First lady Obama can help working parents

That glittering election night in Grant Park, many Americans projected their hopes and fears on the Obama family, which shone in red and black against a sea of flags.

And so did I. One of my dreams lies in the plans of the new first lady. Michelle Obama plans to tackle the issue of work-family balance once she’s settled in the White House.

The lack of that balance infected my child-rearing days more often than a day-care virus. While our daughters were young, I tried every possible schedule: grad student, part time and full time, and I was even, for a brief period, a stay-at-home mom.

That last configuration struck me as most difficult of all, followed closely by my stint as a full-time working mom. In surveys, the majority of American women say part time is ideal, and I agree. I was lucky for a number of years to arrange it.

For many women, unless they work in a field with a labor shortage, like nursing, devising part-time work arrangements can be difficult.

Often, a decision to work part time manages to slide women down a rabbit hole of dramatically reduced wages and benefits. One week they’re compensated for their experience and education at a fair hourly rate, the next it’s as though all those qualifications go poof, that hourly rate may drop – and the benefits vanish.

American workplaces have long been designed for a mythical male worker, and many U.S. labor laws were created ages ago with that elusive creature in mind.

We haven’t been able to fix this problem, partly because the issue’s just so darned touchy. Feminists argue against any changes that might somehow sidetrack a woman’s career. Social engineers want to promote a culture that features as many part-time working daddies as mommies. Businesses too often say “no,” not because the idea won’t work, but simply out of a lack of empathy and imagination.

And few of us want to wade into the topic for fear of treading in a vulnerable area: the quality of one’s mothering. Simply bringing up the idea that a part-time schedule could make a mom more available for kids who’d love to find her home after school smacks of, well, criticism. It’s such a delicate issue because for all of us, the great moms and the not-so-great alike, little else in life matters more.

If anyone views this week’s report about the high rate of mental health disorders among college students and speculates the phenomenon could be linked to a generation of overscheduled parents, you’re likely to hear outrage. But it’s not a crazy thought.

Michelle Obama has yet to spell out the details of her plans.

Perhaps she’ll take a cue from a workplace flexibility bill her husband co-sponsored in the Senate, designed to give all workers more opportunities to negotiate for part-time schedules.

And let’s hope she reads a recent report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research that compares American work arrangements with far more flexible ones in other countries. These laws help parents arrange work schedules that make it easier to provide a secure emotional base for their young children. They also provide ways for older workers to gradually phase into retirement.

Currently, every other workplace issue has been blotted out by the black economic news. But Michelle Obama’s favorite cause could also help solve some recession-era problems. As workplace budgets are cut, part-time arrangements could help keep more workers employed for fewer hours apiece. With pro-rated benefits, a 32-hour week should also mean a 20 percent reduction in payroll costs.

Whether an employee requests this schedule to care for young children, tend a sick parent or simply to delay retirement for a few more years, a flexible employer could keep a trained, experienced worker and trim the budget, too.

This week’s hot topic has been how government can devise construction projects to repair the country’s infrastructure – those pock-marked roads and leaky schools – in an attempt to create jobs.

Here’s one more idea: With the new mom-in-chief’s help, let’s bolster the nation’s most intimate infrastructure of all: the crumbling American family.