Work and the Family I

1
Work and the Family I

• Historical and Cross Cultural Perspectives

2
The Revolution in America

• Birth rate decreased dramatically
• Women in paid employment
• Turmoil in marriages
• Feminist ideology as well as economic need as a
  motivator
• The double burden of women-harassment and
  domestic work

3
Employment Experience of Canadian Women

• Throughout early history- work outside of home
  until marriage. Keep house and tend to children
  afterwards.
• Women not paid for their work and contribution.
• Work and family support as the husbands
  responsibility.
• Fathers earn most, if not, all of the income.

4
Work and Canadian Women cont

• Industrialization and increase of women working
• Paid work was mens work
• Middle and upper classes- no need for women to
  work
• Femininity domesticity
• The home as a haven

5
The First World War

• Brought women into the working world with factory
  jobs and office jobs.
• Sent back to the kitchen as to not take away jobs
  from returning soldiers.
• The Great Depression- surge of women in
  workforce.
• Sexist discrimination and unfair wages for women.

6
Second World War

• Women back into the working world-but left after
  the war was over.
• No loss of their experience- slow to enter the
  workforce in the 1950s.
• Dramatic increase since then Between 1961 and
  1996 double the participation rate for women.

7
Increase in Employment Rate

• Increase of employment of mothers with preschool
  children.
• Increase in married women as well as women with
  children in the labour force.
• Liberalization of women because of divorce laws
  in 1968- surge of women
• Equal in genders seeking employment

8
Reasons for Increase in Female Labour Force
Participation

• Krahn and Lower identify reasons for increase
• 1. More women have time to work outside the home
• 2. Delay in childbirth and marriage- dominate in
  post-secondary institutions.
• 3. The need for income and employment
• 4. Increase in of job opportunities

9
Reasons cont

• 5. Dissatisfaction with traditional gender roles.
  
• Mixed public reactions to female labour force
  participation
• Changed to a gradual acceptance by the 1970s
  where 2 incomes were needed.

10
Striving for Equality

• Housework seen as invisible
• Canadian society valuemoney
• The Canadian legal system and loss of housework-
  the economic value of domesticity
• The legal cases and the rewards
• Canadian justice system

11
Gender Based Inequality

• Do women receive the same treatment as men at the
  same job?
• Do they have equal access to these jobs?
• Are they paid the same?
• Occupational Gender Segregation- the tendency to
  hire men and women for different jobs.
• OGS is still important in Canadian Economy

12
Occupational Gender Segregation cont

• The pink ghetto jobs clothing, textiles, and
  food service industries.
• The inherent consequences
• OGS a contributing factor in the feminization of
  poverty.
• OGS within occupations-women and men hired for
  certain positions.

13
Pay Inequality and Sexual Harassment

• The pay differential has declined
• Reasons for childbearing, childrearing and
  homemaking responsibilities.
• Typical scenario for harassment man harassing a
  woman
• No recognition of harassment within the
  workplace.

14
Effects of Wife Employment

• Who does the domestic work?
• The imbalance between spouses and the domestic
  work.
• The double shift
• No change in gender stereotyping

15
Domestic Division of Labour

• The three broad influences on domestic division
  of labour
• 1. Traditional beliefs about gender
  roles-childhood socialization and expectations in
  social organizations.
• Husbands are categorized into three groups
  second providers, ambivalent co-providers and
  co-providers.

16
Gender Roles Cont

• Co-provider husbands do the most domestic work
  out of the three----surprise????
• How will married men participate in housework?
• 1. When men agree to share the housework equally
  if both are working.
• 2. When men are living with women who accept this
  belief.

17
Influences on Division of Labour

• 2. Stage of the Family Life Cycle
• Women spend it during their childbearing and
  childrearing days, men at the beginning and end
  of their careers.
• Increased demands of parenthood.
• Although there have been changes in favour of
  equitable division of labour, traditional values
  still persist.

18
Influences Cont

• 3. Social Class
• Social class differences point to some
  differences with the exception of professional
  couples.

19
Womens Employment, Parenting and Health

• Canadian society and other Western societies not
  child friendly.
• Childcare as a backburner public policy
  issue-less support for mothers of young children
  who work.
• Harmful to children?

20
Parenting and Health Cont

• Work situations affect the morale, self-esteem
  and self-confidence as well as their
  psychological well-being-adversely affects
  parenting practices.
• Negative work experience affects tolerance for
  childs behaviour.
• Selective awareness leads to more control and
  punishment
• Employment benefiting parental relationships

21
Stress and Health Issues

• Inconsistency in the findings of womens health
  and well-being and employment.
• Stress experienced due to 2 sources
• Working full time and domestic work (the double
  shift)
• The expectations of society
• The superwoman phenomenon
• Employed wives-less suicide and depression.

22
Marital Relationships

• Wifes employment affects relationship for many
  reasons
• The increase in power because of her paycheque.
• The greater the resources the greater the power
• Instrumental roles-those roles concerned with
  family support
• Expressive roles- family relationships

23
Marital Relationships Cont

• The better the husbands support, the better the
  job of the wifes instrumental role-more
  expressive as a result.
• Full-time workers instrumental and expressive
  aspects become identical
• Breadwinner model imbalance and coolness.

24
The Income Factor

• Power is reflected in the wifes ability to
  induce fair domestic responsibilities and her
  influence on geographical moves for the family.
• The more economic contribution made by the wife,
  the more contribution made to domesticity by the
  husband.
• Marital quality depending on factors.

25
Expectations About the Division of Labour

• Marital satisfaction higher when the wife is
  employed.
• Co-provider husbands, ambivalent husbands and
  their reports of marital satisfaction.
• The curvilinear relationship for satisfaction for
  wives

26
Marital Satisfaction and Quality Cont..

• Satisfaction of division of labour was most
  important in explaining marital satisfaction than
  anything else.
• Two profiles of negative feelings in a marriage
  egalitarian sex-role attitudes and husbands who
  have traditional attitudes but are heavily
  involved in domestic work.
• Working full time and equal domesticityhappy
  marriage and no stress.

27
Perceptions of Fairness

• Women content with the unfair sharing
  arrangement.
• Family work more about getting it done.
• Communication the most important factor in wifes
  sense of fairness.
• Research on role attitudes, employment status and
  marital quality.

28
Employment Situations

• Tension related to the fit between marital role
  attitudes and employment situations in a
  marriage.
• The benefits outweigh the costs.
• Satisfaction and dissatisfaction dependent upon
  time management and roles.

29
Career Paths and Gender Differences

• Married men earn higher salaries than single men
• Gender distribution and industries men vs.
  women.
• Men prosper in high paying, good benefit jobs
  while women succeed at service industry.

30
Work and Family Balance

• Work and family and the reciprocal relationship
  between the two.
• Domains of work and family are complex.
• Job satisfaction and familial interactions-negativ
  e and positive.
• Dual-career wives are more stress and wives tend
  more to family matters.

31
Coping with Stress

• Seven strategies used to cope with stress
• 1. Cognitive Restructuring
• 2. Delegating
• 3. Limiting Activities
• 4. Subordination of my Career
• 5. Compartmentalizing
• 6. Avoiding Responsibility
• 7. Using Social Support