Argumentative Essay: Balancing Work And Family

Improved Essays
Balancing work and family is common struggle among Americans. The target of the debate lies in opposing opinions as to how to prioritize work and family. Should work come before family, or should family come first? Even more, could there be a common ground in equally balancing both? Being passionate about this issue, I began to research it further.
The first article reviewed was from Lee and Wagner. They argue that since the 1970’s, women have advanced into a new role in society due to the Women’s Rights Movement, along with underlying social economic factors, such as, finances, security and a rising demand for workers. Lee and Wagner imply as a result, society modified the Stay-at-Home Mom mold to add a “Working Mother” benefit, giving women
…show more content…
One common observation, is in which, none if the sources negated the fact that society isn’t better off after the women’s rights movement. Secondly, there are similarities between Jacobs and Finley and Capelli, Constantine and Chadwick when they argue that decisions we make around priorities and lifestyles we choose are directly proportional to utilization and dysfunctionality. Lastly, there is mutually an implication from Lee and Wagner and Fram and Miller, that the employer may be neglecting the additional needs of the working family, while at the same time taking advantage of them. Although Lee and Wagner and Jacobs and Finley did not provide empirical data to support their opinions, Fram and Miller and Capelli, Constantine and Chadwick has substantial evidence to indirectly support their theory from their own conclusions and points of view. Capella, Constantine and Chadwick study found that people who prioritize early in life on finding the right person to marry and having a good family life, are more prosperous than those who placing less emphasis on marrying the right person and having a good family life. Fram and Miller found after interviewing fourteen large corporations of subsidiaries of large corporations, some had done due diligence to become even more family-friendly but none had gone far enough or even …show more content…
Entering the discussion I had a narrow point of view which was society would correct itself over time, and that families simply need to make good choices and be accountable for the consequences as that happens. Certainly the authors are challenging us to go foster a broader scope and examine our many perceptions. For example, do we still categorize work at home in a man’s chore and women’s chore point of view? Do we still desire to keep up with the Jones’s? Do we still perceive that we should automatically have a better life than our parents had? Do we perceive that two incomes is always better than one? Do we perceive that we will always have leverage over our employees and that they will forever bow down to our demands? We can see in the articles that these perceptions can degrade our lives to a point that we cannot balance work or family, much less both.
I tend to lean with Capelli, Constantine and Chadwick, that “stable, mature, happy family” is the best place to begin with the end in mind (42). I believe that this recipe is the best place to grow and improve a process whether it is family, marriage, childrearing or work. Before any process can grow and sustain that growth, it needs to be stable in the beginning. Subsequently, if that process is mature, it can withstand the external noises that try to influence it or steer it in the wrong

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    If a woman asked for the weekend off from a busy corporate job to spend time with her spouse and children, most bosses would probably laugh at her. How dare a woman prioritize her family instead of her career for once? Americans all have a similar dream, The American Dream, to be happy in a comfortable home, family, and job. The articles “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All” by Richard Dorment and “The Plight of Young Males” by Saul Kaplan explain how it is just as difficult for men to achieve the American Dream as women, whereas the articles “RIP, the Middle Class: 1946-2013” by Edward McClelland and “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” by Anne-Marie Slaughter discuss how hard it is live comfortably nowadays, especially for women. There needs to…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Anne-Marie Slaughter’s essay “Why Women Still Can’t Have It all” Slaughter explains how she wants to incorporate her success and family to have a balanced life. Slaughter is the president and CEO of the New American Foundation, “a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute, and has taught at Princeton University and Harvard Law School and worked as director of policy planning for the U.S. State Department. Slaughter’s concern is not being a supportive mother to her children because of working policies. Her working policies require her to work for long periods of time while juggling reports, and writing commentaries on drafts, leaving little room to spend time with her family. I agree that working in a high position job can have a negative…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Achieving equality in the workplace means “valuing family just as much as work.” Employees with families are inclined to be more attentive, productive, and results-oriented. A workaholic…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Societal norms have changed throughout history. Through the early 1900s mothers stayed home with their children to nurture, teach, and correct them. Overtime there has been a shift from women staying home to entering the workforce and bringing income in for the household. This occurs in all types of families. Broken homes may have a single provider earning income or two parental figures working full-time.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical Argument

