Economic and Political Contexts
Drago (2007) argues that it is important to contextualize WLC economically because WL experiences are shaped by issues such as (a) what forms of labor are compensated, (b) the wage gap between mothers and others, and (c) how nonpaid household labor is divided.
And while U.S. political rhetoric voices support for family values, economic structures do not reflect an ethic of care (Folbre, 2001). Indeed, Bianchi and Milkie (2010) assert a need to attend to materiality in paying attention to underwork: “How [do] families function during bad economic times and how [do] unemployment and poor economic circumstances erode WL balance.................................... Many families are experiencing job loss, eroded pension wealth, housing foreclosure, and affordability issues that may have long-term implications” (p. 719).
Yet economic and political contexts have been largely ignored outside of comparative research (Den Dulk, 2001). In other nations, the economic and political context is more central because of ways in which other governments (e.g., all European Union nations) have intervened in shaping their citizens’ quality of working life by legislating paid parental leave (Kelly, 2006). Thus, the minimalist free market approach to policy in the United States is distinctive compared with other industrialized countries (Kossek & Distelberg, 2009), but this does not mean that economic and political contexts are of less consequence. On the contrary, the U.S. government position related to issues such as parental leave and child care has made such public policy issues the purview of corporations (Googins, 1997), resulting in WL policies and discourses that reflect a corporate ideology that privileges organizational values (Hoffman & Cowan, 2008).
Gross (2001) argues that U.S. scholars should broaden their understanding of the ways policy issues directly affect issues and experiences of WLC and remember that “having a job and being able to afford a family in the first place is a fundamental work∕family[life] issue” (p. 191). While parental leave legislation dominates when scholars situate WLC politically, the legislation of a variety of issues such as working hours, wages, and health care certainly affect WL possibilities. The WL literature often presumes ideals of “choice” and “balance” that in reality are tied to positions of economic or political privilege (Simpson & Kirby, 2006; Wieland, 2006). Connecting WLC research to multiple policy issues is crucial not only for understanding how the political context shapes WL choices but also for considering ways to inform WL legislation.