Chapter 13: Balancing Work and Family Life

Summary:

The chapter starts off explaining the significance of work. Work is physical or mental activity that accomplishes or produces something, either goods or services. People work because money is the biggest motivator. The chapter then moves on to discuss work in the contemporary US. In this section deindustrialization, which is the economic down fall that results from the lack of industries, is discussed. Globalization (the growth and spread of investment, trade, production, etc.) and offshoring (the spending of work or jobs to another country to cut a company' cost at home) is also mentioned. Also the wealth of a class is discussed. The rich is getting richer, the middle class is struggling, and the working class is barely surviving. The reason comes down to education. Thirty-Six percent of Americans has less than a high school diploma. This results in a person making less than $24,000. The chapter goes on to describe the effects the economy has on families. Some families have adults that are unemployed and discouraged workers. This forces a family, if not below then, at the poverty line.
Women are also starting to become more involved in the labor force because their are more white collar jobs that are readily available for them and they provide more incentives. The percentage for woman that have jobs with infants are above half the woman population. For white women it is 60% and for Black women it is 55%. The reason for this is the fact that women are getting degrees and like mentioned before, there are white collar jobs that are readily available for them upon graduation.
With women participating in the workforce more, this creates different economic roles in the marriage. Maybe the woman can be the breadwinner and the dad can take on the domestic roles or be the stay-at-home dad. Now a stay-at-home dad does not always result in the wife being a breadwinner. Sometimes it can result in unemployment or health disabilities. Now you can also have a two-income family. You have the dual-earner couples or the dual-career couples. The dual-earner couples both work outside the home and this type of couple makes up about 47% of all marriages. The dual-career couple is when both couples have a profession that requires a long term commitment. The disadvantage of these couples are that the time spent with children is minuscule or they don't have children right away. The benefit is economic security. Economic security could also result in a commuter marriage because the spouses do not want to relocate because of the comfort of their profession. The rest of the chapter discusses the pay gap of men and women which is woman: $48,802 and men: $64,167. The reason for this is because most of the time women choose a lower earning position like health care or teaching. Also the other things discussed is workplace rules and regulation and woman having babies and still working.

Interesting Point:

The interesting thing that struck me was the fact of a commuter marriages. I thought usually one or the other spouse would move but that is not the case dealing with today's economy. Economic security the most important thing now; almost more than love. Of course their are disadvantages of the commuter marriage because the time and devotion to the marriage is not there because so much time is spent focusing on the profession.

Question: *Based on more women in the labor force*

I want to know, from the MEN in the class, if you would be comfortable in a marriage where the woman has a higher income? For the WOMEN in the class, would you hold it over your spouses head if you do have a higher income?