Balancing work and family is a concern of parents’ around the world. It not only concerns mother’s, it concern’s fathers. It is a societal norm that the mother is the “caregiver” and the father is “breadwinner.” With the feminist movement, things began to change, giving women additional educational and employment opportunities; therefore, millions of women entered the workforce. This shift required a change in attitude, as it implied new roles for men, which promoted shared parental responsibility. Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce parental leave, giving both parents the right to stay home with their children. According to Carlson (2013), “Fundamentally, Sweden’s parental leave insurance policy is not just about providing individual families with resources to make choices about employment and caregiving; it is a social policy with the defined aim of increasing gender equality for the Swedish people” (p. 65). It is asserted that Sweden’s government developed the parental leave policy to address; participation and wage equity in the workforce; and to promote gender equality in care giving (Carlson, 2013, p. 63).
During the 60’s and 70’s Sweden’s industry changed, becoming more competitive in an international economy. The country became concerned about recruiting and retaining a productive workforce. This led to new employment opportunities for women and left the government considering how it could better assist employees’ manage work and family life. With both parents in the workforce providing for the family, the expectation was to share responsibilities for childcare and domestic tasks. Sweden explored changes in government policy that supported equal parenthood. Parental leave was introduced in S...
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...o Increase Gender Equality. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 40(2), 63-76.
Haas, L. & Hwang, P. (1995). Company culture and men’s usage of family leave benefits in Sweden. Family Relations, 44(1), 28-36.
Lamb, M & Lewis, C. (2010). The Development and Significance of Father-Child Relationships in Two-Parent Families. In M.E. Lamb (Ed.). The role of the father in child development (fifth edition), pp. 94-153. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
O’Brien, M. & Moss, P. (2010). Fathers, Work, and Family Policies in Europe. In M.E. Lamb (Ed.). The role of the father in child development (fifth edition), pp. 551-557. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
United States Department of Labor. (2013). Family and Medical Leave in 2012. [Public use file]. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/fmla/FMLA-2012-Rev-Public-Use- File-Documentation.pdf
... “ corporations have done little to accommodate the needs of working parents, and that the government has done little to prod them” ( ) Essentially Hochschild argues that change is possible but really only through government intervention and policy (re)formation. Although the economy was able to transform women it was not able to transform the rest of society. Thus it is up to the government and the corporate sector to do so. If the government were to create “a safer environment for the two-job family” and families in general, men would be drawn out of their gender roles into the lives of children. As a result, women would be greater supported and society as a whole would gear its culture towards a more family oriented atmosphere rather than a capitalistic one. ( )
The concepts that Kathleen Genson discusses reinforces the analysis Kramer presented in Chapter 4 “The Family and Intimate Relationships” of The Sociology of Gender. First and foremost, both authors would agree that family is a structure that institutionalizes and maintains gender norms. Both authors would also agree that “families tend to be organized around factors that the individual members cannot control.” In Genson’s chapter “Dilemmas of Involved Fatherhood,” the most prominent forces are the economy and social expectations, both listed and explained by Kramer. Genson’s explanation of how it is unfeasible for men to withdraw from the workforce and focus more time and energy on being involved fathers is an example of the economic factors.
The overabundance of debauched dad’s on Television undermines a cultural ideal of responsible fatherhood at a time when that ideal is most needed. At a time when the culture around us is morally crumbling for lack of responsible men leading their families. A time when the divorce rate is 20 X higher than it was 50 years ago. We are in a time when fatherhood is under assault and the consequences of dads disappearing from America’s Family landscape is detrimental to the well-being of fatherless children. The contributors to fatherlessness are only growing, as are the consequences but there is still hope for father-fullness in America today.
The child needs his father to break into the intense relationship of the mother-infant, providing them with access to the external world and reality (Chasseguet-Smirgel, 1981; Benjamin, 1988, Maguire, 2004; Lichtenberg, 2007).
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave and job protection for childbirth, adoption or foster care; to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, or parent; or for an employee’s own serious illness (Cañas & Sondak, 2011). It also requires that their group health benefits remain intact during the unpaid leave of absence. The employee must have worked for the employer for at least a year and must have earned 1,250 hours of service during the previous 12 months ((Cañas & Sondak, 2011, pg. 70).
