Action: toward healthier families in Burkina Faso and in America.

The African nation of Burkina Faso, formerly known as Upper Volta and controlled by the French until 1960, has had a long uphill climb toward self-determination, like most nations emerging from decades of Western colonialism. And its women have had a tougher climb than that -- perhaps one in six women there use any form of contraception, which is one of the lowest rates on Earth, and many of these have to hide it from their families (since you have to get permission from a man to get it in Burkina Faso), and it's no accident the nation has one of the world's highest rates of maternal mortality. But the guard may be changing, as a youth rebellion late last year swept away the nearly three-decade rule of President Blaise Compaoré, who had reversed many of the progressive reforms of his predecessor (a former ally he deposed in a coup). So Amnesty International helps you tell Burkina Faso's government to ensure their women have the same rights as their men, including the right to self-determination. No this does not mean women will never have babies again in Burkina Faso -- but having choices means they'll have healthier and happier families.

Meanwhile, corporations like Netflix have made the news lately by expanding paid family leave, and though you're right to be skeptical about their actual generosity (Netflix's expansion only applies to "talent," and not, for example, the folks who actually process your DVDs, who surely have families to care for, too), it's as good a news hook as any to tell Congress to create a solid paid family and medical leave insurance program, as Moms Rising helps you do. If your Congressfolk tell you the economy's just too shaky right now to give working families a break, ask them why the economy never seems too shaky to give corporations more welfare handouts. If your Congressfolk tell you the program will cost too much money, remind them that H.R. 1439/S. 786, the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (or FAMILY Act), would levy a mere 0.4 percent tax (that's four-tenths of one percent, not four percent), divided evenly between employee and employer, to pay for a program giving all Americans the means to take time off to care for themselves and/or their families. If that bothers them, it's time to vote them out.