Work and family. The "second shift"

Work and family. Family and work. These are the two main concerns of many working women and men around the world. But it was not always so. Earlier, men were concerned with work, and women with family. But more women - and more mothers - than ever before, are now in paid employment. According to World Bank estimates, from 1960 to 1997, women have increased their numbers in the global labour force by 126%! Women today constitute almost half of the total labour force. There has been a tremendous rise in "dual-income" families as well as single-parent families. Women's income is often vital to the family's survival. Worldwide, women are the main source of income in an estimated 30% of households, according to the ILO. Not only are women working, many are working in so-called "male jobs".

This rise in the labour force participation of women has induced a change in the roles and expectations of gender, both in the family and in the workplace. As more women join paid employment, more men than before share in household duties and care functions, traditionally women's work. And as dual-income families grow, women step out of their "family" role to be concerned with "work", and men from their traditional "work" role to be concerned with the "family". But the redistribution of financial responsibilities within the family has not been matched by a redistribution of work responsibilities in the home. It is still women who do a disproportionate share of the work around the home. Women are working harder than ever, and many are now working a "second shift".

Furthermore, in spite of the presence of women in the workplace, the ideal worker is still expected to have certain traditional "male" qualities. She/he is supposed to be "career-primary"; someone to whom "work is life" ... someone who can work long hours to comply with the speed which the global marketplace requires ... someone who can adjust family life to meet work requirements ... someone who will not be disturbed by care-giving family duties. In new work practices, it is not unusual for corporations to start the day with breakfast meetings and end it with planning sessions which continue over dinner. And training programmes may require long absences from home. Therefore, in spite of having women in the workforce, the workplace still looks for the man in the "man breadwinner-woman homemaker" model of the division of labour. This notion of the "ideal worker" who is expected to have "male" qualities discriminates against both women and men with family duties. Societal perceptions of work and family have therefore been rather slow in keeping pace with labour market transformation which women's participation at work has brought about. And that has its share of problems:

This leads to higher stress and lower productivity at the workplace, because workers worry about their care-giving functions while at work. This, in turn, leads to high labour turnover, as many workers, unable to balance work and family duties leave their jobs. Loss of workers means loss of skills embodied in those workers, and loss of the investment in their training, thereby resulting in higher costs to the company.

More women than men are likely to take responsibility for family matters. In addition, it is women who give birth and need to take time off from work. Thus, the traditional discrimination against women in the workplace because of their reproductive and "traditional" female roles is difficult to overcome.

In order to accommodate care giving duties, many women work part-time, but part-time workers rarely benefit from comparable working conditions and equivalent rights.

New realities call for new initiatives on the part of employers and policymakers, and governments and corporations are waking up to these realities. The ILO Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (no. 156) - ratified by 29 countries so far - was intended to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in employment for workers with family responsibilities, and between workers with such responsibilities and those without. So far the most innovative approaches to dealing with the work-family issue since then have come from private business. Part of this effort has been driven by their "social conscience" and "social responsibility". But more important is that their experience has demonstrated that work-family policies are an important means of improving commitment and productivity..

Work-family initiatives Provisions to promote equality
Child care Elder care Maternity and parental leave Support to women during maternity and on return to work	Flexible starting and finishing times Flexible leave arrangements Career break schemes Teleworking, homeworking, etc.

At the moment, in many parts of the world, women are the primary care-providers. Unless affirmative action is taken to reconcile work and family duties, conflict between those duties will continue to be a source of stress and strain for women workers. However, if enterprise programmes specifically target women, care-provision will continue to be seen as a woman's job, and - because of the additional cost of such programmes - women workers will continue to be seen as more expensive to hire than men. If gender-based equity is to be promoted at the workplace, it is imperative that the work-family schemes be aimed at both men and women workers, to promote "care-sharing" by men and women alike. It is only through such care-sharing that women can overcome the double burden of work and family duties. However, this requires a change in the societal perceptions of men and women, as well as a change in their perception of their "right" place in society. Admittedly, this is not easy to achieve. Nevertheless, looking upon both men and women as care-providers, and implementing policies which promote care-sharing could indeed be a beginning to a more appropriate way of looking at the work-family issue.

Gender! A Partnership of Equals
Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Work and family
The "second shift"

Gender! A Partnership of Equals Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Work and family The "second shift"

Gender! A Partnership of Equals
Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Work and family
The "second shift"