Module 3 DB: Family Leave Policies
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This week we continue to discuss how class, race, and gender create structural inequalities that produce different contexts for families, especially as it relates to work. Our readings touched on different family work policies and how they impact families differentially. This week we are going to put our voices to use!
Your assignment this week is to do some research on current legislation on family leave policies either local or that are being debated at the federal level
(https://www.senate.gov/legislative/bills_acts_laws.htm (Links to an external site.)) . Read up on one of the bills that is being debated, the draft a letter in support of (or against if you chose) the legislation using the readings from Modules 2 and 3 as SUPPORT for your argument. Remember to argue with fact and not opinion, and be respectful.
Things to consider as you craft your response:
• Who benefits from this legislation?
• How will children benefit from the proposed legislation?
• How might a person’s race, class or gender impact inequalities in this policy in this country (ie, in the USA FLMA is unpaid unless a person has accrued vacation or sick time to use. This creates a disadvantage for the working poor that often don’t get benefits and can’t afford to take unpaid leave).
• Are people with relatively little power (think about the intersectionality quiz) being considered?
• APA Format
Remember,
• You need at least 2 citations and references, one from the course content this week and one for the bill you are writing in favor of (or against).
Family Leave Policies
The family leave policies will effectively benefit and enrich the lives and the wellbeing of every member of the family. Family leave policies formulated under the Family and Medical Insurance Act (FMLA) goes that eligible employees of covered employers should receive and enjoy twelve weeks of unpaid leave in a period of 12-months for specific families and medical reasons (Mayer, 2013). The policies ensure that members of families can have time together and cater to their medical needs while they are still on employment. Therefore, different parties enjoy the family leave policies such as the children get time to spend with their family issues, and employee family members and parents get to attend to their personal and medical matters.
Children will immensely benefit from the family leave policies. In this regard, children get the time to spend their time with their parents. Children share moments and family time with their parents that positively impacting their childhood (Mayer, 2013). Consequently, parents are in a position to attend to private matters concerning their parents such as school events. This fact ensures that parents and children can effectively bond.
The inequalities in race, class and gender will result in selective application of the family leave policies. In this case, differentiation in races will discriminate an order of the day in the application of the policies (Rossin, 2017). This fact means that only persons from the races considered superior will enjoy such privileges. Moreover, the differentiation of I n gender will lead to discrimination based on one being male and female. This makes it hard to equally implement the policies. Additionally, class inequality will make it expensive and not worth it for the persons occupying the low classes to enjoy since such arrangements are unpaid.
Finally, persons having little power in society will not enjoy the benefits of family leave policies due to discrimination (Rossin, 2017). The social categorization in the society based on gender, race and class ensure that only those occupying high levels or the preferred class will enjoy the policies at the expense of others. Therefore, people with little or no power in society are not considered in the course of policy implementation.
References
Mayer, G. (2013). The family and medical leave act (FMLA): policy issues.
Rossin-Slater, M. (2017). Maternity and family leave policy (No. w23069). National Bureau of Economic Research.
