Who is now caring for America's children, for the elderly, the sick, the disabled? In practical and general terms, the answer is: nobody.

According to Mona Harrington, the traditional system of caregiving--until now almost entirely dependent on the unpaid labor of women in the home--is in a chaotic state of disrepair, as women, out of necessity, move into the workplace. Harrington issues an urgent call for new political conversations about assigning responsibility for this important part of the "general welfare" that the Constitution charges us to promote. Care must now, Harrington argues, become the joint responsibility of the family, the private employer, and the various levels of government. This will involve redrawing the boundary between private and public responsibility and require public and private funding that supports health care, family leave, child and elder care by family members or paid workers, good wages for care workers, and decent housing. And perhaps most important of all to this radical reexamination of caretaking is the establishment of care as a national value.

Outlining a new pro-family politics that recognizes the need of individuals for both autonomy and intimate, lasting connection to others, Harrington proposes policies that include efforts to prevent teenage pregnancy, public support for single-parent families, public and private support for the relief of stresses on marriage, and an effort to bring many more voices into policy discussions.

A brilliantly reasoned, cliché-free analysis of one of our toughest problems. An important book for the politician, the policy maker, and the private citizen.

"Care and Equality combines clear and insightful analysis with a realistic proposal for addressing a range of serious problems surrounding care-giving within American society. Unlike many political analyses, Harrington does not evade the more difficult task of saying how the problem she detects can best be approached. Her "new politics of conversation" advocates a process of disciplined listening and speaking that can expose the deep sources of social malaise and effectively address them. This book gave me new hope that committed conversations can become the basis for suggestions that can lead to a responsible and caring society."
- Margaret R. Miles, Dean, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA

"In a devastating critique of the country's arrangements for the care of children and the elderly, this book shows how the failure to overhaul our broken care system blocks women's efforts to attain equality and produces major social ills. Harrington urges liberals to redraw the boundary between public and private responsibility for care, and offers a persuasive, principled strategy for doing so. This book should have an impact."
-- Virginia Held, author of Rights and Goods and Feminist Morality

"In her timely new book, Mona Harrington calls for a new stage in the American experiment — a stage in which we press for two ideas at the same time — gender equality and quality care for the young and the old. Yes. This book is a must read for the policy makers and everyone else."
-- Arlie Hochschild, author of The Time Bind and The Second Shift

"Mona Harrington's superb book examines just why the promise of gender equality remains an illusion until society gets serious about the issue of who provides care — for children, for the aged, for the disabled. Harrington persuasively demonstrates that until we get serious about care as a political, moral and public policy issue, the private unpaid caregivers — overwhelmingly female — will have less than the promised legal equality in the workplace and elsewhere in society."
-- Robert Kuttner, co-editor, The American Prospect

"No one better articulates the pressing American definition of care for children, elderly, disabled and communities. Harrington's timely book beautifully formulates the central political challenge not only for women, but for the nation as a whole."
-- Martha Minow, author of Making All the Difference

"Care and Equality is an indispensible guide to a political agenda that encompasses a vigorous pro-family policy along with equality for women. Its lively and clear prose, along with its compelling message, should gain it the large audience it richly deserves."
--Mary L. Shanley, Vassar College, author of Reinventing the Family

"Care and Equality is an extremely thoughtful and comprehensive examination of the critical issues facing family policy in the new millennium. It should be required reading for all who claim interest or expertise in this arena."
-- Milton J. Little, Jr., National Urban League

" Mona Harrington boldly shifts the debate on family values from a focus on sexual morality to social morality. Who doesn't share the four 'liberal' family values that she articulates — privacy, dependable relationship, attentive care, and equality. Such thinking represents a philosophical breakthrough in the politics of public support not only for 'the' family but the many shapes and forms in which it is found."
-- Janet Zollinger Giele, Heller School, Brandeis University

"Those who say that feminism no longer has anything new or important to say about politics should read this book. Harrington describes the silent revolution that has taken place in American families in the last generation and offers constructive advice about how to go forward to solve the care crisis that now confronts America."
-- Joan C. Tronto, Hunter College of the City University of New York

Mona Harrington, the author of three previous books, was educated at the University of Massachusetts and at Harvard University, where she received a law degree and a doctorate in political science. She has served as a lawyer in the State Department, raised three children, and taught political science and women's studies before turning to writing full-time. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.