Chapter 10 Work and Family

Chapter Outline  The Interface of Work and Family Life  Men’s Work and Family Roles  Women’s Work and Family Roles  Two-Earner Unions and Work/Family Options  Unpaid Family Work  Juggling Employment and Family Work  Social Policy, Work, and Family  The Two-Earner Couple’s Relationship

The Interface of Work and Family Life  Family members work to organize their family lives according to available economic options and opportunities.  The Industrial Revolution changed the nature of labor and family life.

The Interface of Work and Family Life  The family ecology perspective tells us that workplace requirements impact family living.  This mom’s military career certainly affects her family life.  Four in ten military women have children.

The Interface of Work and Family Life  The concepts sociological imagination and the family ecology perspective hold that family life is influenced by cultural expectations and social structures external to it. The workplace is one such influence.  On the micro level, family researchers often look at the spillover from work situations into family life.

The Interface of Work and Family Life  Gender and the Work-Family Interface  When social institutions are not well integrated individuals who play roles in both institutions experience role conflict.  A 2012 Pew Research survey found for the first time that women age 18 to 34 topped young men in desiring a high- paying career.

The Interface of Work and Family Life  Gender and the Work-Family Interface  Expectations for traditional gender roles still persist, but there has been much change in recent years.

Men’s Work and Family Roles  Good Provider Role: the economic provider of the family predominated into the 1970s  Men work more hours and are more likely to work full-time.  Men continue to be primary breadwinners in the majority of couples.  Blue-collar and racial/ethnic minority husbands have difficulty living up this social expectation because of changes in the economy.

Men’s Work and Family Roles Married-couple families by percentage of family-member earners, 2012

Men’s Work and Family Roles  “Good Providers” versus “Involved Fathers”  Stay at home dads: men who stay home to care for the house and family while their wives work.  Make up a very small minority of men  Choice is the key to a man’s satisfaction with this role, as is mutual understanding by the couple about the specifics of their division of labor.

Women’s Work and Family Roles  Women’s involvement in the workforce really took off in the 20 th century.

Women’s Work and Family Roles  Stagnant and declining earnings for men in the second part of the 20 th century led more families to rely on a second earner.  Historically, black women have been more likely than non-Hispanic whites to work for wages, but white women are beginning to close this gap.  Mothers of young children were the last women to move into the labor force.

Women’s Occupations  Occupational segregation: pronounced tendency for men and women to be employed in different types of jobs  Jobs typically held by men and women differ within major occupational categories, with men more likely to hold the upper-level jobs.  Women are more likely to occupy the lower-paying ranks.

Women’s Occupations  The following slide shows the jobs held by women and men in  The percentages in each sector of the pie charts tell us what percentages of women and what percentages of men hold certain jobs.

Women in Blue-Collar Jobs  Women in blue-collar jobs are still a minority, although more women are entering these jobs, which tend to pay better than traditional women’s jobs in service or clerical work.

The Female-Male Wage Gap  The wage gap is the difference in earnings between men and women.  It varies considerably depending on occupation and tends to be greater in the more elite, higher paying occupations.  For instance, in 2011 women corporate chief executive officers (CEOs) averaged $1,464 weekly, compared with $2,122 for men.

The Wage Gap  When factors such as marital status, race, number and age of children, and income, as well as work patterns (years of work, hours worked, and job tenure) are controlled for, women make 82% of what men do.  The Motherhood Penalty  Motherhood has a tremendous negative lifetime impact on earnings.

Stay-at-Home Moms  In 2011 there were about 5 million stay-at-home mothers (23% of all married-couple families with children under age 15).  Many stay-at-home mothers are immigrants who are following a traditional model espoused by their home country’s culture.

Stay-at-Home Moms  Neotraditional families find that a traditional division of labor is the ideal.  Most likely found in middle and working classes of the outer suburbs and in rural areas.  Economic pressures force many neotraditional women into the labor force, though they are likely to work part-time or in-home as much as possible or take substantial time off when children are small.

Two-Earner Unions and Work/Family Options  As recently as 1968, there were equal proportions of dual-earner and provider– housewife couples: 45% of each.  Today, two-earner marriages, in which both partners are in the labor force, are the statistical norm among married couples.

Two-Earner Marriages— Work/Family Options  Options for Working Couples:  Two career marriage  Part-time employment  Shift work  Doing Paid Work at Home

Two-Career Marriages  Careers differ from jobs in that they hold the promise of advancement and demand a high degree of commitment.  For two-career couples with children, family life can be hectic, as partners juggle schedules, chores, and child care.  Two-career families often outsource domestic work and are likely to employ an in-home caregiver.

Part-Time Employment  A little over 25% of women worked part time in  Childcare problems impact work arrangements significantly  Part-time mothers of preschoolers evidence better health and more sensitive and involved parenting than do other mothers, both employed and stay-at-home moms.

