The Widening Gap: Why America’s Working Families Are in Jeopardy and What Can Be Done About It

New York: Basic Books 2000

"Superbly researched and passionately argued. The Widening Gap shows how America’s failure to support working parents hurts all of us. Heymann skillfully blends her analysis — which is based on a wealth of new data — with poignant stories from the front lines: the voices of parents and children caught in the undertow of our careless society."

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Economist, author of
When the Bough Breaks and The War Against Parents,
Founder and Chairman, National Parenting Association

"American families are working harder and longer for pay, and their children and elderly relatives are receiving less care. This is the real crisis of the American family, and the gap between the demands of work an care is growing. Jody Heymann reveals this with rare depth and thoroughness, and makes a powerful case for what we must do to bridge this widening chasm."

Robert B. Reich, University Professor and
Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy,
Brandeis University; former Secretary of Labor

"Heymann’s important book brings us face to face with the insurmountable burdens American families contend with every day. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the dilemmas facing the vast majority of families in the U.S. today."

Katherine S. Newman, Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University, author of
No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City

"In this remarkable book Jody Heymann gets beneath the overheated rhetoric about families to focus on the daily realities of inflexible jobs, inadequate childcare, and failing support systems. If you care about the future of America’s children, you must read this book."

Juliet Schor, Senior Lecturer on Women’s Studies,
Harvard University; author of The Overworked American
and The Overspent American

"Jody Heymann exposes the impossible demands made upon contemporary working parents and shows what can be done to reduce the unfair burdens that are placed on the family."

Frank Furstenberg, Zellerbach Family Chair of
Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

"A compelling and well-documented study of the mismatch between workplace rules and family duties. The vast majority of Americans support policies to help working families meet their dependents’ needs; this is not a special interest issue but a requirement for a sane and decent future."

Martha Minow, Professor, Harvard Law School,
and author of Family Matters: Readings on Family
Lives and the Law

"Heymann puts very human faces on national data to describe the struggles of working families. The nation’s leaders in both government and business ignore these issues at their and our children’s peril."

David T. Ellwood, Lucius N. Littauer Professor
of Political Economy, Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University; former Assistant Secretary of Health

"A piercing and illuminating look at how the very structure of society makes it impossible for the so-called working class to be both good workers and good parents."

Lisa Belkin of the New York Times, writing for Mother Jones

Read excerpts on:

• The National Caregiving Burden

• Gender Inequalities and Working Conditions

• Impact of Working Conditions on Children’s Development and Educational Outcomes

• Income Inequalities and Working Conditions

The excerpts are in PDF format. To view them, download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Copyright 2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College