Kelly, E. L., & Moen, P. (2020). Overload: How Good Jobs Went Bad and What We Can Do About It

Abstract

select sample is a limitation of the study. The work-family dilemmas of less educated, low-paid, and immigrant women in these wealthy nations likely are quite different, as Collins acknowledges. While some might argue that if even privileged women struggle to integrate work and family, we can infer the problem is serious for all women. However, the challenges faced by disadvantaged mothers may not only be a matter of intensity but a matter of kind: the struggles of disadvantaged women may be unique and not well identified by studying middle-class women. For example, the reliance on market solutions for childcare produces wide variance in the quality and cost of care, with low-wage workers caught in a fragile net of childcare solutions. I hope Collins’ research inspires similar in-depth studies of women in different social locations across these varying political and cultural work-family contexts. Collins powerfully rejects the concept of work-family balance to encourage a social movement for work-family justice. Through this, Collins calls for a stronger safety net for American families and a suite of policies that enable each person to have “the opportunity and power to fully participate in both paid work and family care” (p. 7). As the recent pandemic has laid bare, the need for work-family justice has never been more important.