The Work, Family, and Democracy Initiative

The Work, Family, and Democracy Initiative is the first project of its kind to study what societies worldwide are doing to make it possible for families to balance work duties and caregiving responsibilities. Identifying where individual countries succeed and fall short of accomplishing this is critical to understanding and shaping the future - the future of individual families’ well-being and that of global economies. If our institutions and policies fail to meet the evolving needs of families, we run the risk of exacerbating already-existing social and economic inequalities.

Project Phases

Phase 1 of the Work, Family, and Equity Index: Development of Policy Items

As part of the Work, Family, and Democracy Initiative, a Work, Family, and Equity Index is being developed to measure governmental performance around the globe. The Work, Family, and Equity Index is the first venture to systematically define and measure successful public policies for working families globally. It has two functions: First, to identify essential goals of work–family policy, and second, to enable us to measure nations’ progress in implementing public policies for working families, relative to international standards. The index’s elements were selected to form a comprehensive, evidence-based set of policies important to meeting the needs of working families. They were based on a thorough review of the medical and social-scientific literature and on the norms codified in international agreements. Only those policies that had achieved consensus, based on the weight of the research evidence or consensus in global policy and international agreements, were included.

Research Evidence Supporting the Work, Family, and Equity Index

Our research team conducted a comprehensive review of the extensive academic literature using web-based internet searches of the following databases: Social Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index, Sociofile, Econlit, Medline, and ERIC. Our criteria for including a policy on the weight of the research evidence were: (1) that the findings regarding the policy’s influence were strong and statistically significant (2) that it had been replicated and results were consistent across time, location, and, data source. The review included an examination of published research that documented the conditions faced by and the needs of poor working families, and it included investigations of consequences of existing policies and programs (or lack thereof) for the well-being of working families, their children, and their elderly and disabled members. In addition to this review of the relevant literature, we elicited summary analyses of the evidence base on work and family issues from leaders in a variety of academic fields—ranging from child development to employment research to political science—at a Work, Family, and Democracy conference, chaired by Jody Heymann. Click here to see a bibliography of global research evidence supporting the inclusion of policies within the Work, Family, and Equity Index.

Global Consensus for Work, Family, and Equity Index Items

In order to assess the policies that had achieved global consensus, we conducted a comprehensive review of international agreements, covenants, other legal documents and over 240 treaties proposed by the UN and the ILO that addressed work–family issues.  We analyzed the number of countries who had signed or ratified treaties and the number of agreements both signed and proposed pertaining to a given issue.  The sources central to our index items included the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights [1] , the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) [2] , and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)[3] , the ILO’s Holidays with Pay Convention (Convention 132), Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention (156), and Maternity Protection Convention (183) [4] .

In addition, we brought together leaders from the United Nations, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, business groups, unions, and research centers to examine how to better meet the needs of poor working families.  We convened a set of exceptional leaders, from throughout the world, who address the needs of children, the disabled, the elderly, and families to present their own experiences in and efforts at national and international levels in the context of diverse social, political, and economic climates.  The result of this interaction was a body of valuable feedback on which work-family policies are seen as critical to a global audience. 

Phase 2 of the Work, Family, and Equity Index: Data Collection

Specific Measures

For each index item, we have constructed a set of specific measures that indicate the extent to which a nation has committed to developing and implementing public policy change. During the project’s second phase, we are gathering data on each item to compare performance on the Work, Family, and Equity Index across nations globally and produce a report indicating where nations stand in terms of their success at meeting the needs of working families, and where critical data gaps exist. While one might develop an index that is limited to only currently-available data, this construction inappropriately constrains any notion of the best a nation can do to a notion of what are we currently measuring. We have chosen to develop an index based on what is important for a nation to achieve, while recognizing that data for certain measures may be unavailable. For these items, the index would be used to initiate the development and gathering of the necessary data so that we can ultimately measure how well nations are doing in their response to working families.
Index items and their data sources fall into two categories: those related to labor and workplace policies, and those related to services and programs. For example, in the area of children’s health, we have a set of labor-related measures, such as the availability of paid leave to care for children’s health needs, wage replacement rate and duration of the leave—as well as a set of measures related to public services, such as the availability of childcare for children with special health needs, out-of-school care for children with special health needs, and the accessibility of health care services to working families.

Scope and Comparability of Data

While serving as important models, data limited to Western Europe do not constitute a strong enough argument for change on their own – a broad range of nations is necessary to render international comparisons compelling and effective. Because of this, the Index measures and compares policies in countries from a wide range of political, social, economic, and cultural backgrounds. The scope of our research is truly global.

Sources on Labor and Workplace Policies

National legislation and labor codes are excellent sources for labor policy information. We have gathered the labor codes of over 70 countries from on-line sources. These documents may be accessed through online searches of legal databases such as NATLEX or governmental libraries, including the ILO’s repository of international labor laws. In addition, manual searches at Harvard University libraries and the ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland – where our team members visited in June 2002 and June 2003 – have also been useful in acquiring our research materials. Utilizing all these means, we have located, reviewed, translated and analyzed a total of over 100 individual country labor codes. These legal documents and legislative texts were reviewed for language and regulations pertinent to the issues facing working families.

Sources on Programs and Services

One of the key sources the WFDI Research Team has used to measures of availability and characteristics of government programs and services to address health, disability, old age, and income security issues is the Social Security Programs Throughout the World (SSTW) research report. This database describes the major features of the social security systems in countries around the world. The information in the SSTW report is based on data collected in the Annual Survey on Developments and Trends conducted by the International Social Security Association (ISSA) under the sponsorship of the United States Social Security Administration. Other data sources we have examined include UNESCO’s Statistical Institute database, UNESCO’s World Data on Education, the National Center for Education Statistics Digest, The World Bank’s Disability and Development, and Social Protection and Labor Division, World Development Indicators of the World Bank, and World Health Organization’s Information System database. Finally, several other specific international organizations such as Disabled People’s International, the Early Childhood Care and Development Consultative Group, and Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund have been consulted.

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Copyright 2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College