Representing people's work and family lives on-screen
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October 3, 2023
Setting the Scene: Tips for Re-Scripting Gender, Work, Family, and Care
A newsletter for media creators from the Entertainment-Focused Narrative and Culture Change Practice at New America's Better Life Lab. Issue 1.
Hello from Vicki Shabo, the founder of the Re-Scripting Gender, Work, Family, and Care initiative at New America’s Better Life Lab, where we work collaboratively with media and entertainment industry leaders to support storytelling about gender, work, family and care.
I’m excited to share this first issue of our newsletter, Setting the Scene, which we’ll send periodically to bring you the latest research, news and trends; showcase great storytelling examples; and hopefully give you food for thought. This comes at a time when the creative community and people across the country are standing up for fair pay and workplaces that allow all people to thrive, keeping the nation focused on the need to create conditions for gender, racial and economic equity across industries.
These themes are at the core of Re-Scripting Gender, Work, Family, and Care. Managing jobs while providing or finding care for our loved ones is a pressing personal issue for nearly everyone. This is the stuff of drama, suspense and comedy in our daily lives. Too often, though, we keep our challenges managing work and family to ourselves, hopeful that no one will doubt our commitment to one, the other, or both. This invisibility comes at a price: It keeps people from living the fulfilling work and family lives they dream of, reinforces the idea that we just need to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and stifles pressure for policy and practice changes that will help support all working people and families. It can also lead people to feel alone and unseen.
That’s where you come in. Telling authentic stories about gender, work, family and care can spur broad shifts in how we understand and talk about these topics and lead to attitude, behavior, and policy changes. I wrote about some great examples of just these sorts of stories in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for Women’s Media Center and And Just Like That for The Hollywood Reporter. We believe this is part of authentic representation, which we have commended in stories as wide-ranging as Everything Everywhere All At Once to Abbott Elementary to The Diplomat, where audiences get to see elements of their lives, their questions, their challenges, and even solutions reflected on-screen. It normalizes visibility, and that’s the first step toward change.
As you think about the stories you’re working on or already have in the pipeline, we’re here to help: Reach out to me here for individual consultations, brainstorms, briefings or research to address your project needs.
I can’t wait to talk with you. Please send me your questions and ideas, and I’d love it if you’d share this newsletter with others in your networks. (You can forward it by clicking here, and if this was forwarded to you and you want to subscribe, you can subscribe here.)
Yours,
Vicki
Vicki Shabo (she/her)
Senior Fellow: Paid Leave, Gender Equity & Care Policy and Strategy
Founder, Entertainment-Focused Narrative and Culture Change Practice
Better Life Lab @ New America
Spotlight on Three New Trends in Paid Leave, Child Care and Pregnant Workers Fairness – and Tips for Storytelling
#1: Paid leave access is growing, but not by much.
Only 27 percent of workers in the United States have employer-provided paid family leave to welcome a new child or care for an ill, injured, or disabled loved one, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This translates into 92 million workers in the private sector whose jobs don’t guarantee paid family leave.
Most striking: Our analysis of the new data found that the U.S.’s lowest-wage workers are 10 times less likely than the highest-paid workers to have paid family leave, and disparities have widened rather than narrowed. But even half of the highest-paid US workers aren’t guaranteed paid family leave, and most folks in middle-wage jobs struggle to make ends meet when a new child arrives or a serious health need strikes. All workers and families are affected, but we know that racial and gender disparities mean that women – and especially women of color – are affected most.
What are the benefits of paid family and medical leave? Access to paid leave helps new parents and family caregivers – especially women – return to work after providing care, improves child and maternal health, and helps ill loved ones recover with fewer complications and without using nursing homes. Paid leave also helps people who are ill recover more quickly and get back to work. For businesses, paid leave improves retention and ROI. The benefits of a future with universal paid leave are many, and narrative change will help drive the policy change we need to get there.
How can your stories help?
To start: When characters are hospitalized, have new babies, or face a serious health or caregiving need, be explicit about whether they can access paid leave, need to make choices between family and care, and question the status quo. Even including a few lines that point toward their realities and a different future would make all the difference for viewers hoping to see their own lives reflected on screen.
