A Guide to Navigating Work, Life, and Everything in Between
We know that when it comes to equality and fairness, our default systems for juggling work and life are broken. But Work Life Everything wants to bring you more than awareness of the problems—we want to find and connect you to concrete, research-backed solutions! This research page is an attempt at something bold—gathering as many of the existing solutions as we can find and identifying the gaps to drive our agenda moving forward.
Perhaps as you peruse our list of the best resources we could find, you’ll find some of the solutions developed so far have limitations, and they probably don’t work for everyone, especially given the diversity and depth of challenges many families face. We’ve got work to do!
If you have a work-life-everything question we haven’t answered here, or you know of an important resource we should include to answer an existing question, write to our team!
WORK
Don’t believe the myths: Women have always been involved in paid work, especially women of color, immigrants, and low-wage workers. They’ve worked while handling the bulk of care and housework. For centuries in western society, women’s work has been undervalued and made invisible by patriarchal family, economic, and political structures. But today, the vast majority of women, including mothers, work outside the home, and they’re an increasingly visible and vibrant part of the global economy. Here we highlight the best advice for women’s advancement at work and for pushing back against continuous barriers to women’s earning and benefits.
Our favorite work resources:
If you are considering a move for a job
Harvard Business Review, How to Decide Whether to Relocate for Job
Slate, Trailing Spouses: What Female PhDs Teach Us About Lasting Workplace Gender Equality
If you need to speak with your boss about pay/promotion
Harvard Business Review, Don’t Ask for a Raise, Negotiate It
Video: Harvard Business Review, How to Ask for a Raise
If you want to win paid leave or better caregiver benefits at work
Paid Leave US, Step-by-Step Guide to making a case for paid family leave at your workplace
Slate, How the Women of Amazon Won a Revolutionary Leave Policy
Tell your boss about Mother Honestly’s Work-Life Wallet
If you’re telling your manager you are expecting a baby
Romper: When to Tell Your Boss You’re Pregnant
Slate: Your Boss’s Reaction to Your Pregnancy Announcement Matters
If you’re speaking to your manager about a more flexible schedule
New York Times, Parents’ Guide to Return to Work
CNN, How to Ask a Manager for More Flexibility
If you’re looking for remote or flexible work
If you’re returning to the labor force after a break
Forbes, 14 Ways to Get Back in the Game After an Absence From Work
If you're a male ally wondering how to be supportive of coworkers
Workplace Allies
If you’re a domestic worker looking for support
National Domestic Workers Alliance
If you’re considering leaving your job to care for your kids full-time
Today’s Parent: Should You Quit your Job to Be a Stay-at-Home Mom?
Center for American Progress: Calculate Your Financial Losses Over Time
If you’re planning a parental or medical leave from work
Amy Beacom and Sue Campbell, The Parental Leave Playbook
If you’re considering retirement
U.S. Department of Labor, 5 Things to Know About Women and Retirement
NerdWallet, Women Who Retire With Their Husbands Often Lose Out
AARP, 7 Signs You Should Retire Already
LIFE
Despite some significant social changes in men’s role in the family over recent decades, women continue to do far more care work and housework than their partners, and suffer long-term economic and health consequences for it. While major cultural and policy changes are needed to reduce women’s unpaid work load and give them better access to fair and healthy relationships, emerging research is helping families to understand how individual life decisions compound to perpetuate these long-standing inequalities, and how more informed decision-making can disrupt these unequal patterns.
Our favorite life resources:
If you are a caregiver looking for support
If you are moving in with your partner
NPR: Moving In Together
If you are considering getting married or engaged
The Gottman Institute, Answer These Questions Before You Say “I Do”
If you are looking for a marriage counselor
If you are considering a prenuptial agreement
Kiplinger, Say “I Don’t” to Unfair Prenups
If you are having trouble with an unequal partnership
BLLx, Better Life Lab Experiments
Documentary, Card Set, & Book: Eve Rodsky, Fair Play
Kate Mangino, Equal Partners
Quiz: BLLx and Kate Mangino’s Equal Partners Quiz
If you have a male partner looking for support as a caregiver
UNC Health Care, For Male Caregivers
If you are considering or getting divorced
Mass Mutual, Financial Tips and Advice for Women in a Divorce
Healthline, The 8 Best Online Divorce Support Groups in 2022
If you're thinking through equity + intimacy in traditional and nontraditional relationships
Esther Perel, Mating in Captivity
Jessica Fern, Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma, and Consensual Nonmonogamy
If you want to involve your kids in housework?
App: MAPLE
App: Joon
App: melo
BLLx, How Much Can Your Kids Help With?
If you are hiring a nanny or housekeeper
National Domestic Workers Alliance
If you are considering becoming a parent
Slate, Six Factors in Whether He Will Be an Equal Co-Parent
Cosmopolitan, Questions to Ask Before You Have Kids
If you need to reduce your mental load
BLLx, Mental Load Swear Jars
BLLx, The Hand-Off
BLLx, Eve Rodsky’s Full Ownership Experiment: Conception, Planning, Execution
If you’re looking for dependable child care
Child Care Aware, Starting Your Child Care Search
Romper, How to Handle Child Care Disruptions Equally with your Partner
A search tool: Winnie
EVERYTHING
Well, maybe not everything, but we have to start somewhere! In this section we capture those big-level issues that just don’t fall neatly into work or life, but nonetheless impact your life on a regular basis. Sadly, the U.S. is far behind many of its peer countries when it comes to family-supportive policy and workplace rights for mothers and workers in general. Here, we detail some of the best organizations for you to plug into the larger movement for intersectional gender equality and change the work, live, and do everything else, for the better.
If you want to get involved in the universal child care movement
If you want to get involved in the paid leave movement
Write to your congressional representatives through the Paid Leave for All campaign
Join the state-by-state campaign at
If you want to get involved in the equal pay movement
If you're facing a dilemma that involves choosing between love or life, and your career or financial well being, and looking for a framework and data to help you decide
Myra Strober and Abby Davisson, Money and Love
BLLx, Making Hard Decisions
If you’re looking for diverse experts on these topics
Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Working Sources