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Chapter 8

Chapter 8. Balancing Work and Family. __________________________. Attitudes Toward Women’s Family and Employment Roles. Role of ethnicity Role of motherhood Personal aspirations Attitudes about combining motherhood and employment

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Chapter 8

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  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 __________________________

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