1. Families and Work  

2. Decline in real earnings
Hourly wages
declined 15% since 1973
Once, we made things….
The problem with the service industry
Americans
Overworked and under-vacationed….
The problem with part-time work
Largest growth since 1992
evening
night
Weekend

3. Women in the workforce Economy pulled many women into the workforce
Table page 189 (zinn, eitzen)
Since 1980 women taken 80% of new jobs in economy

4. 2 person single career
1 person works for pay, the other participates in spouse’s wk w/out pay
Less than 10% of married couples are traditional bread-winner/homemaker families
Workplace still operates as if households had only 1 worker & full-time homemaker

5. Dual Earners Benefits Costs Neutral
Women’s power, health and depression better when they produce an income
Costs
Women have absorbed male work ethic more readily than men have absorbed their share of domestic & caretaking roles
Private solutions to child care worse in US
Neutral
Decades of research show that employed mothers pose no harm to their children

6. Myth of separate worlds
Work-family spill over
transfer of moods, feelings & behavior from wk/family to other
Structural interference
wk/family interfere with one another
Psychosocial interference
3:15 syndrome

7. FMLA 1993 Only companies with 50 or more employees have to abide
What it provides
12 wks unpaid leave for full-time workers only

8. Dual-career
Dual-workers
Split-shift parenting most common (nonstandard wk schedule ^ divorce)
More traditional than career wives
Less commitment than career wives
Time squeeze

9. Gender Inequality Balance? Work-family role system
Reinforces traditional division of labor in work & family.
Ensures that wives’ work does not affect their “core” responsibilities
housework & childcare

10. Schwartz study Gerson study The “package deal” Zinn & Eitzen pg. 199

11. Men’s work Declining employment% %
Whites declined due to early retirement
Others declined due to discouraged worker effect

12. Good provider role Still largest source of income
Macro-level economic conditions eroded ability to be sole breadwinner
Old model is eroding
Men have greater opportunities
to participate in family,
but freed from responsibilities

13. Children’s work
Declined from mid 1970s
Zinn & Eitzen pg. 197