Chapter 11 Work and Family

Chapter Outline  Women in the Labor Force  Men’s Occupations  Two-Earner Marriages – Work/Family Options  Juggling Employment and Family Work  Social Policy, Work, and Family  The Two-Earner Family and the Relationship

Women in the Labor Force  78% of single mothers with children between 6 and 17  61.5% of wives with children under 6  The rate of increase in employment has been greater for white women than black women, who historically had been more likely to work for wages.

Participation of Women Over 16 in the Labor Force, 1900–2005

Women in the Labor Force  Women have entered the labor force in greater and greater numbers since the 1960s.

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.

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 two slides show 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.

Men’s Occupations

The 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 2008, in the highest-paying occupation, that of physician, women made $95,766 while men earned $157,510 on average.

The Wage Gap  The Motherhood Penalty  Motherhood has a tremendous negative lifetime impact on earnings.  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 80% of what men do.

Opting Out, Stay-at-Home Moms and Neotraditional Families  Opting Out  A woman leaving the work force, temporarily or permanently, to raise children full time  Little evidence that this has occurred  Stay-at-Home Moms  In 2009, 26% of mothers of children under 15 were stay-at-home mothers, wives of steadily employed men who remained out of the labor force for the entire year.

Opting Out, Stay-at-Home Moms and Neotraditional Families  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.

Married-couple Families by Number and Relationship, 2007

Men’s Occupations  Good Provider Role: the economic provider of the family  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 Occupations  Househusbands: men who stay home to care for the house and family while their wives work  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.

Dual-earner Couples  Some dual-earner couples choose to work together in a joint business.

Two-Earner Marriages— 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  Working at home  Temporarily leaving the labor force

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  Only 6.3% of mothers with preschool-aged children were unemployed in  Research shows that mothers employed part time are more similar to full-time homemakers than to full-time employed mothers in their attitudes about wife and mother roles.

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

Combining Work and Family  A San Francisco choreographer goes back to work, taking her new baby to a ballet rehearsal—another way to combine work and family.

Doing Paid Work at Home  Home-based work has increased dramatically over the past decades—a 55% increase between 1990 and  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.

A Closer Look at Family Diversity: Diversity and Child Care  What family theory or theories could you use to analyze the situation described in this section of the chapter?

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.

Unpaid Family Work  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.

Who Does the Housework?  Children do some household labor, but it is more often a socialization device or family group activity than a substantial sharing of parents’ household tasks.

Who Does the Housework?  Women spend 2.1 hours daily engaged in domestic chores; men spend 1.3 hours.  Women spend 1.73 hours daily caring for children; men spend.84 hours.  This imbalance exists regardless of employment status.

Who Does the Housework?  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.

Is Housework Vanishing?  After a long day on the job, Cabral and Denys get some sleep on the 17-mile shuttle bus trip from the plant to Moine, Illinois, where they live. Longer hours of employment mean that time families spend on housework is “vanishing.”

The Leisure Gap  Leisure Gap: The second shift for women means a leisure gap between husbands and wives, as women sacrifice leisure and sleep to accomplish unpaid family work.  Free time away from the household is less available to women than to men.

Facts about Families: Where Does the Time Go?  How do you spend YOUR time?  Has the time you spend in various activities changed throughout your life?  The data in this section are for employed people who have children at home.  If your situation is different, is your time use different as well?

Juggling Employment and Family Work  A great deal of research on the subject implies that typical dual-earner family is a hectic one.  This is particularly true when children are in the home, and more so for single men and married and single women than for married men due to the greater “role overload” of the first three groups.

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

Juggling Employment and Family Work  Recent studies conclude that maternal employment does not cause behavior problems in children.  More correlations between low family income and childhood problems  Mothers and fathers spent more time in child care in 2000 than did parents in previous measured years going back to 1965.

 Priority Given to Work, Family, or Both by 2,800 Workers Surveyed, 2002

Primary Child Care, Average Weekly Hours, 1965–2000

Weekly Hours Spent With Children, 1975 and 2000

Juggling Employment and Family Work  How are Parents Faring?  Two-career marriages require dexterity to balance not only career and family life, but also her and his careers so that both spouses prosper.  Hertz(1986) found two-career couples were realistic, though sometimes regretful, about some benefits of the traditional relationship they were giving up.

Juggling Employment and Family Work  How are Parents Faring?  Trailing Spouse: A career move for one spouse may make the other a trailing spouse who relocates to accommodate the partner’s career.  Commuter Marriages: Marriages in which spouses live apart. Although this arrangement can be stressful, research suggests more serious stress can result when commuting ends.

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.

Child Care Sociologist Rosanna Hertz found three approaches to child care: 1. Mothering approach – The couple preferred that the wife care for the children. 2. Parenting approach – Family care was shared by parents, who structured their work to this end. 3. Market approach – Career-oriented couples hired others to care for children.

As We Make Choices: Child Care and Children’s Outcomes  Quality of child care influences relationship with mother and cognitive and linguistic skills  Children who spent longer hours in child care over time were reported to have more behavior problems upon entering kindergarten, regardless of quality of earlier child care.  More serious problems evidenced by children who had not been in day care at all  High quality care is a protective factor for children of fragile or at-risk families.

As We Make Choices: Child Care and Children’s Outcomes  If you were the parent of a new baby, would you find this research useful in making your decision about returning to work?  Or would you be more inclined to rely on the advice of family members and other parents—or your child’s reaction to child care?  What would you like to find out about children in child care?

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.  An estimated 34 million Americans are taking care of their aging parents.

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  About 27.5% of full-time workers have flexible schedules.  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  Family-Friendly Workplace Policies 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 Marriage and the 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 Marriage and the Relationship Maintaining Intimacy While Negotiating Provider Roles and the Second Shift  Women come to share the provider role.  Men take greater responsibility for household work.  Accept conflict as reality  Accept ambivalence  Strike an equitable rebalance  Show mutual appreciation

Quick Quiz

1. Despite changing attitudes among couples and media portrayals of two- earner couples who share housework, women in fact continue to do more of it. a) True b) False

Answer: True  Despite changing attitudes among couples and media portrayals of two- earner couples who share housework, women in fact continue to do more of it.

2. Gradually throughout the twentieth century, American society moved from an industrial economic base that manufactured products to a postindustrial configuration that a) transmits information and offers other services. b) focuses only on profits. c) emphasizes aerospace industries. d) is most concerned with global commerce.

Answer: a  Gradually throughout the twentieth century, American society moved from an industrial economic base that manufactured products to a postindustrial configuration that transmits information and offers other services.

3. The __________ suggests that one spouse’s household labor is a consequence of her or his resources compared to those of the other. a) rational investment perspective b) ideological perspective c) functionalist perspective d) resource hypothesis

Answer: d  The resource hypothesis suggests that one spouse’s household labor is a consequence of her or his resources compared to those of the other.

4. In the __________ approach, career- oriented couples hire other people to care for their children. a) parenting b) mothering c) market d) family child-care

Answer: c  In the market approach, career-oriented couples hired other people to care for their children.