Work Roles and Life Roles

Question 1

For women

Answer 1

The assumption that: Women place greater priority on their family demands rather than work

Perceived as less committed and less productive in the work domain

Question 2

For men

Answer 2

Place greater priority on their work roles, and family comes second

Certain jobs men are supposed to do

Family role (at home – in terms of who does what in house hold labor)

Question 3

housework for men

Answer 3

Men do less in childcare than housework

10 hour difference from women

Question 4

Second shift

Answer 4

referring to how women working full time are coming home to another job on top of their paid job

women have fewer hours of sleep than men

Question 5

Second shift for men

Answer 5

11 hours

Question 6

time bind

Answer 6

men and women feel like they are in a time bind - not enough time to do activities

cut back on sleep
less leisure time

Question 7

Asymmetrical permeable boundaries

Answer 7

How work may have less permeable boundaries than families

Don’t allow family to interfere with work
If these were symmetrically permeable – means that we interfere with one another at the same amount

Family domain is more permeable
Gender difference to the extent that these places are more permeable

Men who place priority on work are not going to let family interfere with their work life, rather than their work like interferes with their family (taking work home, missing events)

Question 8

Different directions for men and women in terms of priority

Answer 8

Lawyers
-Half experience work to family conflict – that their work is interfering with their family life

• Similar results for family interfering work
• For both sexes, there are more likely for work to interfere with family – suggests a difference in the permeability between the two domains

What’s missing in terms of a woman? Not represented
-Part-time women (because they have kids),

-women at home (left law because they have kids) – experience family to work conflict the most

Question 9

Work-family conflict reported by

Answer 9

50% of women

47% of men working full time

Question 10

Family -work conflict reported by

Answer 10

23% women and 20% of men working full time

Question 11

Work and family roles may be conceptualized

Answer 11

as independent vs interdependent

Question 12

independent for

Answer 12

women

Question 13

interdependent for

Answer 13

men

Interdependent when fulfilling one role (worker) simultaneously fulfilling their family roles of being a good provider

Question 14

interdependent

Answer 14

simultaneously performing a role in the work domain

For women –work and family roles have conflict with one another
Independent – guilt, depression
Competition between work and family roles not being able to satisfy simultaneously

Question 15

Relationship has different consequences for men and women

Answer 15

Working moms expressed they felt inadequate as mothers

90% of men felt they were a good dad and father by holding down their job

women felt guilt in terms of their mother role
Ranking for women - Kids, work, spouse

Husbands were aware of the ranking, led to some family tension

Men reported feeling anxious and less successful if the wife had to work because his job wasn’t enough to cover the finances in the home = tension for men

Question 16

Key determinants of WFC (work to family conflict): the more work demands you have the more your work conflicts with your family

Answer 16

• Workload
• Time spent at work
• Travel for your job

Question 17

Key determinants of WFC (work to family conflict): Less supportive organizational culture of workplace

Answer 17

Strongest predictor of work family interference for both men and women

Does the culture of your work support having a balance between work and family

Question 18

Outcomes of work-family conflict

Answer 18

Individual well being outcomes
career outcomes
family outcomes

Greater family care demands

Time in housework not significant

Less supportive organizational culture of workplace

Question 19

Outcomes of work-family conflict: individual well-being outcomes

Answer 19

Guilt, stress/burnout, poorer mental and physical health

Question 20

Outcomes of work-family conflict: career outcomes

Answer 20

more negative for women

Question 21

Outcomes of work-family conflict: family outcomes

Answer 21

Time spent in housework , with one’s spouse or in leisure

May cut down in house work, and time with spouse

They do not cut down time with their kids

Question 22

How important is a supportive work-family culture

Answer 22

shared assumptions, beliefs and values regarding the extent to which an organization supports and values the integration of employees’ work and family lives’

Question 23

How important is a supportive work-family culture: three components

Answer 23

organizational time demands

percieved negative career consequences

managerial support

Question 24

Organizational time demands

Answer 24

expecting long hours

expects that you’re
on call, available 24/7 to do you work

Question 25

Career consequences

Answer 25

if you don’t meet time expectations

people being seen as work as “face-time” - people will assume you are highly committed to your work

