Sample Findings and Publications
Sample Findings and Publications McGill University
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Sample Findings and Publications
Books
Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling the Myth That We Can’t Afford Good Working Conditions for Everyone
"New statistics on rapidly rising job loss appear daily in the media. Less reported is that working conditions in many countries around the world are deteriorating as rapidly as jobs are being lost—and affecting ten times as many people. Working conditions significantly impact our health, the amount of time we can spend with family, our options during momentous life events (such as the birth of a child or death of a parent), and whether we keep or lose a job when the unexpected occurs. Inexplicably, the global community has universally accepted the argument that any country that puts in place a floor of decent working conditions will suffer higher unemployment and will be less competitive. So pervasive is this contention that it is seen as fact, even without evidence to support it.
Raising the Global Floor presents results from the first ever study of working conditions from all nations around the world. The findings are dramatic. In fact, there is no relationship between unemployment rates and providing basic protections in a series of critical areas. The data also indicate that good working conditions can make countries more competitive. In short, there is simply no reason that any American should be without paid sick leave, paid annual leave, paid parental leave, the right to a day of rest, and many other basic protections that would improve the quality of their lives."
Forgotten Families: Ending the Growing Crisis Confronting Children and Working Parents in the Global Economy
"In the last half-century, radical changes have rippled through the workplace and the home, from Boston to Bombay — changes that have dramatically affected how men and women can care for their families. In the face of rapid globalization, these changes affect us all, and we can no longer confine ourselves to addressing working and social conditions within our own borders without simultaneously addressing them on a global scale. This is, however, a daunting task, and few have attempted to bridge either the gaps between families in different countries or the rifts between families, employers, and governments around the world. This is the goal of Forgotten Families: Ending the Growing Crisis Confronting Children and Working Parents in the Global Economy."
To order online a copy of Forgotten Families, please click here.
To order a discounted copy of Forgotten Families, download the PDF below.
Findings presented at United States Congressional staff briefing - March 2, 2006 [Washington-presentation-March2-2006-final.pdf - PDF - 156.75 KB]
Findings presented at event sponsored by the Center for Law and Social Policy - April 18, 2006[CLASPApril18.pdf - PDF - 159.02 KB]
"Exhaustive in scope, meticulous in detail, her book is a damning indictment
of what has gone wrong during "the race to the bottom" between developing
countries amid globalizing markets. The book is peppered with heartbreaking
stories gleaned from surveys of more than 55,000 families, depicting a
worldwide squalor in which children, if they survive infancy, are usually
doomed to re-enact their parents' lives at the sweatshop... this volume will
become a valuable primary source for policy makers."
— Publishers Weekly
"Jody Heymann's groundbreaking research and insights on global families are
remarkable for both their breadth and their depth. Forgotten
Familiesdescribes in moving detail the common experiences shared by working
families everywhere, from Botswana to Vietnam to the United States. Critical
issues, if left unaddressed, will threaten families, businesses and whole
nations. This thorough and thoughtful volume builds a powerful case for
global action on decent working conditions and basic social support for
families as the cornerstone of continued economic and social progress.
Heymann has sounded a wake-up call for leaders, policymakers, and citizens
everywhere."
— Senator Edward M.Kennedy
"At crucial time in the lives of all families, Judy Heymann has led the first
global effort to examine the conditions faced by working parents and their
children around the world. Extraordinary in its scope and meticulous in the
research on which it is based, Forgotten Families presents the results of a
landmark decade-long study of the conditions working parents and their
children face from Africa to the Americas, from Asia to Europe. Heymann
passionately and compellingly recounts the experiences of families and
lucidly summarizes the statistics while providing a deeply thought-provoking
analysis of where public policy stands and where it needs to go."
— Robert B. Reich, Professor of Public Policy, University of California at
Berkeley, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor
"This book is a powerful and overdue wake-up call about the enormous
challenges and awful choices working families around the world face.We can
and must do better for all of our children."
— Marian Wright Edelman, CEO and Founder, Children's Defense Fund
"Working families in countries around the globe are in crisis. By coupling
the stories of these families with the policies and practices that determine
their fates, Jody Heymann vividly links the course of individual lives to
social policy. Her compelling new book on Forgotten Familiespoints the way to
effective, affordable,and comprehensive solutions."
