AAUW believes that creating work environments that help employees balance the responsibilities of work and family is good public policy — good for workers, good for families, and good for business. AAUW has long supported flexible workplace policies to address the family responsibilities of employees. AAUW efforts in this area include long term advocacy from 1983 to 1992 to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act, which was finally signed into law in 1993.

Despite the FMLA and a patchwork of state laws and employer-based benefits, family and personal sick leave remain elusive to many working Americans. And despite the relative wealth of the United States, family-oriented workplace policies in this country lag dramatically behind those in much of the rest of the word, including all high-income countries and many middle- and low-income countries as well. Clearly, there is still much room for improvement to make our workplaces more family friendly.

AAUW will work to advance policies that will improve workplaces for employees with family responsibilities of all kinds. Such protections and improvements are critical to women’s equal opportunity and economic security.

For more information, call 202/785-7793 or e-mail VoterEd@aauw.org.

AAUW Public Policy and Government Relations