This comes to us courtesy of Rachel Ezrol at Emory Law:

A Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative & Feminism and Legal Theory Workshop Project

A Workshop on Vulnerability at the Intersection of the Changing Firm and the Changing Family

When: October 16-17, 2015
Where: Emory University School of Law

 Registration is FREE for Emory students, faculty, and staff.

http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07eb2ejk3i2e13daef&llr=7da4m4gab

From the Call for Papers:

Theories of dependency situate the limitations that attend the caregiving role in the construction of the relationship between work and family.  The “worker,” defined without reference to family responsibilities, becomes capable of autonomy, self-sufficiency, and responsibility through stable, full-time employment.  The privatized family, created by the union of spouses, is celebrated in terms of a self-sufficient ideal that addresses dependency within its own ranks, often through the gendered assumptions regarding responsibility for caretaking.   The feminist project has long critiqued these arrangements as they enshrine the inequality that follows as natural and inevitable and cloak the burdens of caretaking from examination or critique. The interpenetrations of the family and the firm have thus been understood as both multiple and wide-ranging. Both this system and the feminist critique of it, however, are associated with

The internet has been abuzz this week with news that Netflix will now offer of “unlimited” maternity and paternity leave to its employees.

I place “unlimited” in scare quotes because, while Netflix uses that word, the announcement makes clear that the leave is unlimited….during the first year after a child’s birth or adoption.

Nonetheless, one year of paid maternity/paternity leave is extremely generous by U.S. company standards. 

Amid the praise, there has been a fair bit of skepticism. 

No good deed goes unpunished? As far as I could tell, the criticism boils down to the following:

  • Netflix (and other companies) may not be able to afford this massive benefit
  • The policy does not cover all Netflix employees
  • The policy may lead to jealousy and strained working relationships
  • Parents will have a hard time separating from their children