The balancing act of family and work can be very difficult at times. At some point in everyone’s life, he or she will need to take time off of work to deal with family matters. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 was created to help employees find a balance between the challenging demands of work and home. This Act allows eligible workers that require time off for personal reasons or family emergencies up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave.
Since the beginning of time, fathers have had a profound effect on their child’s development. Over the years, the norm for traditional family dynamics of having a father figure in the household has changed drastically, and so did the roles of the parents. It is not as common as it used to be to have a father or father figure in the home. In this day and age, women are more likely to raise children on their own and gain independence without the male assistance due to various reasons. The most significant learning experience and development of a person’s life takes place in their earlier years when they were children. There are many advantages when there is a mother and father combined in a
Livingston, Gretchen. "The Link between Parental Leave and the Gender Pay Gap." Pew Research Center RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Parenting, which is somewhat akin to teaching, should be regarded as one of the three cooperative arts. Thus conceived, it calls upon parents to assist their offspring in the process of growing up, doing so by observing carefully the steps the children themselves take in the process and doing what is necessary to facilitate their progress. Parenting departs from being a cooperative art, as teaching does also, when it tries to be the active and dominant factor in the process -- when parents or teachers think that what they do should be like the molding of passive, plastic matter.
The role of a father in his child’s life extends past the knowledge of far too many, and can oftentimes be eclipsed by the role of the mother. Although the mother’s role is essential and greatly valued in a child’s life and development, the father plays a significant role as well. No mother can fill the father’s place in a child’s heart, for fathers nurture and play differently than a mother. Several studies show that an attendant and highly involved father is critical, especially in the early stages of a child’s life. The absence of a father during this stage can lead to “impaired social and behavioral abilities in adults” (Robert, 2013). But what is the role of the father? This paper discusses the role of the expectant father, the birth experience for him, the transition into fatherhood, and the rise of single fathers.
Rosenberg, J., & Wilcox, W. B. (2006). Fathers and Their Impact on Children's Well-being. In The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children (pp. 11-14).
Mothers are the primary caretakers of the children. The fathers have had minimal care taking responsibilities. Many women, if they had a career before hand, have to give it up to stay at home with the child. Although, many fathers where the wives must work become important in the process of care taking because their role must increase to their children. Studies of human fathers and their infants confirm that many fathers can act sensitively with their infant (according to Parke & Sawin, 1980) and their infants form attachments to both their mothers and fathers at roughly the same age (according to Lamb, 1977).
Historically, males and females normally assume different kinds of jobs with varying wages in the workplace. These apparent disparities are widely recognized and experienced across the globe, and the most general justification for these differences is that they are the direct outcomes of discrimination or traditional gender beliefs—that women are the caregivers and men are the earners. However, at the turn of the new century women have revolutionized their roles in the labor market. Specifically in industrialized societies, the social and economic position of women has shifted. Despite of the improving participation of women in the labor force and their ameliorating proficiency and qualifications, the labor force is still not so favorable to women. The opportunities available for women in the market are not as diverse as those presented to men. Still, the construct of gender ideology influences how employers undertake economic decisions, and that is why companies still have jobs labelled as “men’s work” and occupations categorized as “women’s work.” Indeed, the pervasiveness of gender differences in labor markets is undeniably true, specifically with respect to salary gap between men and women, occupational gender segregation of men and women, and the challenge that women face in terms of juggling their time and attention between their career and family life.
middle of paper ... ... In the traditional society, the father’s only focus is on earning an income for the family which has a direct impact on the family members due to the lack of time spent bonding with his children and wife. The responsibility of the children falls on both parents’ shoulders, not just on the mothers. However, this is also an issue in modern society, if mothers rely too much on day-care and do not spend enough time with their children, then the same thing that happens to the father happens to the mother.
6.Blankenhorn, David. Fatherless America: confronting our most urgent social problem. New York: BasicBooks, 1995. Print.