The Gender Bind: Men as Inauthentic Caregivers

Almost twenty years after the enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), an ostensibly gender-neutral statute, companies are still less likely to offer paternity leave than they are to offer maternity leave. Although women have traditionally faced discrimination in the workplace because they are viewed as inauthentic workers—not fully committed to paid employment—men face the corresponding problem and are viewed as inauthentic caregivers. Men who seek family leave transgress gender norms and risk workplace discrimination and stereotyping. This article makes explicit how the social and cultural contexts in which the FMLA is applied interact to maintain the status quo and produce gendered outcomes at work and at home. The FMLA was expected to promote workplace gender equality by providing genderneutral leave and thus reduce employers\u27 expectations that women are more costly than men because they require special accommodations. Unfortunately, women continue to take significantly more leave than men to care for a newborn child or sick relative. This article argues that that the view of men as providers first and caregivers second encourages discrimination against male caregivers and interacts with overwork and inflexible work schedules to contribute to stereotypical divisions of labor within families. This article further proposes policies, including paid family leave, to promote co-equal caregiving and breadwinning between men and women

How High the Apple Pie? A Few Troubling Questions about Where, Why, and How the Burden of Care for Children Should Be Shifted

In this Commentary, Case urges more careful thought from a feminist perspective about the as yet underexplored details and implications of proposals to shift more of the burden of care for children from mothers to employers or the state. Among her concerns is that some possible ways of structuring employer or governmental responsibility risk further increasing the advantages of men with wives and children at the expense of relatively untraditional women such as the childless and those in jobs disproportionately occupied by men with dependent spouses

How High the Apple Pie? A Few Troubling Questions about Where, Why, and How the Burden of Care for Children Should Be Shifted

In this Commentary, Case urges more careful thought from a feminist perspective about the as yet underexplored details and implications of proposals to shift more of the burden of care for children from mothers to employers or the state. Among her concerns is that some possible ways of structuring employer or governmental responsibility risk further increasing the advantages of men with wives and children at the expense of relatively untraditional women such as the childless and those in jobs disproportionately occupied by men with dependent spouses

Protecting Families in a Global Economy

The globalization of the economy has placed tremendous pressure on the modern family. Throughout the developed world, marriage rates are declining, birth and fertility rates are falling, real wages are flat or declining, and hours of family external labor supplied are rising. Finding a spouse and raising children can be inconsistent with the demands of careers in the global economy of the new information age. Globalization of the economy tends to encourage individualism and mobility, in direct opposition to family relationships. Moreover; the extensive period of training that is necessary to compete in the global economy interferes with marriage and child rearing and increases the costs of raising children. Finally, the global economy has resulted in increased demand for flexible labor requiring many lower- and middle-class families to increase time spent in the paid workforce, often with few or no additional benefits. This essay examines the different ways industrialized countries have responded to these problems and discusses the effectiveness of these possible solutions in the context of the global economy. In Part I, we present a definition of the family and some of the costs and benefits of family relationships. In Part II, we explore the reasons behind the current underinvestment in families, including the demands of the marketplace and government policies that promote market labor and undervalue children. In Part III, we discuss the new family and the fact that people are getting married less, and later in life, having fewer children, and spending less time raising children. Finally, in Part TV, we survey the ways in which several industrialized countries have addressed the problems of families in the global economy both through the market and government policies. Globalization and the New Politics of Labor, Symposium. Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, February 11-12, 2005

Protecting Families in a Global Economy

The globalization of the economy has placed tremendous pressure on the modern family. Throughout the developed world, marriage rates are declining, birth and fertility rates are falling, real wages are flat or declining, and hours of family external labor supplied are rising. Finding a spouse and raising children can be inconsistent with the demands of careers in the global economy of the new information age. Globalization of the economy tends to encourage individualism and mobility, in direct opposition to family relationships. Moreover; the extensive period of training that is necessary to compete in the global economy interferes with marriage and child rearing and increases the costs of raising children. Finally, the global economy has resulted in increased demand for flexible labor requiring many lower- and middle-class families to increase time spent in the paid workforce, often with few or no additional benefits. This essay examines the different ways industrialized countries have responded to these problems and discusses the effectiveness of these possible solutions in the context of the global economy. In Part I, we present a definition of the family and some of the costs and benefits of family relationships. In Part II, we explore the reasons behind the current underinvestment in families, including the demands of the marketplace and government policies that promote market labor and undervalue children. In Part III, we discuss the new family and the fact that people are getting married less, and later in life, having fewer children, and spending less time raising children. Finally, in Part TV, we survey the ways in which several industrialized countries have addressed the problems of families in the global economy both through the market and government policies. Globalization and the New Politics of Labor, Symposium. Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, February 11-12, 2005