhood and housekeeping. In the more understanding, progressive world that came later, she could also have enjoyed a professional career in music or the stage.

In the social revolution that has since developed, the family role has changed considerably, but none more than that of the modern mother. She will always play the principal role as child bearer, but she should also have a right to a life of her own, and, if she wants it, a career away from the kitchen, the laundry room, and the home.

Despite the advances in our society, I think most leaders of American industry, business, education, and the professions still haven’t yet understood that they must take on a much greater role in the care of children. Corporate America has a bigger stake in day care than it has yet realized. It should be gearing up to provide day care for the children of all employees and executives that need it — and ON THE PREMISES!

In the long run, it would more than pay for itself in employee productivity and loyalty. Furthermore, it would solidify a notion that needs wider acceptance: Not only should fathers take more responsibility for tomorrow’s child; so should the industries, professions, and governments that employ the father or mother, or both.

Congress and the 50 legislatures should also play a most important role in supporting the “day care at work” idea. Lawmakers should devise an incentive program to help the industries, professions, and government pay for the expenses of creating and supporting day-care facilities at the workplace.

I recall making the proposal to the C.E.O. of KIRO-TV and Radio when I worked there in the 1980s and 1990s. Ken Hatch was his name, and he thought my idea was a great one. However, a few days later he had to tell me the station could not adopt the idea of workplace day care because it could not sustain the expense of the plan.

That’s why I say Congress and the legislatures should come to the rescue of a great proposal that needs government help through an incentive program. For example, companies establishing a day care should be given a tax writeoff to help make it happen.

I have two related ideas that are so important these days that they are worth repeating — and joining — until they are seriously considered by our lawmakers at the federal and local levels. One concerns the growing traffic turmoil in our major cities and the other dwells on the need to help working couples care for their children while they are on the job. How they are related will become clear in short order.

First, with regard to the traffic mess in our cities: A positive way to help relieve traffic congestion is for corporations and business establishments of all sizes to think seriously about creating housing communities for their employees that are close to their place of work, thus eliminating their long drive to work each day.

The extra-large corporations should lead the way in this regard because of their great number of employees. In order to facilitate the creation of these communities, lawmakers should seek ways in which to help finance these new neighborhoods and to offer tax incentives to the corporations at the same time.

I tried unsuccessfully to persuade Microsoft to help build such a community — and at the same time provide a demonstration neighborhood that would be united by a common communications network that would be linked to their place of work and at the same time help them make decisions with a single voice. Imagine what a revolution that would bring to communities everywhere!

With many such communities in each urban area, the voice of the people would be heard more readily and with much greater force in city and county councils, legislatures, and the halls of Congress. It’s what the Age of High Tech will eventually be able to accomplish.

Second, regarding the growing number of working couples, Congress should act to offer tax and other incentives to businesses and industries that make space available for the establishment of day-care facilities for the children of their employees. It would make it possible for working parents to look in on their children from time to time and dramatically lessen their worry and their expense.

I tried this idea out on the C.E.O. of the TV-Radio station at which I worked for a dozen years, and he liked it very much. However, he told me it would be too expensive an endeavor, unless the station were offered financial help or at least a tax incentive to lighten the load.

That’s why I say it’s a great idea that needs the support of lawmakers at both the federal and local levels. Now you can see why I say the two main ideas are related. One relieves the stress of driving to work through a traffic mess and the other relieves the stress of caring for the children of working couples. Worth the effort? You bet!