Question 26

Managerial support

Answer 26

encouraging or discouraging

Question 27

What are family benefits

Answer 27

any benefit, working condition, or personnel policy that has been shown to reduce job-family conflicts for employed parents

they may refer to the
work schedule
child care benefits
leave benefits

Question 28

The work schedule

Answer 28

• Employers allow their employees to have a part time position
• Part time is not always available
• Flex time: usually have ranges to when you can come In and when you can leave

Question 29

Child-care benefits

Answer 29

Provide subsidies for child care costs
Offer child care benefits in terms of child care close to the job site, or on the jobsite

Very few employers have onsite childcare

Costly to employers

Extremely costly to employees – $1000-$1500 per month per child

As they get older the price goes down

Question 30

Leave benefits

Answer 30

Parental leaves – most traditional that companies offer

More recent, before it used to be maternal leaves

Question 31

Are family benefits fair?

some employees may resent work-family policies because

Answer 31

they are perceived to be unfair because

WF benefits are not available to all workers

Non-users have to do extra work to make up for those using benefits without extra compensation

• Only available to women before
• Now its more gender neutral

Question 32

Family-friendly jobs and productivity

Answer 32

Amongst lawyers

found family-friendly benefits unrelated to women’s productivity within the workplace and reduced men’s productivity

Question 33

How do men and women benefit by having more flexible, less demanding jobs?

Answer 33

For mothers, they spend more time with their kids

For fathers, they spend more time in leisure

Unrelated to women’s productivity - if you have those you will be less productive
Reduced men’s productivity

Being in a family friendly firm, is related to how much time you do housework, and time with kids, time with leisure

With more time – women spend more time with kids

With more time – men spend more time in leisure

Question 34

Male tasks

Answer 34

maintain cars,
yard work
bills, and banking

-aren’t done every day, often can be put off
amongst the lawyers - these are still sex-segregated

Question 35

Female tasks

Answer 35

meal prep
cleans after meals 
shops for home
house cleaning 
laundry

Question 36

Female-dominated tasks even for professionals

Answer 36

1/3 reported primarily responsible for housework

Question 37

Are women and men aware of how much work they are doing in relation to their spouse

Answer 37

yes

Question 38

What fraction of married couples feel that it is fair even though their partners is doing twice as much and they’re both working full-time hours

Answer 38

2/3

Question 39

What does it mean to be equal

Answer 39

both working the same amount of hours and doing the same amount of housework

Question 40

how can unequal be fair?

Answer 40

if you add up housework and paid work for one spouse and it equals the same amount of paid work for the other spouse

Question 41

Division of labor: Rational: Relative resources

Answer 41

most couples say they don’t speak on it because it causes tension

relative resources:

• SES
• Education level, and prestige
• see if they can use these factors to negotiate housework

Question 42

What’s wrong with relative resources? (Income)

Answer 42

Women usually get paid less

appears to be rational and gender neutral but when we step back and see who is bringing back the most money it is usually men

Question 43

Gender ideology

Answer 43

women are still doing twice as much even though they work the same hours in paid work

the extent to which men and women hold traditional attitudes towards what it means to be men and women (masculine vs feminine)

Gender is more relevant than time and resources

Are they more traditional sex role attitudes or more egalitarian sex role attitudes

Question 44

Egalitarian sex role attitudes

Answer 44

What’s key: the men’s sex role attitudes
Why?
Because they are commonly doing less housework

• If they have more of the egalitarian idea they make the effort to do housework
• The women aren’t cutting back
• The men need to do more in order to have egalitarian attitudes

Question 45

Social construction of gender

Answer 45

”doing gender”

Take the concept of doing gender and apply it to doing housework

Men and women are creating and recreating male and female sex roles in terms of what they do in their homes (who does what, and how much)

Women tend to feel like they’re judged based on how clean the house is, or how well dressed their kids are when going to school

Women’s standards are higher than men – deters men from doing it

Question 46

Why is it perceived to be fair

Answer 46

less income
more time available
incorporating gender ideologies (belief in their job)
It is what women do

Gender seems to be the overriding factor