Search Results

Source: IWPR Publication #
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Heymann, S. Jody
The Widening Gap: A New Book on the Struggle to Balance Work and Caregiving
IWPR Publication #C349, Research-in-Brief, Institute for Women's Policy Research, October 2001.
Also: http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/the-widening-gap-a-new-book-on-the-struggle-to-balance-work-and-caregiving/at_download/file
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Institute for Women's Policy Research
Keyword(s): Maternal Employment; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); School Completion; Shift Workers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This Research-in-Brief is based on selected findings from a new book by Jody Heymann, Director of Policy at the Harvard Center for Society and Health. Published by Basic Books in 2000, The Widening Gap: Why America’s Working Families are in Jeopardy and What Can Be Done About It reveals the failure of our nation’s employer-based support system to help families meet their caregiving responsibilities.

In her new book, The Widening Gap: Why American Working Families Are in Jeopardy and What Can Be Done About It, (Basic Books) Heymann, professor of Health and Social Behavior at HSPH, analyzed survey data to describe the "national caregiving burden" and has exposed the growing gap between demands on parents and resources provided by government and employers. Asking employees to keep a diary of interruptions in the work week to meet family needs, Heymann found an extraordinary commitment by working parents. In the interview week, 30 percent of respondents had to cut back at least one day to meet the needs of family members, 12 percent cut back on two days and five percent three or more days. Working women were found to carry a disproportionately large load of caregiving in families while receiving less help at home and being hemmed in by far less sick leave time or work flexibility than men.

Bibliography Citation
Heymann, S. Jody. "The Widening Gap: A New Book on the Struggle to Balance Work and Caregiving." IWPR Publication #C349, Research-in-Brief, Institute for Women's Policy Research, October 2001.