The Evolution of a Revolution
It's been more than 30 years since women entered the workforce in large numbers and the image of mother as "supermom" emerged. The women who wanted it all juggled sporting events, birthday parties and science projects with meetings, presentations and reports and often got it all: family and career accompanied by large doses of guilt, stress, anxiety and fatigue.
The working woman phenomenon of the 1970s brought significant economic and social change over the decades, marked by a revolution of gender roles. For the first time, fathers were not the sole breadwinners and working women expected their spouses to contribute half the effort of raising a family. But while women benefited emotionally and financially from the power of their paycheck, men struggled to accept their changing status at home and in the workplace.
"In 1993, 58 percent of mothers with children under the age of six and nearly 75 percent of those with children between the ages of six and 18 were part of the paid labor force," according to a report from Michigan-based Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence, a business unit of the Thomson Corp.
But by the '90s, women had become disillusioned by the supermom ideal, and despite heightened lifestyles built around the two-paycheck family, conflict between family obligation and work responsibility had women examining alternatives with many deciding the price was too high.
Care giving impacts on business
In addition to child care challenges, more U.S. families are impacted by another care giving phenomenon — the aging of America. Studies show that the majority of working women still assume primary care giving responsibilities in the majority of families. According to "Eldercare & The Workforce: Blueprint for Action," (B. Lowe, A. Scharlach and E. Schneider, Lexington Books, D.C. Health & Co.; 1991) 75 percent of women between the ages of 45 and 60 were in the workforce in the year 2000. These experienced workers, who are among corporate America's most experienced and valued, will most likely face the care of ill and elderly parents.
Other social shifts which impact on business include: both spouses work in majority of households; families provide over 80 percent of in-home care for elderly relatives; the average married couple spends more years caring for dependent elderly relatives than they do for children under 18; and people are marrying later, which increases the possibility of caring for both children and the elderly.
"Why should (companies) care?" asked Ronald Moore, president and CEO of FamilyCare America, a Richmond, Va.-based business which works with companies to recognize and understand that care giving is having an impact on every workforce: "They can't afford not to," he said. Employees' care giving concerns often result in problems for businesses including employee retention and replacement; absenteeism; workday interruptions, and loss of supervisors' time, he said.
According to research undertaken by FamilyCare America Inc., there are between 11 million and 16 million employed care givers nationwide; these care givers cost U.S. employers $29 billion a year; on average, each care giver loses $659,000 over a lifetime due to lost wages, benefits and missed promotions; and any funds spent by the employer in helping with care giving have a pay back to the employer of two and one-half times to five times the cost.
Companies that implement programs to help their employees with care giving find "the benefit feels good to the employees . . . and they get a return on their investment," said Moore. Women — and men — are seeking more liberal attitudes/policies in the workplace in the 21st century and women still want it all, but with a difference — balance and the freedom to prioritize.
Still, women more than men, are forced to make sacrifices in their professional lives, and even with supportive husbands, pressures of combining care giving with full-time work is intense. However, women enjoy working at careers they've built over years so they search for alternatives. Some choose part-time work to spend more time with their families; others accept lower paying jobs because of greater flexibility, and still others are leaving their companies to start their own businesses.
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