Friedan's message to NYC symposium: Working families need more flextime

Work isn't working for many men and women with dual obligations of a job and family, says women's movement leader Betty Friedan. A distinguished visiting professor at the Institute for Women and Work at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Friedan says that many workers today are fearful that calling attention to family needs may result in their being passed over for promotions or challenging job assignments.

Friedan recommends moving such strategies as job sharing and flextime from what she calls the "mommy track" and the "daddy trap" into the mainstream of common business practice.

Friedan is leading a panel of policy-makers, union leaders and journalists discussing those and other issues. The breakfast symposium, titled "Flex Time in the Corporate Culture and the Role of Collective Bargaining," will take place Friday, Jan. 21, at the Cornell Conference Center, Room A, 16 East 34th Street, sixth floor, New York City, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. The symposium will feature these panelists:

• Policy Commentator: Catherine T. Nolan, New York State Assemblywoman and chair of the assembly's Committee on Labor.
• Donna Dolan, director, work and family issues, Communication Workers of America, District 1.
• Ellen Galinsky, president, Families and Work Institute, and author, Ask the Children.
• Marcia Gillespie, editor in chief, Ms. magazine.
• Julie Kushner, subregional director, United Auto Workers, Region 9A.

This is the first of the New York City New Paradigm Series on Women, Men, Work, Family and Public Policy and is sponsored by the Ford Foundation, ILR's Institute for Women and Work and the New York State AFL-CIO Work and Family Committee.