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Family Studies and Reports
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The State of the World’s Children 2007: Executive Summary
The “State of the World's Children” is an annual publication put out by UNICEF. The 2007 Executive Summary examines the discrimination and disempowerment women face throughout their lives, outlining what must be done to eliminate gender discrimination and empower women and girls. This pocked-sized Executive Summary is free on-line and it provides an overview of the report, as well as a list of summary indicators that provide economic and social data on all of the world's regions.
Family Values at Work: It’s about Time!
"Family Values at Work" was released in 2007 by the MultiState Working Families Consortium, a network of state coalitions working for policies that value families. It documents the consequences on workers, families, businesses and the nation when family values end at the workplace door. The report details the wrenching stories of workers suffering from the lack of family-friendly work rules, and lays out a policy agenda modest compared to that of other advanced nations yet urgently needed by U.S. workers and their families. The report lays out reasons for adopting new rules at work.
The Work Family Dilemma: A Better Balance
“The Work Family Dilemma: A Better Balance” was published in 2007 by A Better Balance: The Work and Family Legal Center and the Barnard Center for Research on Women. This report lays out the work-family policy agenda for New York City, and focuses on the following: improve leave policies for working New Yorkers, improve access to flexible working conditions for New Yorkers, end discrimination against those with family responsibilities, provide adequate childcare for all working families, as well as other critical issues for working New Yorkers.
One Sick Child Away from Being Fired: When “Opting Out” Is Not an Option
This (2006) report discusses a study of 99 union arbitrations that provide a unique window into how work and family responsibilities clash in the lives of bus drivers, telephone workers, construction linemen, nurses’ aides, carpenters, welders, janitors, and others – men as well as women – in working-class jobs. The report resulted in six major findings: working-class families face inflexible schedules that clash with family needs, mandatory overtime leaves single mothers, divorced dads, and tag-team families in jeopardy of losing their jobs, working-class men often are unable or unwilling to bring up their family needs with their employers, many workers are one sick child away from being fired, employers’ inflexibility may well defeat their own business needs and flexibility is possible in working-class jobs.
"Opt Out" or Pushed Out?: How the Press Covers Work/Family Conflict – the Untold Story of Why Women Leave the Workforce
This 2006 report presents a content analysis of 119 print news stories that discuss women leaving the workplace, published between 1980 and 2006. It was released by The Center for Work Life Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2006.
Keeping Jobs and Raising Families in Low-Income America: It Just Doesn’t Work
This 2002 report, "Keeping Jobs and Raising Families in Low-Income America: It Just Doesn't Work," describes the findings from the Across the Boundaries Project, a two-year study conducted jointly by the Radcliffe Public Policy Center at Harvard University and 9to5, National Association of Working Women. This study looked at low-wage work from a range of viewpoints, by asking the people who know it best, low-income parents, those who care for/educate their kids, and those who employ them. This study found a mismatch between the demands of caring for families and succeeding on the job.
