Work and Families Mothers enter labor force Implications for family life Marital power and work Role...
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Transcript of Work and Families Mothers enter labor force Implications for family life Marital power and work Role...
Work and FamiliesMothers enter labor force
Implications for family life
Marital power and work
Role overload, conflict, and spillover
Work-family life cycle patterns
Shift work and child care
Working families and low wages
Mothers’ Labor Force Participation, 1948 - 2001
• Expansion of service sector
• Working hours beyond 9-5
• Increased demand for workers
• Fewer children
• Families need two incomes
Why women entered labor force
• changed balance of power in marriage
• shift to individual marriage
• women’s earnings still only 77% of men’s
• single mothers still disadvantaged
A Profound Change in Family Life
Bases of Power in Marriage
• Legitimate – Authority, traditional roles – most affected by women’s employment
• Referent – Identify with spouse, want to please
• Expert –Knowledge of specific issue
• Others (less common) - coercion, reward, informational
• Wives who earn more have more power
• Still have childcare and household responsibilities
• Family work is relationship-specific
• Limits ability to compete in job market
“Legitimate” Power and Wage Work
• Less traditional division of labor
• Total housework has declined
• Hire help if affordable
• Men do more housework than previous generation
• Still do much less than women
“Legitimate” Power and Housework
• Face to face, meeting another’ s needs
• “Women’s work:” women are– 97% of childcare workers– 79% of healthcare workers– Often undervalued, underpaid, unpaid
• Less status in marriage
• Some control over specific decisions
• High proportion are minority women
Care Work
Role Overload, Conflict, and Spillover
• Role overload: too many roles at once
• Role conflict: different roles conflict
• Greater in some life stages
• Greater for women
• Not always stressful
• Increased stress w/ long hours, low benefits
Spillover
• Spillover: Stressful events in one part of life spill over into others
• Wives may protect husbands from stress
• Men more likely to withdraw from families
• Women feel more spillover of family into work
How couples cope: 3 life cycle paths
Work Stage (his)• Novitiate• Early Career• Mid-Career• Late Career• Retirement
Family Stage (hers)• Beginning marriage• Childbearing• Teenage children• Launching children• Aging family
1. Simultaneous-Traditional Work-Family Life 1. Simultaneous-Traditional Work-Family Life CycleCycle
2. Sequential Work-Family Life Cycle
• More typical of women
• Work fulltime, cut back during childbearing, then more work, etc.
• May make prioritizing easier
• Works better in some jobs
• Not all families can afford
• May involve career sacrifices
• True 50-50 sharing
• Idealized, but not common
3. Symmetrical Work-Family Life Cycle
Shift Work and Child Care
• Child care may be handled by parents:– Flexible hours—different shifts– May turn down job opportunities– May be stressful on marriage
• Single parents can’t use this
Child care arrangements of
employed mothers of
children under 5, 1999
Parents 21.5
Mother while working 3.1
Father 18.5
Relatives 28.8
Grandparent 20.8
Sibling and other relative 8.0
Organized facility 22.1
Day care center 17.9
Nursery/preschool 3.8
Federal Head Start program 0.4
Other nonrelative care 20.3
In child's home 3.3
In provider's home 16.9
Family day care 10.9
Other nonrelative 6.0
Other 7.3
Annual Expenditures on Child Care, by Parents’ Income and Child’s Age, 2002
Parents’ Income Under 2 2 to 5
under 40,700 $950 $1080
40,700-68,400 $1570 $1740
over 68,400 $2370 $2580
Child’s Age
• Flextime: Allows flexible hours
• Family leave: Time off to care for child or other dependent
• Part-time work with benefits
• Job Sharing
Toward a Responsive Workplace
Summary
• Mothers entered labor force since 1970
• Changed balance of power in marriage
• Sometimes results in overload, spillover
• Changed experience of family life cycle
• Involves child care decisions
• Workplace has not responded greatly to needs of families