— Dr Harvey V. Fineberg, President, Institute of Medicine
"This volume accomplishes something rarely achieved in global health
research: the scientifically accurate depiction of an international public
health problem of great importance, and the simultaneous telling of many
intimate stories of everyday life... Backed up by thousands of meticulously
analyzed interviews, from carefully designed surveys of working families in
several countries,Heymann tells the tale of a world gone awry for those with
children to care for and raise. [E]ssential reading for those who care about
our world and its future."
— Dr John Frank, Scientific Director of the Canadian Institute of Population
and Public Health
Trade and Health: Seeking Common Ground
Seeking improved health and increased income have long been common goals. Those who make the case that free trade will help everyone argue that the growth from increased trade will be shared and will improve people's lives. But they have not answered the fundamental question of how to formulate trade policy to simultaneously achieve growth and benefit health. Trade and Health answers this question by exploring the entire array of avenues through which trade affects health, and examining a number of case studies on how best to achieve policies that integrate health objectives. The contributors represent the full range of stakeholders in the trade-health debate - medical professionals, civil society representatives, academics from a range of disciplines, and negotiators and policy-makers at the national and global levels. Contributors include Bijit Bora (WTO), Rupa Chanda (IIMB), Diana Chigas (Tufts), Carlos Correa (U of Buenos Aires), Eric Dagenais (Industry Canada), Alison Earle (Harvard), David P. Fidler (Indiana), Anabel González (WTO), Ronald Labonte (Ottawa), Cha-aim Pachnee (MOPH-Thailand), Pedro Roffe (UNCTAD-ICTSD), Nancy Ross (McGill), David Sanders (Western Cape), Ted Schrecker (Ottawa), Anna Shea (McGill), Elisabeth Tuerk (UNCTAD), David Vivas-Eugui (ICTSD), Johanna von Braun (ICTSD), and Suwit Wibulpolprasert (MOPH-Thailand).
Healthier Societies: From Analysis to Action
Extensive research has shown that social factors are as important as biological ones in determining health, and their impact is enormous in both adults and children. The challenge of changing public policies and programs remains. Healthier Societies: From Analysis to Action addresses the fundamental questions which will lead the way toward countries investing seriously in improving social conditions, as a way of improving population health. The book is divided into three parts. Section one addresses to what extent health is determined by biological factors, by social factors, and more fundamentally, by the interaction between the two. Section two examines four case studies that demonstrate the ways in which social change can dramatically affect adults' health, as well as launch children's lives onto healthy trajectories. This section analyzes the cases of nutrition, working conditions, social inequalities, and geographic disparities. The third section of the book takes a serious look at what would be involved in translating the research findings described throughout the book into action.
To order a copy of Healthier Societies, please click here.
Public Testimonies
Heymann SJ. (2007). Poverty, Work and Education: The Key to Addressing the Social Determinants of Canadian's Health [.pdf]. Written testimony submitted to the Sub-Committee on Population Health of the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.
Heymann SJ. (2007). The Healthy Families Act: The Importance to Americans' Livelihoods, Families, and Health [.pdf]. Written testimony submitted to the U.S Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Policy Materials
Heymann J, Rho HJ, Schmitt J, and Earle A (2009). Contagion Nation: A Comparison of Paid Sick Day Policies in 22 Countries [.pdf]. Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Schmitt J, Rho HJ, Earle A, and Heymann J (2009). Paid Sick Days Don't Cause Unemployment [.pdf]. Issue Brief. Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Rho HJ, Schmitt J, Earle A, and Heymann J (2009). A Review of Sickness-related Leave in High Human Development Index Countries. Center for Economic and Policy Research [.pdf]. Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Heymann J and Kidman R. (2008). Weaving a tighter safety net: How communities can support families in the context of the AIDS pandemic [.pdf]. Issue Brief III. Institute for Health and Social Policy.
Heymann J and Barrerra M. (2008). Addressing Poverty in a Globalised Economy. Policy Network Progressive Governance Paper.
Heymann J, Earle A, and Penrose K. (2007). Importance of the Healthy Families Act to the Health of American Children [.pdf]. Issue Brief II. Institute for Health and Social Policy.
Heymann J, Earle A and Hayes J. (2007). Implications for U.S. Policy of the Work, Family, and Equity Index [.pdf]. Issue Brief I. Institute for Health and Social Policy.
Heymann SJ, Earle A and Hayes J. (2007). The Work, Family, and Equity Index: How Does the United States Measure Up? [.pdf]. Boston and Montreal: Project on Global Working Families and the Institute for Health and Social Policy.
Heymann SJ. (2005). Written testimony for the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Roundtable on the Family and Medical Leave Act [.pdf]
For a full list of articles on Paid Sick Days click on:
