scholarly journals Do Workplace Flexibility Policies Influence Time Spent in Domestic Labor?

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary C. Noonan ◽  
Sarah Beth Estes ◽  
Jennifer L. Glass
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Domestic Labor ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Workplace Flexibility ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Labor Time ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Flexible Work Schedules ◽  
Using Data

Using data from a U.S. midwestern sample of mothers and fathers, the authors examine whether using workplace flexibility policies alters time spent in housework and child care. They hypothesize that an individual’s policy use will lead to more time in domestic labor and that his or her spouse’s policy use will lead to less time in domestic labor. Several results support their hypotheses. Mothers who work part-time spend more time in housework and their husbands spend less time in housework. Also, mothers who work at home spend more time in child care. One policy has the opposite of the predicted effect: Wives with flexible work schedules do less housework, and their husbands do more. Overall, mothers’ policy use has counterbalancing effects on their own and their spouses’ domestic labor time, implying that policy use has little net impact on total domestic labor time within dual-earner families.

Phased Retirement and Workplace Flexibility for Older Adults

2011 ◽  
Vol 638 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Work Hours ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Workplace Flexibility ◽  
Retirement Benefits ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Flexible Work Schedules ◽  
Federal Laws ◽  
Phased Retirement

Phased retirement programs that allow older workers to reduce their hours and responsibilities and pursue more flexible work schedules could satisfy both the employee’s desire for flexibility and the employer’s need to maintain an experienced workforce. However, few employers have established formal programs, because they often complicate the provision of other benefits and might violate antidiscrimination rules. For example, federal laws limit retirement plan distributions to employees who are still working for the plan sponsor, which discourages phased retirement because few older workers can afford to reduce their work hours unless they can receive at least some retirement benefits. Many employers do not provide fringe benefits to part-time employees, and making exceptions for older workers could violate antidiscrimination rules. Federal laws requiring that benefits provided through tax-qualified plans be evenly distributed between highly compensated and lower-paid employees also complicate formal phased retirement programs. Reforming these policies could promote phased retirement.

Adult attachment and jealousy of the partner–infant relationship at the transition to parenthood

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1745-1765
Author(s):  
Anna L. Olsavsky ◽  
Meghna S. Mahambrey ◽  
Miranda N. Berrigan ◽  
Sarah J. Schoppe-Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Dyadic Adjustment ◽  
Third Trimester ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Actor Partner Interdependence Model ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Early Postpartum ◽  
Expectant Mothers ◽  
Using Data

Using data from a sample of 182 dual-earner different-gender couples who were followed across their transition to parenthood, we adopted a dyadic approach to examine associations between expectant mothers’ and fathers’ attachment anxiety and avoidance in the third trimester of pregnancy and their own and their partners’ jealousy of the partner–infant relationship at 3 months postpartum. Results of an actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) revealed that expectant mothers and fathers higher in attachment anxiety reported greater jealousy of the partner–infant relationship at 3 months postpartum. The partners of expectant mothers and fathers higher in attachment anxiety also reported greater jealousy of the partner–infant relationship. There were no parent gender differences in actor or partner paths linking attachment anxiety and jealousy. Attachment avoidance was not associated with one’s own or one’s partner’s jealousy of the partner–infant relationship. An exploratory mediation analysis revealed greater jealousy of the partner–infant relationship as a potential mechanism linking higher attachment anxiety to lower dyadic adjustment at 9 months postpartum. Overall, results suggest that attachment anxiety in either partner may precipitate maladaptive relationship dynamics in the early postpartum period that may ultimately interfere with the establishment and maintenance of healthy parent–child and coparenting relationships.

scholarly journals Walking a High Beam

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason T. Castillo ◽  
Greg W. Welch ◽  
Christian M. Sarver
Keyword(s):  
Father Involvement ◽  
Fragile Families ◽  
Nonresident Fathers ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Workplace Flexibility ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Employment Stability ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Compared with resident fathers, nonresident fathers are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed and less likely, when they are employed, to have access to flexible work arrangements. Although lack of employment stability is associated with lower levels of father involvement, some research shows that increased stability at work without increased flexibility is negatively related to involvement. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study ( N = 895), the authors examined the relationship between nonresident fathers’ employment stability, workplace flexibility, and father involvement. Results indicate that workplace flexibility, but not employment stability, is associated with higher levels of involvement. Policy and practice implications are discussed.

