PSY 3123 Lecture 14: Family and the World of Work
28 Apr 2018
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Professor
March 21, 2018
Family and the World of Work
One Family, Two Incomes - The New Reality
More and more families affected by interplay between work and family responsibilities
A signiďŹcant societal trend is increase in number of women employed outside the home
-52% in 1975 vs. 92% in 2009
-Despite this, the majority of childcare responsibilities still falls on women
In contrast, labour force participation among men aged 15 and over has been declining slowly
The proportion of dual-earner couple families rose steadily from 40% in the 1970s to a bit over 60% in the 1990s
when it began to level off
Changing Roles: Role Choices
Women follow one of four different life paths
-Homemaking
-Plan a traditional marriage but end up in paid workforce
â˘More likely to be inďŹuenced by unstable relationships, economic problems, and job opportunities
-Always wanted to have careers and are reluctant to become mothers and homemakers
-Plan to have careers, but circumstances have prevented this
Paths chosen seem to depend on the stability of the marriage, job opportunities, the ability of a womanâs partner to
earn enough so that she can stay home, and on how rewarding she considers homemaking
Changing Roles: Household Responsibilities
Advances in household technology (ex. Laundry machines) have made it possible for women to enter the workforce
-But, while appliances have made tasks quicker and easier, the quantity has increased
â˘Due to increased standards of cleanliness
-Ex. People change their underwear more often now than in the 1900s
â˘People also now take over jobs that used to be sent out
-Ex. Laundry used to be sent out
Shift from wage-earner husbands to dual-earner families has not meant an equal shift in household responsibilities
-Most housework is still done by women
Rather, led to conďŹicts over just how household work and childcare should be divided
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March 21, 2018
Husbands tend to do the highest share of housework (35%) when partnersâ earnings are equal
-NB: donât need a 50/50 split to be happy, just need to feel like there is a fair split
Men tend to feel demeaned when doing traditional âwomenâs workâ, so they often choose more enjoyable tasks like
playing with children
Changing Roles
Given the many demands on their time, dual-earner couples often spend relatively little time with friends and
extended family
Places greater demand on nuclear family to meet all social and emotional needs of its members
When social networks are limited, families may experience lower levels of social support
-May thus feel higher levels of stress
Changing Roles: Work and Marital Happiness
A study of working mothers found little connection between the fact that mothers worked and their marital satisfaction
-However, if either partner is dissatisďŹed with the marriage, the couple is more likely to separate if the wife is
employed
Marriages tend to be happier when fathers are more involved with their children
-Only exception is husbands in dual-earner families with traditional ideas about gender roles
When individuals worked nights or rotating shifts, marriages were at greater risk for separation
-Especially tricky when spouses are âoff-scheduleâ from one another
Another study found that womenâs perception that they carried unfair household responsibility in addition to their jobs
was connected with marital dissatisfaction
Work and Family Conflict
DeďŹned as a form of conďŹict in which work and family demands are mutually incompatible, so that meeting demands
in one domain makes it difďŹcult to meet demand in another
Work-family conďŹicts have progressively worsened
-Technology has made it easier to take work home with you (ex. Emails)
Individuals must now ďŹll more roles than expected of them in the past, since a clear-cut separation of menâs and
womenâs domains in family life no longer exists
Many have problems balancing demand of work and family
Role spillover: a situation where family and work roles or time demands interfere with each other
-Focus on the situations
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