Balancing Work and Family

Helping parents balance the demands of work and family should underline progressive pro-family policies. With the rhetoric of "family values", the rightwing has convinced large swathes of voters that gay marriage and associated social issues are endangering the family, even as those same corporate conservatives studiously downplay the real stresses on families, especially a workplace that is unforgiving of parents trying to balance the demands of work and home. A core challenge for progressives is to reclaim their image as defenders of the family against the pressures of modern life and work. Providing parents with time to stay home with new children or with sick loved ones, supporting decent child care and early education, and providing support for contraception to assist family planning all express a core progressive vision of valuing families and offering real support to them.