"A one-woman wrecking crew of the gendered status quo"

Also: When pets outlive their people [View in browser](    [❤️]( April 2, 2023 Dear Cog reader, David Tanklefsky’s essay this week on [taking paternity leave]( includes this line: “But paid family leave is not a vacation and shouldn’t be thought of as one. It’s just a different type of work — one that society has historically undervalued and (another big surprise) placed on the weary shoulders of women.” As a woman with (occasionally) weary shoulders, I welcome this kind of thinking. I’m also somewhat reluctant to celebrate fathers for taking paternity leave: it’s irritating to me that the reality of American society still categorizes those leave-taking dads as outliers. But it turns out, David isn’t just any leave-taking father: He’s cousins with feminist icon Bella Abzug, a woman he describes as “cantankerous, brash, stubborn [and] funny-hat-wearing.” She died 25 years ago this week. Abzug’s life’s work — advocating for women’s rights, economic justice and gender equity, including the Equal Rights Amendment — is still a work in progress. Forty-one of the world’s wealthiest countries offer paid leave; notably, the U.S. does not. (Massachusetts is better: in 2021, the legislature passed a law allowing for up to 12 weeks of job-protected paid family leave.) “I’ve tried to do my small part by talking to others, particularly new dads, about paid leave,” [he writes]( “... these are conversations that can help lead to a shift in understanding: taking the family leave you’re entitled to is an act of feminism and gender equity.” Given all the tangible ways infants and mothers benefit when parents receive paid leave, I hope more fathers take advantage of these policies, as David has. One housekeeping note before I go: We’re still collecting responses for a piece we’re working on to mark 10 years since the Boston Marathon bombing. Whether you’re a runner, a first responder or marathon-lover, we’d love to [hear from you](. P.S.— WBUR gets the biggest share of our funding from people like you! When you support our work, you help us report the truth — without fear or favor. [Please make a gift today]( during our spring fundraiser. Thanks for reading, Cloe Axelson Senior Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [I took my paternity leave this year. My cousin – feminist icon, breaker of doors, wearer of funny hats – would be pleased]( While reading a book to his son, David Tanklefsky found a picture of his cousin, Bella Abzug, on a page about the women’s movement. She was a one-woman wrecking crew of the gendered status quo, he writes, and I like to think I’m honoring her by taking my paternity leave. [Read more.]( [I took my paternity leave this year. My cousin – feminist icon, breaker of doors, wearer of funny hats – would be pleased]( While reading a book to his son, David Tanklefsky found a picture of his cousin, Bella Abzug, on a page about the women’s movement. She was a one-woman wrecking crew of the gendered status quo, he writes, and I like to think I’m honoring her by taking my paternity leave. [Read more.]( [I grew up in a refugee camp. People like me deserve a voice in the UN]( I lived in a refugee camp for 17 years. The most soul-destroying part was feeling that we didn't exist politically, writes Bahati Kanyamanza. [Read more.]( [I grew up in a refugee camp. People like me deserve a voice in the UN]( I lived in a refugee camp for 17 years. The most soul-destroying part was feeling that we didn't exist politically, writes Bahati Kanyamanza. [Read more.]( [The mother of the disability rights movement knew this: ‘Disabilities are not problems to be solved’]( Disability rights activist Judy Heumann passed away recently, at age 75. As someone with epilepsy, writes Laura Beretsky, I am one of many who stood on Giant Judy’s shoulders when I relied on the Americans with Disabilities Act. [Read more.]( [The mother of the disability rights movement knew this: ‘Disabilities are not problems to be solved’]( Disability rights activist Judy Heumann passed away recently, at age 75. As someone with epilepsy, writes Laura Beretsky, I am one of many who stood on Giant Judy’s shoulders when I relied on the Americans with Disabilities Act. [Read more.]( [When pets outlive their people]( For our pets, and for the humans stuck cleaning up our messy lives, the kindest thing we can do is make plans, writes E.B. Bartels. [Read more.]( [When pets outlive their people]( For our pets, and for the humans stuck cleaning up our messy lives, the kindest thing we can do is make plans, writes E.B. Bartels. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "Complaining because you feel that you are being left out can seem selfish; complaining because members of a racial minority feel they are being left out seems noble. But sometimes they amount to the same thing." "[Affirmative Action Is in Peril and ‘Model Minority’ Stories Don’t Help]( The New York Times. "The situation might be merely crass if not for the shadow of violence hanging over it." "[An Astonishing, Frightening First for the Country]( The Atlantic. "In 1934, Congress enlisted the support of police, civic leaders and even the NRA to place a prohibitive tax on automatic weapons and short-barrel shotguns, while federal agencies took down gangsters and assassins by law where possible and force when necessary." "[Will the Nashville shooting inspire action? Past waves of American violence did]( Los Angeles Times. "Bella was a one-woman wrecking crew of the gendered status quo ..." — David Tanklefsky, "[I took my paternity leave this year. My cousin – feminist icon, breaker of doors, wearer of funny hats – would be pleased]( ICYMI [Paul Simon was right about 70: how strange to become an ‘old friend’]( I was just 15, but this short, wistful tune about getting old etched itself into my musical memory bank, writes Glenn Rifkin. Getting old, at that point, was some mystical end point that I could hardly imagine. [Read more.]( [Paul Simon was right about 70: how strange to become an ‘old friend’]( I was just 15, but this short, wistful tune about getting old etched itself into my musical memory bank, writes Glenn Rifkin. Getting old, at that point, was some mystical end point that I could hardly imagine. [Read more.]( If you’d like to write for Cognoscenti, send your submission, pasted into your email and not as an attachment, to opinion@wbur.org. Please tell us in one line what the piece is about, and please tell us in one line who you are. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news     Want to change how you receive these emails? Stop getting this newsletter by [updating your preferences.](  I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. Unsubscribe from all WBUR editorial newsletters [here.](  Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2022 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.