Chapter 12 Marriage, Work, and Economics

Chapter Outline Workplace and Family Linkages The Familial Division of Labor: Women in the Labor Force Dual-earner Marriages Why It Matters: Consequences of the Division of Household Labor

Chapter Outline Atypical Dual-earners: Shift Couples and Peer Marriages At-Home Fathers and Breadwinning Mothers Family Issues in the Workplace Living Without Work: Unemployment and Families Welfare Reform and Poor Families Workplace and Family Policy

True or False? In contrast to single-worker couples, dual- career couples tend to divide household work almost evenly.

False No matter what kind of work the woman does outside the home or how nontraditional she and her husband may consider themselves to be, there is seldom equality when it comes to housework.

True or False? Family economic well-being is a national priority.

False If families were truly the national priority, we would enact policy initiatives that allowed for paid parental leave for pregnancy and sick children, flexible work schedules for parents, increased minimum wage, on-site child care and other family friendly programs.

Families and Work Families may be examined as economic units bound by emotional ties. Families are involved in two types of work: –paid work at the workplace –family work- unpaid work in the household

Employment and Family Life Work spillover is the effect employment has on the time, energy, and psychological functioning of workers and their families. Role strain refers to difficulties individuals have in carrying out multiple responsibilities attached to a role. Role overload occurs when the activities for one or more roles are greater than an individual can handle.

Work-to-Family Spillover

Family Work Researchers Linda Thompson and Alexis Walker (1991) observe, “Family work is unseen and unacknowledged because it is private, unpaid, commonplace, done by women, and mingled with love and leisure.”

The Homemaker Role Four aspects: –Exclusive allocation to women, rather than to adults of both sexes. –Association with economic dependence. –Status as nonwork, which is distinct from economically productive paid employment. –Primacy to women—that is, having priority over other women’s roles.

Why Women Enter the Labor Force Financial factors –For unmarried women and single mothers, employment may be their only source of income. Social norms –How accepting is the social environment for married women and mothers?

Why Women Enter the Labor Force Self-fulfillment –Does a job meet needs for autonomy, personal growth, and recognition? Attitudes about employment and family –Does the woman believe she can meet the demands of her family responsibilities and her job?

Dual Earner Families Today, more than 60% of families with children under 18 are two-earner families. In 2001, the median income among families who depended on the wages of a male breadwinner was $50,926. Families in which both husbands and wives were employed had median incomes of $73,407.

Factors that Influence Men's Involvement in Housework Gender role attitudes –Men with traditional gender role attitudes take on a smaller share of housework than men who have egalitarian views. Men’s socialization experience and modeling of parents. –Early parental division of labor acts as a strong predictor of men’s involvement in housework.

Factors that Influence Men's Involvement in Housework Men’s status in the workplace. –Men who have their masculinity challenged at work reduce involvement in housework as a way to avoid feminine behavior. Men’s age and generation. –Older men do less housework than younger men.

Emotion Work Tasks that generate and maintain successful and satisfying marital relationships including: –Confiding innermost feelings –Trying to bring our partner out of a bad mood –Praising our partner –Suggesting solutions to relationship problems

Emotion Work –Raising relationship problems for consideration and discussion –Taking initiative to begin the process of “talking things over” –Monitoring the relationship and sensing when our partner is disturbed about something

Findings From a Study of Two Parent Families Mothers spend 3 to 5 hours of active involvement for every hour fathers spend. Mothers’ involvement is oriented toward practical daily activities, such as feeding, bathing, and dressing. Fathers’ time is generally spent in play.

Findings From a Study of Two Parent Families Mothers are almost entirely responsible for child care: planning, organizing, scheduling, supervising, and delegating. Women are the primary caretakers; men are the secondary.

Shift Couples In 2001, nearly 15 million Americans worked hours other than the typical daytime shifts. Result of three macrolevel changes: –Increase in the service sector, which has a high prevalence of nonstandard schedules. –Delayed age at marriage and increases in dual- earner couples increased demand for entertainment at night and over weekends. –Computers, overnight mailing, and technology have made round-the-clock offices the norm.

Family-Life Satisfaction of Workers Shift % “Extremely” or “Very” Satisfied with Family Life Day71 Evening56 Night54 Rotating63 Split67 Flexible74

Contemporary Arrangements 1. Shift households - where spouses work opposite shifts and alternate domestic and caregiver responsibilities. 2. Households in which men stay home with children while women support the family financially.

Three Basic Work/family Life Cycle Models 1. Traditional- simultaneous work/family life cycle 2. Sequential work/family role staging 3. Symmetrical work/family role allocation

Traditional-simultaneous Work/family Life Cycle Model Stages 1. Establishment/novitiate 2. New parents/early career 3. School-age family/middle career 4. Post parental family/ late career 5. Aging family/post exit

Role of Grandparents About 10% of children are regularly cared for by grandparents.

Economic Distress Aspects of a family’s economic life that may cause stress: unemployment, poverty, and economic strain. Unemployment causes family roles to change. Unemployment most often affects female- headed single-parent families, African- American and Latino families, and young families.

Coping Resources: Families in Economic Distress Individual family members’ positive psychological characteristics Adaptive family system Flexible family roles

Recipients of AFDC and TANF 1975–2002 Total recipients (thousands) % of U.S. pop. Families receiving assistance , , , , , , , ,974

Recipients of AFDC and TANF 1975–2002 Total recipients (thousands) % of U.S. pop. Families receiving assistance , , (TANF) 5, , ,066NA2,047

Poverty Almost 14% of the population of the United States lives in poverty. Poverty generally occurs due to: –Divorce –Birth of a child to an unmarried mother –Unemployment –Illness, disability, or death of the head of the household