FEMINIST LABOR POLITICS. This weekend, The New York Times Magazine chimed in to a growing conversation about women�s work-family balance with a piece arguing that increasing government support for childcare and health care will encourage women to have more babies and start younger, thus staving off a �baby drought.� I�m unconvinced by the argument that Americans need to be repopulating the world with gas guzzlers any faster than we already are. But of course, it remains a serious inequity -- and a drain on productivity -- that American women do 60 to 70 percent of domestic labor even though in today�s economy, 60 percent of us work outside the home (compared to 74 percent of men). And we learned last week that when women move in with a male partner, we start doing more housework while men do less. How romantic. In an excellent Nation cover story, journalist and historian Ruth Rosen dubs women�s second- and third-shift labor responsibilities the �care crisis.� Amidst the progressive euphoria post-Election Day last November, some feminists were concerned that the new focus on economic populism would elide �women�s issues.� But so often, feminist and labor issues go hand-in-hand. Consider this: In a study of 173 nations, the United States is one of only five that offers no guaranteed paid parental or sick leave. Our Family and Medical Leave Act, currently under review at the Department of Labor, offers workers only modest protections: 12 weeks of annual unpaid leave for health problems, after the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for sick immediate family members. But the FMLA applies only to companies with 50 or more employees, and does not allow workers to take time off to care for adult brothers, sisters, aunts, or uncles who may have no other caretaker. As the Department of Labor considers possible revisions to the law, business interests are pushing for further restrictions. But the FMLA needs to be strengthened, not gutted. It should guarantee the rights of new parents of both sexes to take paid parental leave, and shouldn�t financially penalize workers doing double duty caring for sick or aging relatives. Making it economically viable to care for one�s family would help to destigmatize such work, and encourage men to take on their fair share of domestic labor, not to mention raise economic security across the board. Feminists, labor activists, health care experts, children�s advocates, and the new Congress should get behind that goal loudly and clearly. --Dana Goldstein
