Well-meaning but misguided government mandates aimed to help working women can easily backfire and have unintended negative consequences.

So asserts the Independent Women's Forum, which outlines a number of policy changes its members believe would be more effective in the group's second edition of "Working for Women – A Modern Agenda for Improving Women's Lives." A number of the recommendations in IWF's first report in 2016—including tax cuts for workers—have been implemented, but more needs to be done, the group asserts.

Indeed, while last year marked the first time women comprised the majority of the college-educated workforce in the United States, many working women still face challenges that should be addressed by smart policy decisions, according to the report.

"Unfortunately, politicians often imply that bad bosses or an overwhelmingly sexist society are the cause of women's obstacles, and argue that top-down government policies are necessary to protect women," the authors write. "Yet there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges women face, and these well-intentioned government efforts may help some, but they will backfire for many more by making our workplaces less flexible and discouraging job creation."

Some of the group's 20-plus policy recommendations for either federal or state lawmakers include:

Making the 2017 federal tax cuts permanent for workers: "These tax cuts reward those who work while also making it easier for more families to make ends meet on one salary. However, these tax benefits are set to expire in 2025. Policymakers should make tax cuts permanent for workers and families as they did for businesses."

Rejecting proposals to reclassify gig workers and independent contractors as employees, like the recently enacted California law: "This would backfire for gig workers by eliminating flexibility and opportunities for work. Companies that currently allow workers to offer services on their own schedule might institute shifts and control scheduling. They might restrict who can sell goods on their platforms, as well as imposing additional fees that would drive away customers."

Reforming licensing regimes: "States should evaluate existing licensing and fee practices and eliminate all that fail to advance legitimate public safety or quality concerns. For military spouses, states should consider ways to expedite licenses or transfer the licenses of those who are in good standing. They should also consider ending blanket exclusions of individuals with criminal records, and instead exclude only those individuals whose convictions are recent and relevant and pose a legitimate threat to public safety."

Allowing employees to agree to an 80/14 schedule: "The Fair Labor Standard Act should be amended to allow employees to voluntarily choose a flexible schedule in exchange for being paid overtime after 80 hours of work over 14 days, rather than the traditional overtime after 40 hours in seven days."

Allowing people to save on their own for leave time: "People ought to be able to save tax-free so that they can accrue resources that will sustain them during such absences from work, either through personal care accounts or through reforms to health savings accounts."

Allowing employees with a new child access to a share of their future Social Security benefits, in exchange for delaying their eligibility for Social Security retirement benefits: "This program would be entirely voluntary: No worker would have to take earned leave benefits, and there would be no new taxes imposed to pay for this program. This would simply shift the timing of when workers would receive benefits that they have already accrued."

Front-loading child tax credits: "Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) have offered a new bipartisan proposal that would offer new parents the option to take an advance on the child tax credit to allow them to take paid time off to welcome a new child. The tax credit received in the year of a child's birth or adoption would then be effectively paid back by reduced eligibility for future child tax credits. This bipartisan proposal for a voluntary option to give taxpayers more flexibility with the timing of their tax credits deserves additional exploration."

Other IWF policy recommendations include increasing tax credits for children; reforming Social Security to make it sustainable; and expanding 529 plans to help parents broadly to save and prepare for the costs of child-rearing, even before K-12 education begins – such as paying for child care for working parents.

"There is much at stake, and we want to see every woman and girl to be afforded the greatest degree of opportunity to realize their potential and live out their American Dream," the authors write. "While we acknowledge that both U.S. culture and U.S. law are already pro-women and pro-freedom, we believe implementing the policy solutions discussed within this report would improve our lives even more."

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How policy changes could do more to support working women

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