Care and Equality Inventing a New Family Politics

"Timely . . . . A must read for policy makers and everyone else." -- Arlie Hochschild, author ofThe Time BindandThe Second Shift Who is caring for America's children, for the elderly, the sick, and disabled? In practical terms, the answer is: nobody. Even though most American women are in the workplace, Mona Harrington argues that government and business still operate as if there were a large unpaid labor force at home to care for children and aging parents. The result is the silent collapse of the caregiving system in the U.S. today. Care and Equalityis a clear-eyed, feminist reassessment of these issues that moves beyond stop-gap solutions like flex time and maternity leave. Criticizing both sides of the political spectrum -- conservatives' reliance on fictitious stay-at-home moms and liberals' narrow focus on workplace equality -- Harrington broadens the debate to redefine liberal "family values" and the programs needed to realize them at home and atthe office. The solutions, she suggests, will require both public and private support for health care, family leave, good wages for care workers, and decent housing. Proposing policies that will help prevent teen pregnancy, support single-parent families, and relieve the stresses on marriage,Care and Equalityoffers a tightly reasoned, cliché-free analysis of one of our toughest problems.Harrington, Mona is the author of 'Care and Equality Inventing a New Family Politics' with ISBN 9780415928229 and ISBN 0415928222.