Social Sciences Essay: Government Policies and the Family

Week 6 Discussion: Government Policies and the Family
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Government Policies and the Family
Family as a social construct does not exist in isolation. It is established and greatly influenced by societal norms and customs. Government is one of the institutions that influence families through legal frameworks, policies, and work—however, the relationship between family and government institutions remains unclear.
First, over a long time, those working in the U.S military can attest how the state has influenced families' dynamics. The interest and attention surrounding the concept of family and the U.S government has led to an increased need to promote partnership and coordination that benefit families having their members in the military. Second, it has also raised the need to monitor the military's dynamic patterns, conflict, and families. For instance, the prevailing policies and practices may need changes to accommodate the armed forces' contemporary and emerging future transgender service members (Coppola et al., 2020).
Third, the concept of work has a substantial influence on the family unit. More often, laws and policies are used to influence how families are expected to work in terms of flexibility and job context. Dengate (2016) posits that mothers' work-family concerns create tension between preferences and normative, structural, and institutional constraints while trying to actualize preferences. The author argues that job context can facilitate or impede work-family preferences, where low-paying jobs have restricted flexibility, increase over time, and few benefits.
On the other hand, high-wage jobs come with increased flexibility and enhance benefits such as paternity and maternity leaves, leading to increased mothers' families' preference. Since mothers face constraints based on job contexts, there is a need for government-supported policy development that recognizes mothers' specific constraints. These policies should be tailored to allow mothers to enjoy family ...