Families that work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Families that work - Essay Example The policy failures are attributed to a false dichotomy in terms of minimal public commitment and participation in care giving. Notably, US working families policies are based on privately based and market driven labour market demands, instead of citizen-based social policy frameworks. This has then made US to have the highest wage-gap between working males and females, in addition to having the highest family poverty levels compared to European nations and other English-speaking countries families. Overall, Gornick &Meyers argues that US has a rather pathetic parental and maternal employment structures coupled with a relatively restricted cash allotment to families (2005). Consequently, this has made American working parents especially mothers to face competing responsibilities, which not only leaves them reprimanded in their workplaces but also overburdened and drained at home. Gornick & Meyers also take issue of how childcare in US is mostly privately driven and left entirely to w omen, which is something that makes US to have a smaller portion of working mothers operating part-time and with high working hours (2005). Although the US has elevated maternal employment levels compared to Scandinavian nations, Canada and some continental European nations, there is minimal policy to shore up mothers in their labor-market commitment. Gornick &Meyers observes that even existing legal frameworks such as Pregnancy Discrimination Act or the Temporary Disability Insurance Act does not enforce provisions such as maternal or parental paid-leave (2005). There is low level and even lack of policy frameworks, which can enable mothers to take a couple of days off from their work after birth without sacrificing their job security or paycheques. Consequently, working mothers are faced with job interruptions, forgone earnings, and reduced career opportunities. Moreover, families experience extremely high out of pocket child-care expenditures, parents spending extensive hours at work, in addition to experiencing stressful adjustments to job schedules. Even though the US has progressive policies on work gender equality such as fathers being given leave rights, Gornick &Meyers observe that the nation has no provision that allows fathers to spend a considerable amount of time with the mother and child during the first year of the child birth without having to sacrifice their wages (2005). There are no provisions, which will ensure that both new working mother and father are allowed to work part-time without shifting employers or even losing their health benefits until the child goes to elementary school. Gornick &Meyers also tackle the fact that the US lacks provisions that will ensure that childcare expenses are offered to working parents at a much lower cost (2005). They observe that working family’s earnings do not balance the requirement of care, especially in meeting the needs of modern families. This is attributed to the failure of the traditional American employment-forcing outcomes identified by the lack of options for employees in deciding labor-market wages, granting of health insurance only via employment, and a labor structure,