Letter: Pre-K will benefit women, too

ISSUE | PRE-K

Worth the cost

Universal prekindergarten in Philadelphia would be a boon for children and also for women. That's right - women. It would benefit not just the mothers and grandmothers of the children who could attend these early-learning programs, but also the women who could teach in them.

About 95 percent of the early-childhood education workforce is female, with nearly half using public benefits because the pay is woefully inadequate. If the city's pre-K plan is implemented at the state's Pre-K Counts pay rate, teacher compensation would increase. A sugary-drink tax is worth the chance to raise children and the women who teach them out of poverty.

|Amy Friedlander, Philadelphia