Work and Family Policy in 2012: A Feminist Perspective

Work and Family Researchers NetworkJune 2012 New York City

Heidi HartmannPresident, IWPRResearch Professor, GWU Editor, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy

www.iwpr.org

IWPR Program Areas—25 years

Employment, Education, and the Economy

Work and Family Poverty and Income Security Health and Safety Democracy and Society

IWPR Mission Statement

The Institute for Women's Policy Research conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women, promote public dialogue, and strengthen families, communities, and societies.

Journal of Women, Politics & Policy

JWPP@gwu.edu

Please submit your policy relevant work and family research to JWPP

Today’s Talk

Doing policy research on work-family issues—FMLA example

Focusing on the Cost of Care A proposal for adding care giving

credits to Social Security A brief policy agenda for 2012 Apologies for US focus—our non US

participants can either gloat or feel sorry for us

3 types of work family policies

Those only the employer can provide—job guarantee, flexibility, alternative work schedules (regulation. incentives)

Income replacement while care giving—maternity, parental, family care leave (social insurance, general revenue, employer mandate)

Subsidies for costs of caring—child care, elder care, long term work absences (ditto)

Heidi Hartmann, Ariane Hegewisch, and Vicky Lovell, An Economy that Puts Families First: Expanding the Social Contract to include Family Care, EPI Briefing Paper #190, 2007.

Women Work for Pay and Provide Family Care/Care Work without Pay

Work for Pay Care for family

The Care Economy —a Feminist Issue

Women are following care work out of the home into the marketplace.ANDWomen continue to do the majority of care work still done at home.

A modest proposal

Add caregiving credits to our existing Social Security system as a way to prevent caregiving from reducing (mainly)women’s retirement income

Most other wealthy nations have them

Social Security is our social welfare state in the US and it’s a good base for expansion, almost the only one we have.

Brief overview of US Social Security System

Paid for by 6.2% contribution by worker and employer

Benefits based on highest 35 years—0 earning years bring benefits down

Caregiving compensated for only for married women via spousal benefits = 50% of hubby’s benefits

Single mothers, divorced wives with less than 10 yrs of marriage get 0 beyond what is based on own earnings

Positive aspects of US Social Security System for Women

Covers everyone who worked at least 10 years at $4,520 per year.

Provides benefits to wives whether they worked for pay or not, former wives (provided they had a ten-year marriage), and widows.

Fully adjusted for inflation (especially important for long-lived women).

Returns more to lower earning than higher earning workers (redistributive).

Why we need caregiving credits:Boomers more likely to rely on own earnings records

Boomer women worked twice as much as their moms.

Got more education, earned more.

Married less, divorced more, had fewer children, had children outside of marriage.

Non-marriage is especially high for Black women.

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Figure 5: Marital Status by Race, women 50-59

Source: Holden, Karen and Angela Fontes. 2009. “Economic Security in Retirement: How Changes in Employment and Marriage Have Altered Retirement-related Economic Risks for Women.” Journal of Women, Politics, & Policy 30(2/3).

What a Caregiving Credit Could Look Like

Provide an earnings credit for every year with a child under 6 (available to either or both parents and/or non-married partners)

Example: Parents of young children would receive an earnings credit of at least $21,000 per year even if they earned nothing.

$21,000 = ½ US median wage

Reward work effort so that earners have somewhat more $ on their record than non-earners.

EarningsBenefit Amount

Total Amount Credited

$0 $21,000 $21,000

$5,000 $18,273 $23,273

$10,000 $15,545 $25,545

$21,000 $9,545 $30,545

$35,000 $1,909 $36,909

$38,500 $0 $38,500

2012 Policy Agenda—get aggressive Expand Social Security, don’t cut it

—retirement age recently raised to 66 and scheduled to go to 67 (can retire at 62, but steep penalties)

Add to Democratic Party platform Require parties to increase share of

female candidates to 50% by 2024 Follow Australian example—finally

got paid parental leave in 2011, leaving US alone in OECD