快活app Professor Tackles Paid Family Leave in D.C.
In a country full of red and blue, Americans somehow still have a difficult time making purple. In fact, these are some of the most partisan times
in the history of the U.S., says听听assistant professor in 快活app鈥檚听
But there鈥檚 one issue on which we seem willing to chase that elusive hue. It brings together working parents with infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), people caring for spouses as they face chemotherapy and politicians whose interactions are too-often filled with vitriol. That鈥檚 the need for paid family leave.
鈥淸Paid family leave] is an issue that people can get behind because, fundamentally, this is an issue about families and how families take care of one another and how we structure our work lives to enable us to be whole people,鈥 says Greenfield, who recently sat on a panel addressing the subject in front of D.C. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.
Greenfield is 快活app鈥檚 voice at the table when it comes to the conversation around paid family leave. After years of researching the long-term听consequences of caregiving, she recently was appointed to an advisory council for the听听and she has the ear of some of D.C.鈥檚 most powerful folks 鈥 including Ivanka Trump and Rick Santorum on the right and Chris Dodd on the left.
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Greenfield has long studied the relationship between caregiving for older adults and caregivers鈥 ability to prepare for their own retirement, but when she found herself in the NICU with 鈥渕edically fragile鈥 twins, she got a broader view of the issue. 鈥淚鈥檓 watching health disparities occur. I鈥檓 watching the moms who don鈥檛 have access to leave have babies who therefore don鈥檛 get the health benefits of mom being there,鈥 Greenfield says. 鈥淭his is really something that鈥檚 a life-course issue. This is not just caregiving for older adults 鈥 this is something we encounter throughout our lives.鈥
Since then, Greenfield has worked with a team of researchers to develop expertise around the issues of caregiving and paid family leave. Now, she has the opportunity to use that knowledge in a powerful way that could genuinely affect every American.
Though Greenfield says most Americans support some kind of paid leave plan, questions persist around funding and scope, Greenfield says. There currently are two proposed models, one leaning on Social Security and focusing on parental leave, and the other aiming to create a new form of social insurance that would broadly address family leave. But right now, both proposals fall solidly on party lines. 鈥淸These two plans] are kind of the bookends, and that鈥檚 where the task force needs to get to how we craft a compromise that will bring co-sponsors of each on board,鈥 Greenfield says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be an interesting conversation to see how we move people from those two spots.鈥
Based on her experiences and work to date, Greenfield hopes that meaningful change could come soon. 鈥淚 think folks in Washington and around the country 鈥 legislators and voters 鈥 are craving issues that can bring people together,鈥 she says.
More encouraging still is the fact that experts on the topic have been tapped to inform policy creation. 鈥淥ne of the things I find most inspiring about this whole process is that [policy makers] are very interested in what the research says. Folks often don鈥檛 get that picture. They have the impression that policy is being made in a vacuum without the benefit of evidence, and that鈥檚 not what I鈥檓 seeing,鈥 Greenfield says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting as a researcher to be a part of the conversation and to be able to share what I know about the issue.鈥