Obama Announces Plans to Encourage Employers to Be More Family Friendly

President Barack Obama will be spending his Monday morning advocating on behalf of working families, announcing steps to create more opportunities and flexibility for families at the firstย White House Summit on Working Families, according to a press release. Suggested Reading If Poor Black, White People Unite, They’d Be An Unstoppable Force, But Here’s Why The…

President Barack Obama will be spending his Monday morning advocating on behalf of working families, announcing steps to create more opportunities and flexibility for families at the firstย White House Summit on Working Families, according to a press release.

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Claiming to be representative of a โ€œ21st-century workplace,โ€ a presidential memorandum Obama plans to sign Monday is meant to โ€œhelp families better balance work and spending time at home,โ€ by helping to โ€œprotect pregnant working women, increase investments for research to understand the economic benefits of paid leave, expand apprenticeships for women, target resources to help more women enter higher-paying STEM and other fields and make child care more affordable for working families.โ€

โ€œAt a time when women make up about half of Americaโ€™s workforce, outdated workplace policies that make it harder for mothers to work hold our entire economy back,โ€ Obama explained in hisย weekly addressย that focused on the summit. โ€œBut these arenโ€™t just problems for women. Men also care about whoโ€™s watching their kids. Theyโ€™re rearranging their schedules to make it to soccer games and school plays. Lots of sons help care for aging parents. And plenty of fathers would love to be home for their new babyโ€™s first weeks in the world.ย 

"A new study shows that nearly half of all parentsโ€”women and menโ€”report that theyโ€™ve said no to a job, not because they didnโ€™t want it, but because it would be too hard on their families,โ€ he added. โ€œWhen that many talented, hard-working people are forced to choose between work and family, somethingโ€™s wrong. Other countries are making it easier for people to have both. We should too, if we want American businesses to compete and win in the global economy.โ€

Obama is expected to deliver key remarks about the policies, as well as participate in one of the round table discussions. First lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with his wife, Jill Biden, will also be attending events at the daylong summit.

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