1. Chapter 8 Balancing Work and Family __________________________

2. Attitudes Toward Women’s Family and Employment Roles Role of ethnicity Role of motherhood Personal aspirations Attitudes about combining motherhood and employment Attitudes toward women who combine motherhood and employment Role of women’s own mother’s employment history ___________________________

3. Division of Household Labor Importance of work and family roles for women and men Housework and child care Gender differences Caring for aging parents Time commitment Financial commitment Leisure time __________________________

4. Division of Household Labor Women’s perceptions of the division of family labor Most women do not consider division of labor unfair (Sardadvar, 2011) Perceived inequity based on share of total time spent by couple Explanations of the division of family labor Time constraints Relative power Gender attitudes ____________________________

5. What do you think? What are the benefits of balancing work and family? What are the costs? ____________________________

6. Family-Work Coordination Balancing family and work: Costs and benefits College women estimate benefits greater than costs White women estimate more negative outcomes than Black women (Bridges & Etaugh, 1996) __________________________

7. Family-Work Coordination Balancing family and work, continued Costs Role strain: Stress stemming from one’s roles Role overload: Role demands that exceed one’s available time and/or energy Inter-role conflict: Incompatible demands stemming from two or more roles Scarcity hypothesis: Excessive role responsibilities deplete the individual’s limited supply of time and energy, which can lead to stress Who experiences role strain? ___________________________

8. Family-Work Coordination Balancing family and work, continued Benefits Higher self-esteem, better physical health, greater respect from others, greater economic security (Teachman, 2010) Enhancement hypothesis: each additional role provides a new source of self-esteem, social approval, social status, and other benefits (Crosby & Sabbatini, 2006) Buffering ___________________________

9. Family-Work Coordination Effects of mother’s employment on children Most research demonstrates that maternal employment and non-maternal care are not harmful Children often benefit from maternal employment Effects on preschoolers’ emotions and behaviors Effects on children’s gender-role attitudes Effects on children’s cognitive development Importance of consistency between mother’s role and her belief about value of maternal employment ___________________________

10. Family-Work Coordination Effects of maternal employment on the spouse/partner Depends on quality of marital relationship (Schoen et al., 2002) Women’s employment not related to divorce among happily married couples Women’s employment related to divorce in unhappy marriages Women’s employment and husbands’ well-being Women’s employment and wives’ well-being Women’s employment and sexual satisfaction ____________________________

11. Family-Work Coordination Solutions to family-work balancing challenges “Family-friendly” workplace policies Paid family leave Flextime Telecommuting Employer help with child care Elder-care benefits Support from other people Personal coping strategies Negotiate with employer (Hewlett, 2007) Change perceptions of responsibilities (Chrisler, 2008) Spend more time (Chrisler, 2008) ___________________________

12. Family-Work Coordination Solutions to family-work balancing challenges, continued Parental leave More than half of U.S. mothers of infants are employed U.S. one of the few nations without paid parental leave policy Family and Medical Leave Act Factors associated with mothers’ early return to work Effects of parental leave on work lives ___________________________

13. Midlife transitions in family and work roles Satisfaction with life roles Importance of paid work Regrets about life direction Related to decisions about marriage, career, and children Importance of acting on regrets to make changes (Stewart & Vandewater, 1999) Making changes Influence of women’s movement Source of both satisfaction and challenge (Stewart & Vandewater, 1999) Midlife transitions: A cautionary note Research generally about white, middle-class women Importance of historical context __________________________