The Company 's Family Friendly Policies

In today’s economy, it is a hard fact that many women will have to enter the workforce. In her article for The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t have it All”, Anne-Marie Slaughter examines the difficulties faced by women who either have children or would someday like to do so. Having given up on the task of holding a high powered government position while being the mother of a teenager, her kairotic moment, the author discusses the changes that would be necessary in order for women to find a real work-life balance. Although Slaughter 's target audience is primarily women who seek high powered positions, the article contains ample information that should appeal to both men who seek to balance the needs of a growing family with their work responsibilities, as well as workplace policy makers who could help usher in the necessary changes. Her goal in sharing her experiences is to argue that women can succeed at the very top level of their organizations, “But not today, not with the way America’s economy and society are currently structured” (Slaughter).

These figures demonstrate significant trends in the changing profile of today’s labour pool. Not only are companies forced to recruit and hire from an increasingly diverse workforce, but companies intent on succeeding also will have to retain, motivate and engage the most talented women. Flexible work arrangements are options for helping working mothers integrate work and family responsibilities, so that women can function better both at home and in the workplace.

In, “Halving the Double Day” by Dorothy Sue Cobble, she realizes that women get the bitter end of having a poor socio-economic status. Women are more burdened than men with balancing activities. Cobble states, “But none feel the pressure more than those juggling full-time employment with what can seem like a second shift at home” (Cobble, 1). Cobble believes that women, especially in lower income households face more stress and have less time to do things they want in life because they are burdened with finding and working in jobs as well as balancing house hold duties. Unlike men, who’s primary role in the household is to go out and work, women now who are in lower income families have to take on both roles assisting in income and doing house work. Furthermore, Cobble emphasizes that only those who are rich can benefit from the vast benefits that outsiders see in living in America. Cobble states, “Similarly the highly touted family-friendly workplace-the coveted market nook with flexible work schedules, job sharing, child care assistance, and comprehensive health and welfare coverage-is not yet a reality for the majority of salaried workers, let alone hourly workers”

Stephanie Coontz started off her article about the 50th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan’s international best seller, “The Feminine Mystique”, which was written about the women’s movement of the 1960s. What Coontz is trying to explain is that gender equality is not stalled, but “It has hit a wall”. Her title is the opposite of what she is trying to write about in the article. At first she talked about women’s rights back when the book was written. Instead of blaming the beliefs of gender roles from individuals, she points the finger at the economy and the work-family policies as the major problems to gender equality. She explains the gender equality stalled during 1990s and the first few years of the 2000s. She brought into text the usual statics, “the percentage of Americans preferring the male breadwinner/female homemaker family model actually rose to 40 percent from 34 percent. Between 1997 and 2007, the number of full-time working mothers who said they would prefer to work part time increased to 60 percent from 48 percent. In 1997, a quarter of stay-at-home mothers said full-time work would be ideal. By 2007, only 16 percent of stay-at-home mothers wanted to work full time.”(Coontz) She also talked about how 70 percent of men and women want an egalitarian relationship and how the demand of work has intensified.

In Judith Stadtman Tuckers “The Least Worst Choice: Why Mothers Opt out of the Work Place” Judith Stadtman Tucker looks at why hard working, intelligent woman are choosing to leave their high end jobs to stay at home with their children. Judith Stadtman Tucker expresses her option that it is nearly impossible to work 40 hours a week, be available on your off hours as well as raise children. I fully agree with Judith Stadtman Tucker’s point of view that it is absurd to have to be at the mercy of your employer even in your off hours, nor less if you are attempting to create an emotional connection and successfully raise a child. It is no question that even in today’s modern society that it is assumed that woman are the best caregivers for young children. If you are put in a position where you have a child to raise, is it more appropriate to abandon your career or to emotionally abandon your child to a stranger or strangers and allow them to raise it? Judith Stadtman Tuckers argument against mothers having to choose between the joys of parenthood and the freedom of being able to work a career really speaks to me because it makes me consider what I want for my own future and what I would choose.

In her interviews with woman she was sure to interview very well educated women and those that strived for mere perfection. One thing is that the men in the lives of these women were not supportive and not mentioned of much. The men and society of today have placed a lot of responsibility on a woman’s shoulders when it comes to the child. It is the woman who makes the decision or is given the task to make the heavy decisions regarding the child’s future. Because of this many women choose to stay at home to be sure that the children will receive everything that they deserve and that they are not lacking in any area. Another issue that she reviews is that employers do not work with moms at all. For example she talked about the scenario where two moms brought a solution to their problem to management yet it failed to receive approval instead one mother was offered more money (Guest, 2011). Employers are not very flexible when it comes to mothers and don’t provide the proper care that is needed for a child. Since men are the ones that don’t carry the responsibility of the child’s well-being having proper day care is not a factor for them. Then there is the cost of day care which is high and can at times not compare to what the individual is making.

