Overview

More families are struggling in the United States today with the competing demands of meeting work obligations and caring for loved ones. Indeed, America exceeds all other industrialized countries in average hours at work. As reported in the enormous literature on work and family, the well known "time crunch" experienced by American workers is critically affecting their ability to care for their families. At the same time, the United States lags far behind other industrialized countries, and even behind many developing countries, in public policies that support working families.

Recognizing the need for a forum to discuss work/family issues with a focus on class, A Better Balance: The Work and Family Legal Center and the Barnard Center for Research on Women, along with the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California at Hastings and the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development, planned a summit bringing together researchers and advocates for better policies on the issues, representatives from labor and business, and elected officials in New York City.

The importance of a work/family balance for people of all income levels is clear, but the organizers of the summit were struck by the lack of policy analysis in terms of class and the different problems and solutions that might emerge from a discussion across class lines. Fifty participants attended a day-long roundtable discussion with a keynote the preceding night. From this summit emerged certain themes and a consensus around the need for a comprehensive work/family policy advocacy agenda for New York City.

As part of its New Feminist Solutions series, the Barnard Center for Research on Women, together with A Better Balance: The Work and Family Legal Center, published a report based on discussions from the summit. Click here to find out how to download the report, or to request printed copies.