Chapter 14 Families and the Work They Do The Changing of Dynamics of the Workplace Early America o Most families worked closely with their land their lives revolved around the seasonal work necessary for farming and ranching The labor of the entire family was needed and was considered extremely valuable to the success of the family o o Men did more physical agricultural work while women and children did the cooking cleaning weaving and tending of small animals Although the sex may have been a central construct in the division of labor the line between men and women s work often shifted In the 19th century the US economy shifted from agricultural to industrial and that created a huge movement from farm life to city life which changed the roles in the family significantly women were consumers now rather than producers of goods and services children and women were hired to work in factories During WWII women took over men s jobs while they were away at war and entered paid employment as part of a patriotic duty business and government even paid for childcare so that mothers could work more easily Women s Labor Force Participation For most of the 20th century most married women didn t work outside of the home today it is common for women to work outside of the home o mothers of older children are more likely to work outside of the home regardless of ethnicity social class or marital status Life in a Recession Unemployment and Families Unstable wages and working conditions The recession that began in the later 2000s has caused financial hardship for many working class and middle class families in the US The unemployment rate averaged 7 at the end of 2013 and is showing a steady decline since the height of the recession in 2009 highest among Blacks and Asian Americans Unemployed people are more likely to feel stress sadness and worrisome Higher unemployment tends to affect marriage rates negatively which leads to fewer children being born Some families only earn minimum wage or slightly above it many states have adopted higher minimum wage laws because the national rate is so low Living wage wages that are above federal or state minimum wage levels usually ranging from 100 to 300 of the poverty line Nonstandard work schedules job schedules that are part time sub contracted temporary in nature occur at night or offer irregular work schedules represent that fastest growing category of US workers popular among mothers who only want to work sporadically or professions who value their freedom and independence on the job can cause havoc on childcare arrangements though due to irregularity Disposable workforce turnover rates among workers in many low tier jobs are high because they are the expendable workforce that consists of workers in the service industry in clerical fields and on assembly lines performing routine tasks Because most of these jobs are unskilled the people in these positions are interchangeable Family Work at Home Division of household labor Household labor the unpaid work done to maintain family members and or a home The five most time consuming tasks are 1 meal preparation or cooking 2 housecleaning 3 shopping for groceries and household goods 4 washing dishes and cleaning up after meals and 5 laundry o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Routine household labor nondiscretionary routine tasks that can t be postponed such as cooking washing dishes or cleaning Occasional labor household tasks that are more time flexible and discretionary such as household repairs yard care or paying bills o Women are more likely to participate in routine household labor and men are more likely to participate in Who does what housework occasional labor Who does what Childcare Renegotiating family work Regardless of the employment status of parents mothers spend more time with their children Boys get more time with their fathers and daughters get more time with their mothers on average The amount of time both fathers and mothers are spending with their children has grown considerable since 1965 but the father s time has increased threefold o Mothers experience more stress and burnout than do their husbands in the work family balancing act this can lead to depression and marital instability Children s labor in the home o On average girls do more housework than boys and boys tend to do more yard work studies show that boys who did more housework as a child tended to carry the same behavior through adulthood Lower income families have children doing more housework than upper income families o o Mini moms older daughters who go to considerable extent to providing for their families including younger childcare and preparing dinner laundry etc Explanations for the gendered division of labor Time availability perspective Suggests that the division of labor is largely determined by 1 the need for household labor such as the number of children in the home and 2 each partner s availability to perform household tasks such as the number of hours spent in paid work Relative resources perspective The greater the relative amount or value of resources contributed by a partner the greater is his or her power within the relationship which can be translated into bargaining to avoid tasks such as housework that offer no pay and minimal social prestige Gender perspective doing gender Suggests that housework is so ingrained as women s work and that it functions as an area in which gender is symbolically created and reproduced Wives do the majority of housework because it is expected of them as women and because they have heard those messages since childhood men do less housework because it isn t part of their gender identity the household tasks given as children reflects what one does as an adult Juggling Work and Family Life Conflict overload and spillover o Work family conflict a form of tension under which people feel that the pressures from paid work and family roles are incompatible in some way Can be represented by participation in family roles make it difficult to suffice going to paid work or paid work makes participating in family roles more difficult People feel greater work family conflict when 1 the demands of paid work and family responsibilities are higher 2 the resources that help them manage those demands are fewer or 3 the perceptions of demands they believe they must fulfill are higher Role overload the feeling overwhelmed by many different commitments and not having enough time to meet each commitment
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