As leaders of national organizations mobilizing women, workers, and their families, and as mothers ourselves, we know that the American family is at a tipping point. Without paid leave for all, our nation cannot recover or move forward.

When schools closed, we saw children struggle to make progress at home and in virtual classrooms. We worked late into the night after bedtime trying to help our children learn. We worried about grandparents and elderly relatives in nursing homes and made impossible decisions to keep them safe. We consulted our colleagues and repeatedly said to each other: "This is not sustainable." These are women who cannot afford to work from home, women who are abandoning their families or risking their lives to take care of their families, heroes who have survived this pandemic.

Now, on behalf of the tens of millions of workers and voters that our organizations (Paid Leave for All (opens in new tab) and Supermajority (opens in new tab)) represent, I say we need to end this. Paid leave is not just a "women's issue" or a "nice to have."

Long before the pandemic hit, women have carried the burden of caregiving. They cared for elderly relatives, taught children, and worked in hospitals. They did so much with so little, over and over again. And now, it is because of the work of women, people of color, and essential workers that our country has survived this crisis unscathed. They brought us all together and organized, volunteered, and voted at the same time. They literally saved our lives and our economy.

And yet, what did they get in return?

Shamefully, the United States is one of only two countries (open in new tab) without paid leave. It invests less in child care (open in new tab) than almost all other developed countries. Of the 195 countries in the world, 179 (open in new tab) have paid sick leave, but the United States does not. In addition, eight in 10 working people in the U.S. do not have paid family leave through their jobs.

My wife and I were fortunate to be able to take some paid leave during the birth of our child. This, however, has led to a greater appreciation and empathy for women who are forced to return to work only days after giving birth. For women recovering from major surgery, postpartum depression (opens in new tab), or complications, the system offers no protection. Many women return to work with stitches and bleeding. Then, years later, when their parents are elderly, these same women often use all the sick leave they have saved up just to help care for their parents.

Now consider what this means in a pandemic. Many of the workers you see every day, treating you in the hospital, delivering your groceries, filling your prescriptions, were not and still are not guaranteed a single day of paid leave if they get sick or have to care for a newborn, child, or family member.

In other words, women are no longer just juggling double shifts, many are juggling triple shifts (opens in new tab), paid and unpaid care work, supervising remote schools, and additional responsibilities (opens in new tab). Sixty-six percent of women (opens in new tab) report that they are primarily responsible for helping children with distance learning during the weekday.

Our profound failure to help them has driven women out of the workforce (opens in new tab) in large numbers. And when 5.3 million (open in new tab) women lost their jobs last year, it not only hurt women, it affected men, families, entire communities, and economies. Families lose a combined $22. 5 billion dollars (open in new tab) are paid out each year due to the lack of paid sick leave.

This unprecedented crisis has created the urgency we need and a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Congress to finally pass a comprehensive paid leave bill for all, like the one President Biden introduced Wednesday as part of his American Families Plan (open in new tab) created.

Voters agree: a Paid Leave for All survey (open in new tab) of voters in 11 states with close Senate races and 42 congressional districts with likely close races last year found that 85% and 86% support paid leave, respectively. Two-thirds of small business owners (open in new tab) also want a national paid leave program, and a recent survey conducted by TIME'S UP and Caring Across Generations found that more than 90% of voters (open in new tab) support a comprehensive family support plan that includes paid sick support paid sick leave, family leave, and medical leave.

Paid sick leave and long-term care policies are good for the economy. Paid sick leave and long-term care policies are also good for the economy, and could help the economy grow by at least 5% (open in new tab) by bringing women's labor participation rates up to levels seen in other countries. McKinsey researchers recently found that taking action before the pandemic is over to enact policies that promote gender equality could add $2.4 trillion (open in new tab) to GDP.

We cannot let this opportunity to protect our workforce and strengthen our economy pass us by.

Because paid leave is not a "women's issue." [Paid leave is an economic issue. Paid leave is a jobs and infrastructure issue. Paid leave is a racial justice issue. Paid leave is a small business issue; it is a military family issue. Paid leave is a rural issue and an urban issue. At its core, paid leave is an issue that affects everyone, everywhere. We can and must provide paid leave for all.

Amanda Brown Lierman is the executive director of Supermajority (open in new tab). Prior to Supermajority, she was the political and organizational director of the Democratic National Committee and the former national political director of Rock the Vote.

Dawn Hackelbridge is the director of Paid Leave for All (open in new tab), Supermajority, American Bridge, Planned Parenthood, and People For the American Way, Barbara Lee Family Foundation, where she has held leadership positions.