Homemaker Family Model

Over the last several decades we have seen a dramatic shift in the role that women play both at home and in the labor market. The traditional role of homemaker has been challenged by women across the nation as their labor force participation has steadily increased over the decades. Whether it be part time, full time or at home, women are working much more than they used to, and this has led to conflicts both at home and the workplace about how to find the perfect balance between family and work life. Long gone are the days when the traditional breadwinner vs. homemaker family model predominated in our society. Now a days, dual earning households are the norm in our society, but institutions and workplaces still lack the appropriate resources …show more content…
There are a host of different factors that may be at play in a working mothers’ balancing scale, but three overarching and predominant factors can be observed in the vast majority of literature pertaining to the topic. There has been much research dedicated to studying the intricacies of navigating the labor market while being a mother, and women, men, and employers alike have all been examined in order to gain a better understanding of family work dynamics. The three specific factors that seem to be persistently cited by women as factors affecting their ability to have it all include, the motherhood penalty, the societal pressures and emphasis of intensive mothering, and the stigmatization faced by many working mothers in their workplaces when trying to negotiate flexible work arrangements. These universal and highly influential issues speak volumes of our flawed workplace and institutional structures, that have made minute progress in reshaping the traditional labor organization in order to accommodate working mothers. By discussing these three specific influences in working mothers’ lives and using literature, anecdotal stories and research studies to emphasize the impact that they may have, we can begin to better understand why women’s goal and aspirations can sometimes be derailed, and being able to have it all seems to be increasingly out of reach. By understanding the specific issues that mothers face in the workplace, we can then relate this information into the grander scheme of family work life conflict. This analysis will then also allow us to discover what may be missing from the discussion and available research on this topic. By generating future research questions and new directions of studies in the realm of family work and gender, we can begin to look for viable solutions that