Patterns of Paid and Unpaid Work: The Influence of Power, Social Context, and Family Background

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Ann McMullin
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Unpaid Work ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Unpaid Labour ◽  
Paid And Unpaid Work

ABSTRACTOver the last several decades there have been changes in how paid and unpaid labour is divided between men and women: The rate of women's participation in the labour force women has increased as has men's participation in household labour. Although a plethora of research has addressed these changes by analysing couple and individual data, few have examined them within the context of multi-generational families. Using a case study analysis of a three-generation family, this paper shows that gender, class, social context, and family background influence how paid and unpaid work is divided within families. The case study shows that the social context of a given time conditions the options women and men have available to them in negotiating the balance of work and family responsibilities. Yet within this context, family background also matters. Negative childhood experiences were an impetus for adult children negotiating patterns of paid and unpaid labour that were different from those of their parents.

scholarly journals Working the second shift, settling in Canada and other struggles; narratives of working African-immigrant mothers in Toronto.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muno Mohamed Osman
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
African Immigrant ◽  
Immigrant Mothers ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
Second Shift

This research study explores the experiences of working African immigrant mothers in accessing formal childcare services in Toronto. I start the study with an over view of the literature on the topics of access to childcare service and women’s labour force participation. I then review social reproduction and black feminist theories; the theoretical framework for my research. I also highlight the current state of childcare in Canada and how this affects African immigrant mothers who work. The study includes qualitative in-depth interviews with four such mothers who talk about their challenges and experiences in balancing work and family responsibilities in Toronto. The study found that the mothers are dissatisfied with several aspects of the childcare services they use or have used in the past. The mothers also face many struggles owing to patriarchal gender norms in their households and loss of extended family supports after immigration.

scholarly journals Towards gender equality in the labour markets of Canada, USA and Russia: an overview of progress in achievement of international commitments

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-50
Author(s):  
Maria Yu. Beletskaya ◽  
Elena A. Zotova
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Employment Of Women

In 2019, the International Labour Organization (ILO), together with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), prepared and presented to the G20 leaders a report entitled “Women at work in G20 countries: Progress and policy action”. According to the report, Canada, the United States and Russia show the lowest results among the G20 countries in reaching the goal of reducing the gender gap in labour force participation by 25 percent by 2025. This is largely due to the relatively high levels of gender equality that have already been achieved in these countries. The article analyzes the policy of Canada, the USA and Russia towards women at work in four directions: 1) measures taken by national Governments, in cooperation with social partners, to increase women’s participation in the labour force and to overcome cultural and behavioural barriers to the employment of women; 2) measures to increase women’s ability to earn decent wages, including through lifelong learning, upgrading qualifications and skills development; 3) measures to reduce the proportion of women employed in the informal sector and in low-paid jobs; 4) measures to protect women in labour market in order to encourage men and women to combine work and family and share family responsibilities equitably.

scholarly journals The double penalty: How female migrants manage family responsibilities in the Spanish dual labour market

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Sánchez-Domínguez ◽  
Luis Guirola Abenza
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Living Arrangement ◽  
College Education ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Female Migrants ◽  
Female Immigrants

Objective: This study examines the convergence of employment behaviour and work-life balance of foreign-born women with those of native-born Spanish women between 2014 and 2018. Background: The changing role of women in the labour market is a central development of the past century. However, the study of female labour market participation has focused on native women, typically with a college education. Method: We use the Spanish Labour Force Survey and its 2018 ad hoc module on the reconciliation of work and family life to compare the working behaviours of native and migrant women. We use a matching algorithm to construct a sample of native workers with comparable human capital and living arrangement characteristics. Results: The segmentation of the Spanish labour market leads to the concentration of female immigrants in specific occupational niches with precarious employment conditions, regardless of the length of their stay in the country. The country’s employment and care regime forces female migrants to deal with their care responsibilities differently than their native counterparts: i.e., migrants are more likely than natives to interrupt their employment to fulfil household duties, and are less likely to engage in part-time work and to outsource care provision to family and professional caregivers. Conclusion: Female immigrants are doubly penalised as both immigrants and mothers.

scholarly journals The Transformation of The Serbian Labour Market from a Gender Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-604
Author(s):  
Sunčica Stanković
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Starting Position ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Republic

Abstract In conditions of great social changes that have affected the entire world since the beginning of 1980, there is the emergence of new social risks such as difficult labour market entry, stable employment problem, the problem of outdated qualifications, affecting both women and men. In the competitive race for employment, differences between men and women in the market are conditioned by their starting position. The position of women is required by expectations which exist in regard to their gender role. Women are additionally burdened by establishing a balance between work and family responsibilities, especially childcare and with caring for elderly family members.Men are more often employed in areas that are better paid and socially valued, while women are mainly employed in the service sector. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the quality of labour force in the Republic of Serbia and changes in the gender wage gap during the observed period. The main indicators of gender inequality show significant differences in the status of women compared to men in the labour market. Analysis of labour market trends over the past decade has illustrated that the position of women is constantly deteriorating.

