SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

Traditional Gender Roles Fading To Black? Wednesday's Woman

Posted by Gayle Kesten Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009, 10:12 AM ET

Even evolution requires equilibrium, according to the latest Families and Work Institute report about gender roles.

The IBM-sponsored "Times Are Changing: Gender and Generation at Work and at Home " (PDF) provides a 30-year bird's-eye view regarding how work-related gender roles have evolved. The study's main takeaway: Women and men are both taking on more responsibility: women at work, and men at home.

It makes total sense. Where "C" is the constant of what has to get done in a day -- working, taking care of a family (pets, too), household chores, and so much more -- who does what has to shift. Even the stress working women have long experienced from balancing career and family is spreading to our other halves. Factor in the recession, during which men have lost nearly four out of every five jobs shed since December 2007, according to the Center for American Progress. There's also speculation that women could overtake men as the majority of the U.S. workforce.

"Women are seeing their role in taking care of family as being economic as well as social. Men are seeing their family role in terms of wanting to be more involved with their kids," said Ellen Galinsky, head of the Families and Work Institute, in a weekend Boston Globe article.

The bottom line is we ALL do a lot. Truth be told, I'm pleased to see the guys getting their due recognition. (Ya hear that, hubby?)

Among the study's findings:

• Women in dual-earner couples are contributing more to family income. In 1997 women contributed an average of 39% of annual family income. That figure rose to 44% in 2008. In 2008, 26% of women living in dual-earner couples had annual earnings at least 10 percentage points higher than that of spouses/partners, up from 15% in 1997.

• Among Millennials (<29 years old), women are just as likely as men to want jobs with greater responsibility. In 1992, 80% of men and 72% of women under the age of 29 wanted jobs with greater responsibility. Today the figure is 67% of men and 66% of women. The figure reached its low point for both genders in 1997.

• Today, there is no difference between young women with and without children in their desire to move to jobs with more responsibility. Whereas 60% of women under 29 with children and 78% of women without children wanted jobs with more responsibility in 1992, today the percentages are 69% (with children) and 66% (without children).

• Men and women are both less likely to embrace traditional gender roles. Only 41% of employees in 2008 believe it is better "if the man earns the money and the woman takes care of the home and children," down from 64% in 1977. The drop is even more pronounced among men (74% to 42% versus 52% to 39% of women). Now there is no statistical difference between men and women in their views.

• Greater proportions of both men and women agree that employed women can be good mothers. In 1977, 49% of men agreed (strongly or somewhat) that a mother who works outside the home can have just as good a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work. Today, 67% agree. From 1977 to 2008, the percentage of women agreeing moved from 71% in to 80%. Both men and women who grew up with employed mothers exhibit greater acceptance of working mothers than those whose mothers did not work outside the home.

• Employed fathers, especially Millennials, are spending more time with children today than their age counterparts did three decades ago, where as employed mothers' time has not changed significantly. On average employed fathers of all ages spend 3.0 hours per workday with children under 13 today compared with 2.0 hours in 1977. For employed mothers of all ages, time spent with children has remained at 3.8 hours. Today's Millennial fathers spend 4.3 hours per workday compared with the 2.4 hours spent by their age counterparts in 1977. Mothers under 29 today average 5.0 hours compared with 4.5 hours in 1977.

• Men are taking more overall responsibility for the care of their children. In 1992, 21% of women said that their spouses or partners were taking as much or more responsibility for the care of their children as they were. By 2008, that percentage has risen to 31%. Interestingly, 49% of men reported taking as much or more responsibility for the children as their wives, indicating a perception gap.

• Changing gender roles appear to have increased the level of work-life conflict experienced by men. Men's work-life conflict has increased significantly from 34% in 1977 to 45% in 2008, while women’s work-life conflict has risen less dramatically and not significantly from 34% to 39%.

• Fathers in dual-earner couples experience more work life conflict than mothers. In 1977, 35% reported experiencing some or a lot of conflict. In 2008, that figure has risen to 59%. The level of conflict experienced by mothers in dual-earner families has not changed significantly during that time period (41% in 1977 and 45% in 2008).

  
  

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