By Laura Valle
In January 2023, a new session of Congress began with a chaotic speakership vote in the House of Representatives. During the days-long vote, congressional members waited with their families—even babies—on the House floor. Notably, Representative Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) carried his four-month old son, Hodge, in a carrier.
In that moment, as national leaders were shown struggling to manage their work lives with their efforts to raise their families, it was clear that something had shifted. Following years of pandemic-era work-from-home policies and school closures—during which parents frequently had to share duties more equally as they worked and looked after their children in the same space—concerns over how to work while raising a family had become a priority. And so as the sphere of work returned to its more usual space beyond the home, and work and family continued as not-so-easily-separate parts of everyones’ lives, concerns about working while raising a family have remained at the top of parents’ minds.