History has proven that even in the early rural communities, along with the traditional role, women would do work outside with men on farms. At the end of the 19th century, in Canada, when factories started replacing the family as the main productive unit, women comprised of thirteen percent of the labor force (“Women in”). During WWI women replaced many men who had to join the army. After the WWII, during the great depression, women were hired to do men’s jobs (“Women in”). Even today women continue to contribute economically through their domestic and professional work. In fact, it has been found that a homemaker’s work alone is worth approximately 100,000 dollars in the job market (Moran). Their area of expertise varies from being a teacher, finance manager, cleaner, gardener, chef, driver, to personal child care provider (Moran). Women have proven their capability and shown their multi skills, but they are still the victim of gender wage

With the rise of the modern age economic survival has become difficult for families based on a single income. This economic need along with modern attitudes toward gender equality has resulted in women being represented in the workforce in greater numbers. However, until the 1960’s women faced severe discrimination when trying to enter and maintain a position in the workforce. Often qualified women would be passed over for men with less experience and education. Employers were fearful that women were too emotional and were not equipped to handle the stress of the work environment. Also driving the decision to not hire or promote women was the concern over the additional health care expenses and leave time pregnant

Do women belong in the workplace? Should employers treat them differently because of their responsibilities in the home? The article “Female Company President: ‘I’m Sorry to all the Mothers I Worked With’” by Kathrine Zaleski, president and co-founder of PowerToFly, argues that women can be both successful mothers and employees if employers take the initiative to accommodate them. She believes that women have the ability and skills to become both valuable employees and involved mothers, but employers need to make adjustments in several common work practices in order to build women up to their full potential.

The Price of Motherhood by Ann Crittenden describes what mother’s give up in order to raise their children. It looks at things such as the mommy tax, why mothers are underappreciated, and what changes can be made to counteract that. This paper gives an overview of what mothers give up, why they are forced to give up what they do, an opinion change of motherhood balanced with a career, and a proposal that is believed to benefit mothers the most.

For most women and men they want to a have a child, but for men they can get away with not being with the baby at all time because they lack things that the babies needs. While women have to take the time off to be with they child. Every time that a women has a baby her salary goes down 4 percent. The only way to closes this requires changes that allow workers to mesh their jobs better with their family duties. “This might mean flexible schedules and more parental leave to accommodate working mothers. It could include nudging men to participate more in bringing up children, using tools like “use it or lose it” paid parental leave”. Women are not going after jobs because there are so many barriers that make it basically impossible. However a factor can also be the choice of job According to a study done by the American Association of University Women, “women only account for 18% of engineering majors; whereas they account for 79% of education majors”. Also many women want to stay away from dangerous jobs, that can lead to higher pay. These choices impact the overall statistics regarding pay

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the working poor rate of families maintained by women was 28.6% in contrast to the 17.2% rate in families maintained by men. This sad statistic could be partially be explained by a ( WHO? write it out)BLS report that revealed that ” In 2013, about 5 percent of women who were paid hourly rates had wages at or below the federal minimum, compared with about 3 percent of men.”.

In the past 30 years, one of the most dynamic social changes in the history of the United States has taken place in the area of employment, specifically of women with children. Although, to some degree there have always been employed mothers, today a greater proportion of mothers are employed than ever before. Statistics show that in 1976, 48% of the population of women categorized as “married women with children” were employed and it increased to 62% in 1986 just 10 years later. What are the causes for this and how does it affect the children?

Conventionally, females played a very insignificant role in the paid work force of a society as many times they were expected to be home taking care of their family. Their roles at home can often include grocery shopping, meeting all the needs of her children and husband. As time moved on, our society became more accepted of sharing housework between the couples, but even so, the traditionally more feminine housework such as cooking, caring for sick children, and shopping for the entire family are mostly done by the females of the house. It is argued in a research journal Work and Occupations (Witkowski & Leicht, 1995) that in an average North American family, females take on roughly three-quarters of the housework. Even though we are in a democratic society, parenting roles in the household are assigned based on gender rather than in a democratic fashion (Winslow-Bowe, 2009). Because of the many responsibilities and obligations that are associated with the female gender, their career paths are eventually affected for the worse. According to Statistics Canada (2001), for every dollar a man earns, a single woman earns 93 cents and a married woman earns 69 cents. These statistics

The changes occurring in the workplace present several sub-trends. One of the most significant is that women are returning to it in large numbers. I use the term returning rather than entering because women comprised a major factor in the workforce during World War II, but was forced out by men returning from the war. Jamieson and O'Mara (1991) project that approximately 50% of the workforce will be comprised of women by the year 2000. Wives came to the rescue of the family in the 1970s and 1980s. Even though male earnings dropped substantially for all but the top 20% of male workers, real household incomes fell only marginally for the bottom 60%, and increased for the top 40%. One third of this increase was a result of a rise in female real annual earnings; however, two-thirds was due to women working more hours per year. Unfortunately, most income earners in the family are now working as many hours as they can. The reentrance of women into the workforce occurred during the transition from the industrial to the information age.