Shift Work  Any work schedule in which more than half an employee’s hours are before 8 a.m. or after 4 p.m.  In one-quarter of all two-earner couples, at least one spouse does shift work; one in three if they have children.  Associated with a decrease in marital stability

Doing Paid Work at Home  Home-based work has increased dramatically over the past decades.  Home-based work used to involve piecework, sewing, or flower making.  This mode of home production is declining due to competition from low- wage workers overseas.  Telecommuting is much more common now than ever.

Unpaid Family Work  Unpaid family work involves the necessary tasks of attending both to the emotional needs of all family members and to the practical needs of dependent members (such as children or elderly parents), as well as maintaining the family domicile.

Household Labor  Less housework is being done now than in the past.  Husbands’ share of housework is more than in the past.  Wives still average more household-labor hours than husbands do.

Household Labor  Caring for dependent family members  Cultural tradition and social institutions give women principled responsibility for raising children and designates them as “kinkeepers” whose job it is to keep in touch with and if necessary, care for parents, adult siblings, and others.

Why Do Women Do More of the Household Labor?  When total hours employed both in and out of the house are considered, the work imbalance disappears.  Several hypotheses have been developed to explain the household labor gap.

Diversity and Household Labor  In some ethnic groups, such as Vietnamese and Laotian, housework is significantly shared.  Among African-Americans, adult children living at home, extended kin, and nonresident fathers are likely to share housework and child care.

Juggling Employment and Family Work  The typical dual-earner family is a hectic one.  This is particularly true when children are in the home.  Employed parents put in a second shift of unpaid family labor.

Juggling Employment and Family Work  Increasing mismatch between our economic system and the needs of American families  American workers lead the industrial world in the number of hours worked.  Stress is concentrated for families in the children’s early years.  Especially for women with demanding jobs and single mothers

Managing Two-Career Unions  Trailing partners relocate to accommodate the other’s career.  Some partners “commute” to accommodate both careers.

Two-Earner Families and Children’s Well-Being  Maternal employment does not cause behavior problems or other significant differences in children.  What is notable in the research is the correlation between low family income and childhood problems.  Despite modern work arrangements, families spend more time in child care now than in the past.

Average Weekly Hours That Mothers and Fathers Spend Directly Caring for Their Children, 1965–2000

When One Woman’s Workplace Is Another’s Family  Tyranny of the Nannies  Tyranny of Caregivers’ Employers  Tyranny of the Neighborhood  Intersectionality  Solutions

Social Policy, Work, and Family  Undesirable economic conditions  Parental stress due to work-family conflict  Persistent gender inequality in work- family division of labor

Social Policy, Work, and Family What is needed to address the issues?  Adequate Wages  Quality, Affordable Elder- and Child Care  Family Leave  Flexible Scheduling

Social Policy, Work, and Family  Adequate Wages  If the federal minimum wage had kept pace with the rise in executive salaries since 1990, America’s poorest paid workers would be making more than $23 an hour.  Cities and states that have raised the minimum wage above federal mandates have not lost jobs.

Social Policy, Work, and Family  Child Care  Full-time care and education of children under age 6, care before and after school and during school vacations for older children, and overnight care when employed parents must travel.  May be paid or unpaid, provided by relatives or others, including one of the parents.

Social Policy, Work, and Family  Elder Care  Involves providing assistance with daily living activities to an elderly relative who is chronically frail, ill, disabled, or just in need of assistance.

Social Policy, Work, and Family  Family Leave  Involves an employee being able to take an extended period of time from work, either paid or unpaid, for the purpose of caring for a newborn, adopted, or seriously ill child; for an elderly parent; or for their own health needs, with the guarantee of a job upon returning.

Social Policy, Work, and Family  Flexible Scheduling  In a 2009 poll, nearly half of American men said that companies should provide more flexible work schedules to both men and women  Includes such options as job sharing (two people share one position), working at home or telecommuting, compressed workweeks, flextime (flexibility starting and ending times, with required core hours), and personal days off.

Social Policy, Work, and Family  Who will provide what’s needed to make the changes?  Some large corporations demonstrate interest in family-friendly workplace policies that are supportive of employee efforts to combine family and work commitments. on-site daycare sick-child care subsidies for child care services or child care locator services flexible schedules parental or family leave workplace seminars and counseling programs support groups

The Two-Earner Couple’s Relationship  Multiple roles (such as employee, spouse, parent) does not add to stress (provided there is enough time to accomplish things), and in fact may enhance personal happiness.  Gender Strategy: A way of working through everyday situations that takes into account an individual’s beliefs and deep feelings about gender roles, as well as his/her employment commitments.

The Two-Earner Couple’s Relationship  Increasingly, women come to share the provider role and men take greater responsibility for household work.  Is this a threat or a benefit?  For the most part, social scientists see a “gender convergence” in current attitudes regarding work and family roles.