The Twentieth Century was marked by efforts to improve the workplace. Worker safety moved from “assumption of the risk” which was another way of saying “that’s the worker’s problem,” to minimum safety standards that ALL employers must meet. Over time, fewer and fewer people were maimed or killed on the job.
The latter part of the Twentieth Century was marked by another change: More families with young children had all parents in the workforce. The consequence of a rising number of one-income households and both parents working in two-income households has meant that workers increasingly have no one at home to deal with emergencies and provide care. But what has been the response in the workplace? A new report, Family Values at Work, notes that 70% of workers can be fired for staying home with a sick child.
The stress on workers is not limited to those with small children. 21 million full-time workers and 5 million part-time workers provide unpaid care for an elderly, disabled, or chronically ill family member.
It is ironic that people who repeat the “family Values” mantra don’t talk about the economic realities of trying to hold down a job and take care of a family. Why isn’t the difficulty of raising a family and holding down a job front and center in any discussion of family values?
Whether they want to keep a parent at home or not, the economic realities of life in the middle class have ended the model of dad-works-while-mom-manages-the-home. That’s where a real discussion of family values should start.
Family Values at Work starts a conversation that is long overdue.
