251231 How Social Security and paid leave policies affect women's prospects for healthy lives

Monday, October 31, 2011: 10:50 AM

Heidi Hartmann, PhD , Institute for Women's Policy Research, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, DC
In this presentation, several prominent current policy issues which are likely to affect the health and well-being of families and their children will be addressed: proposed shifts to the social security system, including increasing the retirement age, and decreasing benefits; and state and federal campaigns to guarantee paid leave for workers who are sick, temporarily disabled, or who have recently delivered a child. Drawing on recent research, policy analysis, and interviews with policy makers, the panelist will also discuss how the social security and retirement systems can be modified to better address women's economic security and health needs; and how enhanced leave policies (such as policies that would require employers to provide workers with a minimum number of paid sick days) would benefit employees, businesses, and the overall U.S. economy. Given dramatic shifts in women's labor force participation in recent decades, policy reforms that fully acknowledge and value the contributions of unpaid care work, as well as formal labor force participation, will improve the health and well-being of both women and men over the long term.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify policy reforms that have changed the US workplace given dramatic shifts in women's labor force participation in recent decades; 2. Describe efforts to increase the realized value of unpaid care work

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because, in my role as President of the Institute for Women's Policy Research, I have extensively researched Social Security and have overseen and contributed to research on paid leave.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.