Feminist Ethics, Women's Work, And The Betrayal Of "Family Values".
At the very time when most women's lives are defined by a lack of income, time and energy, politicians and other professed guardians of public virtue are stridently lamenting the loss of what they define as 'family values.'
Even as women enter the workforce to provide essential income for their families while attending to children, spouse, and the endless round of domestic chores, every sort of social ill from drug addiction to unwed mothering is laid at their door. As Gloria H Albrecht shows, this dismal situation is not merely a cultural irony; it is a potential social tragedy.
'Hitting Home' carefully documents the growing abandonment by business and government of their social responsibility to sustain the wellbeing of families. She exposes 'family-friendly' policies as being in fact policies that are friendly primarily to the profit-oriented goals of the corporate world. She emphasises how sermonizing family values advocates ignore the connection between their ideal family and its exploitation of underpaid 'help'.
Throughout her book, Albrecht maintains that authentic family values require an equal social commitment to two connected goals: women's equality and the wellbeing of families.
