Conclusion

Families are in desperate need of immediate solutions in the face of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Responding to the pandemic in the immediate crisis, learning from the lessons the pandemic has made so painfully clear, and implementing solutions through permanent national legislation will help protect families’ and individuals’ personal and economic security now and in the future. Family-supportive policies work. There is already immense bipartisan support for families and care and clear demand for solutions that will help workers and families cope with this crisis, allowing all people to thrive at work and at home.

The Better Life Lab team is available to speak with any policymakers or business leaders seeking data, evidence, or narratives to make these policy, practice, and culture changes for work-family justice and ensure equity and better lives for all.

Elevate the Value of Care—
“The main issue here is that we need to start valuing care… What I wanted to shout from the rooftops, is that an hour holding your child's hand in a pediatrician's office is just as valuable to society as an hour in a boardroom. If that's what we can get out of this crazy experience, that we begin to value care in a way we didn't before, then I believe we are set up for a really wonderful reset. I do think that once we value care, then it won't matter who's doing that care, men or women, but it will help us all.”
–Eve Rodsky, Author of Fair Play