Pro tip: Some U.S. states – including California, New York, Washington State and Washington, D.C., where many television shows are set – have created their own paid leave programs that cover most workers and it’s helpful to acknowledge these when a story takes place in or relates to one of these states. See this map and this explainer for more information. The U.S. is also an outlier compared to the rest of the world, where most workers have paid leave for various personal and medical needs.
#2: Child care is about to become more precarious.
The U.S. provides less public funding than our peer countries on child care. The child care sector received emergency federal funds during the covid-19 pandemic, but these funds expired on September 30. Up to 3.2 million children could lose child care spots, providers will lose funds that have helped them to keep their doors open, and the cost of childcare – which is already more than the cost of college in many states – will rise.
What would investing in child care accomplish? Fully resourcing child care throughout the United States would help to eliminate child care “deserts,” where three or more children are waiting for a single child care slot. It would mean child care providers would be paid more like teachers than babysitters, making child care jobs more attractive and addressing a shortage of providers. And it would mean that parents would be able to find affordable care that matches the hours they need to work. Scroll through this illustrated explainer to understand the change in status quo and a vision of an equitable future.
How can your stories help?
- To start: When storytelling involves children, talk about and/or show that child being cared for, and be explicit about the connection between the availability of affordable child care and the ability of parents to work. Acknowledge that many people face long waiting lists and high costs. Let characters acknowledge how common this situation is and that there’s another path.
- Pro tip: Name solutions. For example, advocates and lawmakers in states have worked together to win child care investments in states like Louisiana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont. Governments can give preferences in their grants and contracts to employers that provide on-site child care, and some employers provide onsite care or subsidies to parents on their own.
#3. Pregnant and postpartum workers have new rights.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which took effect this summer, means that workers who are pregnant in most U.S. workplaces have the right to reasonable accommodations, such as being able to sit rather than stand, take bathroom breaks, carry a water bottle, or receive work schedule changes to stay healthy. Additionally, the PUMP Act, implemented at the end of last year, extended breastfeeding rights such as guaranteed break time and access to a private place to pump to an estimated 9 million women who were previously excluded from a prior version of federal law.
What impact will these laws have? PWFA will benefit pregnant people, especially those in jobs requiring manual labor and those that are typically less flexible. Black women, whose health and wellness is at particular risk during pregnancy and postpartum periods, will have the most to gain. Protecting pregnant workers means working to safeguard maternal and infant health, while also normalizing the idea of pregnant people in workplaces.
How can your stories help?
- To start: Show pregnant and postpartum characters advocating for their rights in the workplace and receiving the accommodations they need; maybe their employer proactively tells them that these protections are available. Here are stories that might inspire you.
- Pro tip: Use PWFA and the PUMP Act as examples of the kinds of laws that help to create more workplace opportunities and economic security for pregnant workers, and as one of several public policies, along with paid leave and child care, that would help the country do a better job of supporting working families and valuing care and caregiving. PWFA and the PUMP Act were also passed with bipartisan support, showing that lawmakers can and should come together to support families. A CNN Opinion piece I wrote explains more.
We have expertise on many other workplace design, scheduling and fairness topics, too, which we’ll cover in future newsletters. And stay tuned for a new resource guide on the intersection between pregnancy decision-making storylines and work-family issues in mid-October!
Thanks for reading (and, as a reminder, if this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here)!
About New America
New America is dedicated to renewing the promise of America by continuing the quest to realize our nation's highest ideals. New America's home office is located on the traditional land of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway Peoples.
About the Better Life Lab
The Better Life Lab works in solidarity with the movement for work-family justice to elevate the value of care, advance intersectional gender equity, and transform policy, practice and culture so people and families can thrive. We provide original research and reporting that challenges existing narratives around work and family. As connectors and conveners, we translate that, the work of academics and partners, and the stories of working families into accessible, solutions-focused stories, practical tools and policy and workplace interventions. We creatively amplify them to the widest possible audiences for the greatest impact.