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Rhetorical Appeal by Arrangement of Classical Oration Introduction It has been discussed since the end of 20th century that the mothers in employment and at home have different attitudes towards to motherhood and work. Two articles which I would like to pick up are describing this debates as well. One article is written by Paula K. McDonald, Lisa M. Bradley, and Diane Guthrie in 2005. Another one is authored by Gillian Marks and Diane M. Houston in 2002.…

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 1940’s, there were many American women that got married close to the age of twenty-two years old. In the 1950’s, the age of that changed. Most American women got married at the age of twenty. Nine years after the World War II had ended,“the cry of the baby was heard across the land,” as historian Landon Jones later explained the trend. More babies were born in 1946 than ever before.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are more demands on our time than it is humanly possible to fill, and we are anything but useless…” This quote shows American mothers are more than what you see, they make the impossible possible without breaking a sweat. Housewives did not only handle do things with the inside of their home but they went above and beyond the be interactive in their kids make sure they had a social life.…

    • 1085 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The overwhelming income disparity in the United States has alienated millions of Americans, including women who are now struggling to maintain their families afloat, especially women of color, who are at a greater disadvantage economically. These negative effects will continue to destroy the economy and the future of society if not corrected. The male ordinated culture in America has allowed the pay gap for women of all ages, races, educational backgrounds, and professions have created an enormous economic disadvantage for millions of American families, damaging future generations. Millions of women in the United Sates are dealing with the consequences lower wages have on their families because they continue to be degraded and denied equal…

    • 1904 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today’s society, the idea of marriage, creating and maintaining a family, is meant to be held up equally between both the husband and the wife, based on the concept of co-parenting. Co-parenting, in an ideal marriage, is when both the husband and wife contribute half of both the child care and income, while maintaining a healthy relationship. In Hope Edelman’s “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed To Be. How It Was”, Edelman disproves this concept by revealing that , despite the efforts coming from the husband, the wife is ultimately left responsible for all parenting and household needs. In doing this, she realizes that her marriage has become one like her parents because of the gender roles that are established by society.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In these articles describe the conflicts between work life and home life in parents and children. In Penny Parker’s “Double Daddy” she shows the point of view from a father. In Sue Shellenbarger’s “Diary of a Mad Blender” she shows the point of view from a mother. Finally in Cora Daniels’s “The Child’s View of Working Parents” she shows the point of view of the children of those who work. These articles show what adults think about their work and home lives.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    You and I both have a mother and father. However, privileged individuals have both parents living under the same roof in “love”. If you are one of these privileged individuals we can make judgement on who does the most laundry, who handles the finances, who cooks, who cleans, and the list is endless. Some of us might say “mom” and others “dad” but regardless of who does what, in a “traditional” household (Olson November 17th, 2016), there’s always one parent who does the majority of the house and child-rearing work. It becomes a “second shift” for that parent when they come home from work.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Work-life balance is essential for family and professional growth as neglecting one while committing time to the other reduces a person’s productivity (Rife, and Hall 7). For this reason, Dr. Horgan should balance his time between serving clients and spending time with his…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    American Individualism

    • 1548 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In America, many believe that taking care of children is a private responsibility this has had led to many work environments to be inflexible and non-family friendly. This perspective was born out of the American ethos of individualism- an ideology that stresses that individuals must be independent and that they are fully responsible for their life outcomes. Hays (2003) argues that this cultural value of self-sufficiency has made us insensitive and nonunderstanding to the social factors that influence life outcomes. This ideology has led to a prominent absence of social policies that surround family support in America, especially for those in the working class.…

    • 1548 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Without debate, the tradition of mothers staying home and being the primary caretaker of the family dates back to the Tang dynasty during imperial China era. The role and place of the mother has evolved and been ever changing since the Tang dynasty. As time has progressed, over the last century, major debate has emerged both for and against mothers, woman, staying home to keep the tradition role or joining the workforce.…

    • 1874 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Second Shift

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages

    For that reason, I agree that balancing work and family is difficult especially when the economy is not at its best. Overall, gender inequalities in housework have persisted throughout the years, parents often face difficulties when trying to balance employment and care responsibilities, which may have negative effects such as less focus on children’s schoolwork or the decrease in their well-being that results from having jobs with inadequate pay. It is evident that family work is highly influenced by gender and social class, which creates challenges for the families and causes them to feel…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays