Chapter 10: Work and Family
What are the stats regarding stay at home moms?
-26% of straight coupled mothers with kids under age 15 were not in the labor force. -more likely to be younger, hispanic, foreign born- and mothering a child under age 5 -today moms are likely to plan career passes or to limit their working hours. -many are immigrants who are following models that are traditional in their home countries. -*Neotraditional*: families value traditional gender roles and organize its life in these terms as far as practicable. Associated with religious people.
What are two-career partnerships?
-Careers differ from jobs in that careers hold the promise of advancement, are considered important in themselves-not just a source of money & demand a high degree of commitment -work in occupations that require education beyond a bachelors degree. -1/3 of professional or managerial men work 50 or more hours per week and one in six women do -most college kids view it as an available and workable option -famiyl life can get hectic if you have kids.
What are some obstacles for involved fathers?
-High-powerded careers require an employee to work long hours and even be available electronically in off hours -employers may think that family responsibilities should not interfere with work. -they may have no option to do less work if their job demands longer hours. -a man who gives priority to family may deal with coworkers resentment or challenges to his masculinity. -men might be more resistant to take time off bc they don't want to be viewed as less committed. -husbands lie to bosses or taken evasive steps at work to hide conflicts between job & family.
What is part-time employment?
-about 26% of women & 13% of men work part-time -of part-time workers who had once worked full-time, 70% say they changed to part-time bc of childcare problems -moms say working part-time is more preferable and men said working full time was -less work-family conflict and more family and personal time are clear benefits of part-time employment -they feel less rushed, better health, more sensitive and involved than do other moms full time and stay at home. -Part-time has seldom job security, dont earn as much you forgo salary, status, and security.
What does shift work mean?
-any work schedule in which more than half an employee's houses are before 8am or after 4pm. -in one-quarter of all two-earner couples, at least one does shift work. one in three if they have young kids. -use it to ease childcare. -"just in time scheduling and closing. large corporations when employees are needed, in very small time segments, even at last minute. May be called in during a busy two hour period and then sent home when it slows down. -it can wreak havoc on lives of workers who can't plan around work obligations that might popup
What are the gender differences and expectations for moms and dads?
-moms are the destined parent, but father as a childcare arrangement -Men have instrumental character traits such as self-reliance and ambition, while women have been supposed to be expressive, relationship-oriented, and supportive helpmates. -Husbands in the labor force, instrumental and women are the homemakers an expressive role.
What is the motherhood penalty?
-motherhood has a significant negative lifetime impact on female income- a situation that creates a long-term gender-earnings gap. -persists despite women's increasing education & dedicated labor force involvement -some women hide their pregnancies for as long as possible to even hire surrogates to carry their kids
What is Clopening?
-requiring a worker to close a store late at night and then open it early the next morning -shift workers face physical stress with night work or changing schedules -reduces the overlap of family members' leisure time, which can negatively affect the relationship. -associated with decrease in marital stability, negative spillover effects-due to fatigue-
What does the family ecology perspective hold?
-that family life is influenced by cultural expectations and social structures external to it. -recovering but still negatively affect by the recession, typical household wealth today is now worth one-third less than it was prior to 2007. -Jobs pay less. Student loan debt is higher than ever. More jobs are moving overseas. -Workplace influences everyday family life; maternity or paternity leave -Families can influence workplace
What is this occupational segregation?
-the tendency for men and women to be employed in different job types. -it has declined somewhat since 1960. Women are physicians, attorneys, astronauts, engineers & military officers. -Men become nurses, dental hygienists, and elementary school teachers -Men are more likely to hold the upper-level jobs within each sector. They occupy the lower-paying ranks. -the jobs that women are more likely to hold often pay less. For ex. doctors vs. nurses and lawyers vs. paralegals.
Good providers vs. involved fathers?
-*Good providers*: traditional fathers, emphasize the provider role as defining their merit and they work more hours than men with no kids -*Involved fathers*: work fewer hours than do childless men so they can participate more at home. -more dads take off of work following the birth of a child, and more visible in parenting classes. -It is not alway easy tho
What is expected of men?
-*Provider role*: family men are expected to supply resources (shelter & food, for instance) is evident in all social classes. This is still true, and consistent across cultures. -men are more likely to be employed more hours than women and work full-time. -Nowadawys both spouses are employed in the majority of married couples. -Men still continue to be the primary breadwinners-fulltime while their partners are partite. -single income become less and less able to provide everything a family needs therefore it is necessary for women to be in the workforce.
What are the micro level factors?What are the marco level factors?
-*Spillover*: from work situations into family life-how pleasures or stressed associated with work affect interaction within the family. -workload and quality of moms interactions with supervisors to interactions with kids. -feeling overloaded was correlated with harsh & withdrawn mother-child interactions. -having a job in a LGBT workplace reduced parental anxiety at home, while an unfriendly one had the app effect. -*Marco*: larger level factors: company policies, maternity and paternity leave, work-related stress, work place policies. Expect view women who take time for family as less than professional. more role conflict.
What is the female-male wage gap?
-Difference in earnings between men and women varies considerably, depending on occupation and tenders to be greater in the more elite, higher-paying positions. -in 2014 women CEOS average 1,811 weekly compared with 2,266 for men. -Men continue to dominate corporate america. -couples straight women are more likely than men to limit their labor force participation in order to care for family members. -even if she has no plans to do a woman contends with employers assumptions that she will opt out of the labor force to take care of others -employer may be less likely to select fully committed women.
How have women become more involved in the labor force?
-around the 1890s more women began to enter the labor force. Industrialization gave rise to to corporations and subsequent clerical work without enough men available -textile industries sought women, this slowed down during world war 2 as soldiers came home, the women returned to the kitchen. -int he 1970s, the number of employed women began to increase, bc families needed a second income, and the divorce rate left women uncertain about their earnings. -by 1979, a majority of married women were employed outside the home. -black women more likely to work for wages, white women are catching up to black women. -moms of young kids were the last to move into the workforce. -Today 58% of women w/kids under 1 are working.
What is unpaid family work?
-caring for dependent family members, such as the elderly or children as well as maintaining the family domicile -it is influenced by the environment that surrounds the family (family ecology) -family life course(adults are assigned more unpaid household labor than are children or the elderly) -good bc it promotes family members healthy behaviors, dental appts, monitoring their eating habits.
What is gender role hypothesis?
-even among changes in gender roles women still contribute more household work -engaging in traditional, gender based household labor(women cook and clean, men fix the broken shower), reinforces gender roles -men may do housework if their partners is a breadwinner Power: partners with more power do less housework, men who work more do less housework, men who work more do more household labor
What is inadequate wages?
-even with two or more jobs, many americans do not make enough money to support a family. -low income and poverty level parents often work at minimum or less than minimum jobs or less than minimum wage jobs with unpredictable hours and no benefits -they struggle with housing and transportation instability due to unaffordable rents, utility, gasoline, and car repair cost.
How have times changed with women in the workforce?
-for the first in 2012, women topped young men in desiring high-paying careers. -women believe that being successful in a high-paying career or profession was very important. -nowadays ppl dont think that marriages work better when the husband is the breadwinner and the wife takes care of the house and kids. -husbands were much more likely than wives to receive help from their spouse-keeping the books explain why husbands succeed more often than wives. -when social intuitions are not well integrated it results in role conflict; when the demands of one institution conflict with meeting the demands of another.
What is like to work at home?
-home-based work-working from home, either for oneself or for an employer-increased significantly over the past few decades. -traditionally known as piecework-sewing or making artificial flowers. -telecommuting- half are women many with children under 6, say that they work from home to coordinate work with personal/family needs. -helps coordinate work and family obligations, exchanged one set of challenges for another. -problems with interruptions, they are often asked to run errands, watch hneighbors'children -may as well be doing unpaid family work as well.
What are two-earner partnerships and work family options?
-in 1968, there were equal proportions of two-earner and provider-housewife couples-45% of each -in which both partners work are the majority. Parents display flexibility in how they design their two earner unions -arrangements are ever-changing & flexible, varying with the arrival and ages of children and with partners jobs options and preferences.
What are household labor differences for men and women?
-less housework is being done now than in the past, today microwaves, fast food, sometimes by paid services and perhaps living with more dust, -Mens share of housework is greater than in the past- women do less household work and men do more. -women still avg more household labors than men do. women average two hours daily and men about half of that. more likely to manage activities and take care of the kids when they are sick. -women organize family acitivtes and care for kin keeping- which is maintaining contact, remembering anniversaries and birthdays.