A Question of Justice

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 866-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer E. Swanberg ◽  
Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes ◽  
Krista Drescher-Burke
Keyword(s):  
National Study ◽  
Work Schedules ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Family Time ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Education Levels ◽  
Flexible Schedule ◽  
Flexible Work Schedules ◽  
Using Data ◽  
And Control

Within an organizational justice framework, this article investigates which group of employees are less likely to have access to flexible schedule options. Using data from the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce, logistical regressions were conducted to identify the employee, job, and workplace factors associated with limited access to four flexible work schedules: modifying standard starting and ending times, daily flex-time, taking time off for personal or family time, and control over work hours. Analyses imply that workers who are less privileged report reduced access to a range of flexible schedule options. Lower wages, low education levels, and hourly work were factors associated with having less access to four, three, or two of the flexible work schedules, respectively. Implications and further directions for research are discussed.

Time Strains and Psychological Well-Being

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 756-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kei M. Nomaguchi ◽  
Melissa A. Milkie ◽  
Suzanne M. Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Free Time ◽  
National Study ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Using data from the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce, these authors examine gender differences in feeling time strain for children, spouse, and oneself and in the association of these feelings with psychological well-being among dual-earner parents. Fathers are more likely than mothers to report feeling time deficits with their children and spouse; however, it is primarily because fathers spend more hours in paid work than mothers. Yet feelings of time deficits with children and spouse are associated with lower well-being only for mothers. In terms of time for oneself, mothers more than fathers feel strains, net of the time they spend on free-time activities. Mothers and fathers who feel a time shortage for themselves express lower well-being, although for some measures, the relationship is stronger for fathers.

scholarly journals Classification Taxonomy and Empirical Analysis of Work Arrangements

2005 ◽  
Vol 1926 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aswani Yeraguntla ◽  
Chandra R. Bhat
Keyword(s):  
Full Time ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Flexible Work Schedules ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Characteristics ◽  
Work Arrangement

The work-related characteristics of an individual act as pegs around which other nonwork activities are scheduled on a day-to-day basis. In this paper, four dimensions of the medium- to long-range work arrangements that are important to day-to-day temporal and spatial characteristics of work patterns (and hence to day-to-day activity–travel schedules) are identified. The four dimensions are full-time versus part-time employment, teleworking or not, inflexible or flexible work schedules, and regular or alternate shifts. This paper develops a comprehensive taxonomy of work arrangements in each of these four dimensions and empirically analyses the factors affecting the work arrangement decisions along three of these dimensions.

scholarly journals Addressing the detrimental impacts of COVID-19 on women in the workforce: Where do we go from here?

2021 ◽  
Vol 09 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kareen Odate ◽  
◽  
Rene S. Parmar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Family Leave ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
The Status ◽  
Flexible Work Schedules ◽  
Women In The Workforce ◽  
Status Of Women

This paper analyzes national and global statistical data and reports to investigate the status of women in the workforce subsequent to the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, identify issues, and propose a path forward. The disproportionate adverse effects of the pandemic included higher unemployment rates among women and greater job losses within female dominated industries and women owned businesses as compared with men, and health challenges heightened by pandemic-related stresses. Further, the responsibility for compensating for the sudden removal of accessible childcare services which followed school and daycare disruptions and closings nationwide, overwhelmingly fell to women—whether they were single or married. Some analysts report that the pandemic served to reassert the unequal division of labor in the household between men and women. Researchers have posited that the pandemic’s impact will retard women’s progress in the workforce for decades if not generations. Strategies for counteracting these effects must entail targeted measures focused on promoting women’s re-entry in the workforce including: the normalization of flexible work schedules to foster a more balanced home and work-life for women, increased family leave for mothers and fathers, more quality and affordable childcare as well as more onsite childcare facilities to meet employees’ needs.

scholarly journals By Default: How Mothers in Different-Sex Dual-Earner Couples Account for Inequalities in Pandemic Parenting

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110387
Author(s):  
Jessica McCrory Calarco ◽  
Emily Meanwell ◽  
Elizabeth M. Anderson ◽  
Amelia S. Knopf
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
Paid Labor ◽  
At Home

Mothers did a disproportionate share of the child care during the COVID-19 pandemic—an arrangement that negatively impacted their careers, relationships, and well-being. How did mothers account for these unequal roles? Through interviews and surveys with 55 mothers (and 14 fathers) in different-sex, prepandemic dual-earner couples, we found that mothers (and fathers) justified unequal parenting arrangements based on gendered structural and cultural conditions that made mothers’ disproportionate labor seem “practical” and “natural.” These justifications allowed couples to rely on mothers by default rather than through active negotiation. As a result, many mothers did not feel entitled to seek support with child care from fathers or nonparental caregivers and experienced guilt if they did so. These findings help explain why many mothers have not reentered the workforce, why fathers’ involvement at home waned as the pandemic progressed, and why the pandemic led to growing preferences for inegalitarian divisions of domestic and paid labor.

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