scholarly journals Is living the gender contract really a free choice? A cross-national comparison of preferences or constraints in mothers’ and fathers’ participation in paid and unpaid work

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yildiz Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Unpaid Work ◽  
National Study ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Preference Theory ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Paid And Unpaid Work ◽  
Cross National

This article is a cross-national study of the work-family balance in families with dependent children. The countries included are Denmark, Hungary, Italy and the UK. The article aims at investigating the question “why” we still, in all four European countries, seem to live according to a traditional gender role pattern in the division of paid and unpaid work, despites mothers’ entrance on the paid labour market. Women still bear the main responsibility of unpaid work. With preference theory as a starting point, the paper investigates preferences and constraints in relation to mothers’ and fathers’ work- and family lives. The paper relies on qualitative interviews. By using qualitative interviews, the analysis is based on fathers’ and mothers’ articulation of their work-life balance. The design of the interview guide has been inspired by Prue Chamberlayne’s biographical methods. Thus, the analysis is based upon both fathers’ and mothers’personal (life) stories in the four countries.

Parents’ Work and Family Roles: Their Contribution to Children's Learning about Work

1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-45
Author(s):  
Jennifer Bowes
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Work Relationships ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Unpaid Work ◽  
Family Roles ◽  
Children’S Learning ◽  
Early Childhood Professionals ◽  
Work And Family Roles ◽  
Paid And Unpaid Work ◽  
Children's Learning

Parents’ work and family roles influence their children in many ways. An often overlooked impact is on children's developing ideas about work. This paper reviews research on young children's developing ideas about work, particularly of unpaid duties in the home. It argues that children learn about work and cultural values, ownership of work, work relationships and the links between work and money from their observations and experiences of household chores. The contribution of parents’ paid and unpaid work roles to children's learning about work and the processes by which children learn about paid and unpaid work are discussed, as are the implications for early childhood professionals in their direct and indirect teaching of young children about the world of work.

How the type of working day affects work–life balance and mealtime balance: A study based on the time use survey

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 1082-1103
Author(s):  
Ángel Alonso-Domínguez ◽  
Javier Callejo ◽  
Cecilia Díaz-Méndez
Keyword(s):  
Time Use ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Unpaid Work ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Time Use Survey ◽  
Working Day ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Paid And Unpaid Work

How people balance work and personal or family life has been widely examined, showing gender inequalities that put women at a disadvantage relative to men. However, although this is a question of time compatibility, there has been no research on whether the type of working day (continuous or split) has different effects on this balance for men and women. The Time Use Survey enables us to examine this balance in two areas that are key to understanding the difficulty of reconciling timetables. On the one hand, there is the relationship between the type of working day and housework or family care (balance between paid and unpaid work). On the other hand, there is the relationship between the type of working day and eating (mealtime balance). The data indicate that the type of working day affects the balance between paid and unpaid work less than might be expected, since in all cases, it is women who do more unpaid work, while men’s involvement in housework changes little, whether they have a continuous or a split working day. However, the continuous working day is more favourable to balancing work and family life. In contrast, work–mealtime balance is a cultural feature that equalises both sexes in relation to an established habit that encourages sharing time outside work. We can thus speak of shared (non-work) time and unshared (unpaid) work.

Is there Really a Second Shift, and if so, who does it? A Time-Diary Investigation

2007 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyn Craig
Keyword(s):  
Time Use ◽  
Unpaid Work ◽  
Work Activity ◽  
Time Use Survey ◽  
Unpaid Labour ◽  
Second Shift ◽  
Dual Burden ◽  
Australian Bureau Of Statistics ◽  
Household Labour ◽  
Paid And Unpaid Work

This paper draws on data from the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Time Use Survey ( TUS) (over 4,000 randomly selected households) to tease out the dimensions of the ‘second shift’. Predictions that as women entered the paid workforce men would contribute more to household labour have largely failed to eventuate. This underpins the view that women are working a second shift because they are shouldering a dual burden of paid and unpaid work. However, time use research seems to show that when both paid and unpaid work is counted, male and female workloads are in total very similar. This has led to suggestions that a literal second shift is a myth; that it exists in the sense that women do more domestic work than men, but not in the sense that they work longer hours in total. Using a more accurate and telling measure of workload than previous research (paid and unpaid labour including multitasked activities), this paper explores the second shift and how it relates to family configuration, ethnicity and indicators of class and socioeconomic standing. It finds a clear disparity between the total workloads of mothers and fathers, much of which consists of simultaneous (secondary) activity, and some demographic differences in female (but not male) total workloads. It concludes that the view that the second shift is a myth is only sustainable by averaging social groups very broadly and by excluding multitasking from the measurement of total work activity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document