Sociologists Criticize The Time Bind in Panel at Radcliffe

In response to The Time Bind, a controversial book that explores the challenges of balancing a family and work, two sociologists spoke at a panel last night titled "The Other Side of the Time Bind," organized by the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute (RPPI).

According to the panel's moderator, Gail Leftwich, a RPPI fellow, many academics felt that the book by Arlie R. Hochschild, focused too much on middle and upper income families and neglected other demographics.

Leftwich said the panel sought to expand the book's study of the conflicting demands of family and work to lower income families.

"Low-income women face a secret time bind," said Kathryn Edin, a sociologist from the University of Pennsylvania and the author of a book on single mothers' struggles with welfare and low-wage work.

These women, particularly former welfare recipients, are often unable to take sick leave if their children become ill, according to panelist Jody Heymann, associate director of the Harvard Center on Society and Health.

Heymann said that as a result, many women are forced to choose between holding down a job and caring for their children.

Poor women must often work several jobs in order to make ends meet, and are therefore left with little time to spend with children, Edin said.

Heymann advocates guaranteeing sick leave for all employees with families.

"One of the things people need is paid leave.... It is particularly important for the people who can't afford not to get paid," she said.

Edin expressed concern about the welfare reform bill passed by Congress in 1996 and signed by President Clinton, which eliminated welfare payments to those who do not return to work after two years.

She called this workfare legislation "uncharted territory."

"The tightrope of low wage employment is for the first time since the 1930s a walk without a net," Edin said.

The panel attracted more than 50 people to the Cronkite Center.

The event was part of RPPI's New Economic Equation Project, which has funded a number of studies and panels addressing the link between large-scale economic issues and the concerns of families.