On Monday, Senator Tammy Duckworth made history as the first US Senator to give birth while in office. Duckworth, age 50, retired from the Army in 2014 as a lieutenant colonel. In 2004, she lost both of her legs and partial use of her right arm while serving in Iraq.
It may be hard to believe that it’s 2018 and we’re only just now seeing the first US Senator to give birth while in office, but motherhood is still highly stigmatized in the workplace. Duckworth is a strong advocate on behalf of working families.
“Parenthood isn’t just a women’s issue, it’s an economic issue and one that affects all parents — men and women alike,” she said in a statement. “As tough as juggling the demands of motherhood and being a Senator can be, I’m hardly alone or unique as a working parent, and my children only make me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hardworking families everywhere.”
Working moms get the job done https://t.co/Q7FslpW7f8
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) April 9, 2018
On February 5th, two weeks after Duckworth announced that she was pregnant, she published an op-ed for CNN entitled, “2018 is past time to get real on paid leave.”
In it, she stated, “When my new daughter is born, I’ll be able to take paid time to care for her, but most people aren’t so fortunate; they have to rush right back to work. A 2015 report from In These Times found that one in four employed moms returned to work within two weeks of childbirth.”
Duckworth’s new daughter, Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, is her second daughter.