Bringing the Margin to the Center: Comprehensive Strategies for Work/Family Policies

TL;DRAbstract

The ultimate goal of work/family policy has always seemed deceptively clear: to provide institutional and cultural support to permit a healthy balance between family and work. An implicit assumption of that goal is that it would be achieved without undermining principles of equality. Indeed, the assumed result of work/family balance is that it would help achieve equality: families would be treated equally, caregivers would be supported equally, and children and family members would receive necessary and important care equally. It has long been recognized that work/family balance is especially critical to gender equality. Equality principles require that work/family policy and strategies also pay close attention to race and class inequalities as well as the more common attention to gender inequality. It is our challenge to devise strategies and build coalitions to unite rather than divide along gender, race, and class lines. We need to pay attention to who is and who is not present, lit

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