All In
Josh Levs HarperOne, 272 pages, $25.99
When he was preparing to take time off after the birth of his third child in 2013, CNN correspondent Josh Levs was stunned to learn that his employer's policy entitled him to just two weeks of paid leave. He filed a suit with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, claiming the leave policy of CNN parent company Time Warner discriminated against fathers, and eventually won.
That battle is the foundation for Levs' book "All In: How Our Work First Culture Fails Dads, Families and Businesses, and How We Can Fix It Together."
Levs' central thesis, that fathers need to be a bigger part of the conversation about family leave, is laudable. Throughout the book, Levs makes several reasonable arguments about why and how paid leave policies should be enacted. He picks apart the stereotypes that stand in the way of equal parenting. Two flaws: He places an onus on workers to ask for the flexibility (unrealistic for many workers). Also, he neglects to address the fact that not all workers are parents.
Levs' central argument in "All In" is that a groundswell of support by parents actively calling for reforms to family leave policies will eventually pressure employers to enact them. The cynic in me thinks if this strategy were effective, it would have happened already. But it's heartening to read a narrative that envisions mothers and fathers as equal partners in the battle.
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
