The Link Between Work Life Balance And Income Equality

Equality between men and women has grown stronger, but in many ways, it is the same. We still live in a society where women are paid significantly less than men, women have less job opportunities,

Since women’s acceptance in the labour market the typical Australian family being ‘male breadwinner’ have been replaced by ‘dual income’ families where one partner works full-time while the other works part-time (Chesters 2011). As a result, there was an adjustment in the division of domestic labour where it became more equal as couples divide their time between paid and unpaid work (Chesters 2013). According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2009) gender roles in housework became more flexible whilst women participate in paid employment. Men would spend more time doing ‘core female’ domestic activities such as cooking and laundry and less time on outdoor activities such as home maintenance and lawn mowing (ABS 2009). In addition, men take on a greater role with regard to childcare where they spend more of their care time on play activities, these activities are normally done the same time as other activities (ABS 2009). However, some research has found that the ‘more dependent husbands are on their wives for income the less housework’ they would do in order to protect their masculinity (Baxter, Hewitt & Western 2009). Although there is hardly any difference in time spend on household work between full-time and part-time employed men it is is evident unemployed men spend only between 4 and 5 hours more doing housework as

Women for years have been automatically given the role of the domestic housewife, where their only job is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Men have usually taken the primary responsibility for economic support and contact with the rest of society, while women have traditionally taken the role of providing love, nurturing, emotional support, and maintenance of the home. However, in today’s society women over the age of sixteen work outside of the home, and there are more single parent households that are headed by women than at any other time in the history of the United States (Thompson 301.)

Women’s role within the household has changed considerably over a period of time. In the later days in the United States women were to attend to the children and to the house and not do much more than that. Children are now being raised by stay at home dads instead of the stereotypical stay at home moms. According to Gardner, "Real-life families have changed considerably since 'Mr. Mom ' appeared, with more men sharing child-rearing and household chores." (Gardner 2010) This is occurring because women’s jobs are no longer labeled as being just for women. Men have gotten a lot of criticism for being stay at

One of the first claims she disputes is the fact that countless men say that women deserve all the care in the world. In her speech the speaker says,” That man

In his essay he claims that , “Lately, the raging debate about issues of “work-life balance” has focused on whether or not women can “have it all.” completely lost in this situation is the growing strain of work-life balance on men, who today are experiencing the demands of work and home same or more than women” (697). By saying this , Dorment explains that men are forced to do more things than women these days and that we should equally pay attention to both man and women. Men are required to work outside of home and help with chores and take care of kids at home. He points out that men are working more than ever before in the history and tells facts on how much more dominant women are in earning degrees and wealth.

Foremost, the familial image has undertaken significant changes in regards to the ‘breadwinner’ and ‘homemaker’ roles within the family. In the latter of the 20th century, women’s participation in the labour force had been very little to non-existent, primarily because time allocations had been perceived as gender specific, that is, men were seen as the ‘breadwinner’, while women were viewed as the ‘homemaker’ (Seltzer, Bachrach, Bianchi, Bledsoe, Casper, Chase-Lansdale, Diprete, Hotz, Morgan, Sanders, & Thomas, 2005, pp.20). The ‘breadwinner’ role was to secure financial stability, while the

In the fall of 2009, Alison Jaggar wrote a paper detailing the struggles that females face in society titled “Transitional Cycles of Gendered Vulnerability; A Prologue to a Theory of Gendered Global Justice.” After reading and analyzing her work, I would like to counter-argue against her denial that the effects that typical family roles play in society, specifically in regards to the upper and middle class; that men should be the breadwinners and women should be the caregivers. We live in a world where all different types of people face injustice and receive less opportunity in the workforce because of the way that society is set up. Since before we even immigrated to the New World, men have been the workers, whereas women have been domesticated. Today, if a wife were to be divorced from her spouse, she would not have as much working experience as her husband, because she had played the domestic role at home; taking care of children, cleaning, keeping bills on track, etc. It’s due to this that women rarely get a taste of what it’s like to work in some of the higher paying jobs. Furthermore, in a typical family role, men go on to make the money of the house, the children are educated and told to pursue their careers. However, when discussing children’s family roles, the son typically goes on to be the scholar and to seek the higher paying job that could be offered to him, whereas the woman is encouraged to pursue

He then states the issue of the subject matter, mentioning that the women are the favored ones in labor and social legislations. By stating that gender discrimination is in reverse and how women are afforded too much protection, acts like a “Checkhov’s Gun” since he then talks about it in the completing layer.

Long gone are the days when women were expected to stay at home and play “housewife”, cooking, cleaning, and making sure the kids got off to school, while their husbands worked a 9 to 5 in order to make ends meet. Today, women are no longer viewed as weak and incapable. A “superwoman” is the new woman. Men as the “breadwinners” have been replaced by “Ms. Independent.” The traditional male role has diminished as women fulfill bigger roles in society and exceed the expectations of their male counterparts in the household, workforce, and within social settings. We have abandoned old rules; no longer is it a “man’s world,” we now live in a shared world.

Robert Dorment’s summary from his article talked about that women always complained about men did wrong but men who worked so hard for their family and work-life balance. Richard used that word “castigate” for men that means women scold men, but they did not realize men worked so hard. Other quote about the castigation of men, “…person whose husband, by her own admission, sacrificed much in his own academic career to do other heavy lifting with their children, all so she could pursue her dream job and then complain about it, bitterly, in the pages of a national magazine” (Dorment 708). Anne-Marie Slaughter explained that women who get promotion from other positions that they realized they do not have spent time with their family and some women who leave their jobs because of their family reasons. The quote said, “It is unthinkable that an official would actually step down to spend time with his or her family that this must be a cover for something else” (Slaughter 682). Third article called Women, work and work/life balance: Research roundup talked about the wage inequality and unequal responsibilities between men and women. Women have more family responsibilities than men do because some women are staying at home while taking care of their kids. Last article, Work-Life Balance – An integrated Approach: The case for joint and several responsibility talked about the

In today’s society, the head of the household is not decided via gender but more so by money. In Stephen Marche’s article, “Home Economics: The Link Between Work-Life Balance and Income Equality,” he argues that in heterosexual relationships the central conflict is not men verses women, nor is it “mother verses father” but rather “family verses money.” He states that “decisions about who works and who takes care of the children, and who makes the money and how the money is spent, are not decided by women alone or by some vague and impersonal force called society” (Marche). Marche also implies that even though today’s society may look like a patriarchy, it is but a false facade created by those who campaign for egalitarianism. He believes that the feminist movements, being dominated mainly by middle-class women, does not represent the majority, and that their push for more woman in leadership positions will

Over the years Gender Equality has been getting better. Since the early 1800’s women have gained many rights like, the right to vote in 1920, Women gained the right to own property and have jobs and businesses. But with all these advancements have women achieved the same equality as men? It is average for men to make 51 thousand a year, while women only make 40 thousand a year.

The second premises is completely false, “for replacing male terms by female terms changes the meaning of the paradigm or demonstration. It is in this way that women are ‘ignored’ … i.e. oppressed, in the very activity of philosophy” (Finn 157). Women’s cameos in philosophy

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