1. Work and the Family

2. Work in a Changing Society
Preindustrial Model
Cooperative work within the household
Industrial Revolution
Economic production moves out of the home into the city becoming separate from family living
* invention of labor (public vs. private sphere)
* invention of “un/employed”
Postindustrial
transmit information and offer services
(over 80% of today’s Jobs)

3. Men in the “Good Provider Role”
Based on new economic model (1830’s), men are judged by the living standard they provided their family
What are some of the rewards?
What are some of the costs?
(Christiansen & Palkovitz)
Change the meaning of “Provider” to have similar meaning to “hands-on” parenting

4. Women and Work A Modern Role: the housewife * circa 1850 to 1940
Today women in labor force:
60% Married women
72% Single-parent women
(25% married women w/ children are homemakers)

5. Homemaking as an Economic Benefit
(Crittenden)
Women’s labor described as “skilled mid-level management job”
Housewife's economic worth = $60,000
What are some of the services housewives offer?

6. The Wage Gap Occupational Segregation
the tendency for women and men to be
employed in different types of jobs
* 75% teachers; 92% nurses; 31% M.D.s
The wage gap varies considerably based on occupation, e.g., gap grows in elite, higher paying occupation
* physicians F: $88,000; M: $144,000

7. The Wage Gap Motherhood Penalty
motherhood has a tremendous negative lifetime impact on earnings
* Childless women earn 90% of what men do
Work habits: fewer years of experience, work fewer hours per year, left labor force for longer amounts of time, less likely to work full-time

8. House Work Unpaid Family Work:
Involve the necessary tasks of attending to both the emotional needs of the family members and the practical needs of dependant members
Second Shift:
The domestic work employed women must perform after coming home from a day on the job

9. WHO DOES THE WORK AROUND THE HOUSE?

10. WHO DOES THE WORK AROUND THE HOUSE?

11. Why Women Do The Housework
Availability Perspective
* The partner with more time does the housework
Rational Investment Perspective
* partners agree to spend more time doing what they are more efficient at
NOTE: these are gender neutral theories

12. Why Women Do The Housework
3. Resource Hypothesis (also gender neutral)
* the partner with more resources
will have the power and hence
spend less time on housework
Ideological Perspective
* points to the gendered cultural expectations on household labor
Note: higher EDU for men leads to more household work because they believe less in gender stereotypes

13. Why Women Do The Housework
Gender Construction Perspective
“doing gender”
* Looks at the meaning of housework and how it’s used to reinforce gender identity
6. Feminist Perspective
1. Women have less power, as a result, women will end up doing the majority of unpaid labor
2. Paid care givers will come from more disadvantaged sectors of society

14. The need for Institutional Support: Social Policies
U.S.: only industrialized nation that does not have mandated maternity/parental leave
* Family Leave
* Flexible Scheduling
How does this effect a “pronatalist culture”?

15. Maintaining Intimacy While Negotiating Role Meaning
Acceptance of Conflict as a Reality
* Marital partners will have competing interests
Accept Ambivalence
* maintain intimacy during adjustment
3. Empathize
* make sure both partners “win”

16. Maintaining Intimacy While Negotiating Role Meaning
4. Strike an Equitable Balance
* does not mean split…
…rather FAIR BALANCE
5. Show Mutual Appreciation
* creating new ways to show their appreciation