Hitting the Barriers: A Changing Generation, Stalled Institutions

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Hitting the Barriers A Changing
Generation,Stalled Institutions

• Kathleen Gerson
• Professor of Sociology
• New York University
• Who Cares? Dilemmas of Work and Family in the
  21st Century
• A Symposium Sponsored by
• The Council on Contemporary Families
• October 20, 2006
• Chicago, Illinois

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Sources Contact Information

• Sources
• Gerson, Kathleen. 2004. Understanding Work and
  Family Through a Gender Lens. Community, Work,
  and Family 7 (2)(August) 163-179.
• Gerson, Kathleen. 2002. Moral Dilemmas, Moral
  Strategies, and the Transformation of Gender
  Lessons from Two Generations of Work and Family
  Change. Gender Society 16 (1) (February)
  8-28.
• Gerson, Kathleen. In progress. Children of the
  Gender Revolution Work and Family Change in the
  Lives of a New Generation (unpublished book
  manuscript).
• Contact Information
• Kathleen Gerson, Department of Sociology, New
  York University, 295 Lafayette Street, 4th Floor,
  New York, NY 10012
• kathleen.gerson_at_nyu.edu

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State of the Debate

• What is happening?
• Return to tradition or a gender transformation?
• Why is it happening?
• Causes Declining values or irreversible
  social shifts?
• Consequences Decline of families or rise of
  more egalitarian options?
• What are the political implications?
• Can we create egalitarian institutions and also
  enhance well-being of individuals and families?
• Can we transcend the culture wars?

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The Children of the Gender Revolution as a
Lens for Understanding Work and Family Change

• How those who grew up during the gender
  revolution see work-family issues
• The view from below what are childrens
  experiences in diverse families?
• Crafting the future return to tradition or new
  work family strategies?
• Lessons for 21st century policies politics
  persisting work-family conflict or expanding
  gender and family flexibility?

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The Study

• 120 in-depth interviews
• Age 18 to 32,
• average 24-25
• Equal numbers of women and men
• 5 lesbian or gay
• Diverse racial and ethnic make-up
• Diverse family backgrounds

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Childrens Views of ParentsWork and Marital
Choices
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Facing the Future Work-Family Ideals, by
Family Background and Gender
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If Not Equality?Fallback Strategies, by Gender
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Womens Fallback Strategies

• Preparing for Autonomy (73)
• Greatest Pressures
• Fragile relationships
• Unsupportive men
• Strategic Responses
• Economic self-sufficiency
• Personal identity through work
• Dont settle (marriage is optional)
• Create a chosen family
• Crafting Neo-Traditionalism (27)
• Greatest Pressures
• Demands of womens dual burden
• Demands of time greedy workplaces dead-end
  jobs
• Demands of intensive mothering
• Strategic Responses
• Find a breadwinning partner
• Opt out, but only temporarily

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Mens Fallback Strategies

• Seeking Flexible Traditionalism (70)
• Greatest Pressures
• Demands of ideal worker model
• Exclusive mothering as parenting ideal
• Strategic Responses
• Own work and breadwinning identity come first
• Partners work as secondary choice
• Find a traditional partner
• Remaining Free (30)
• Greatest Pressures
• Illusiveness of economic security
• Responsibilities to partner (economic or domestic
  support)
• Strategic Responses
• No marriage without stable work
• Marriage and parenthood are optional
• Mutual economic autonomy in relationships

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Bridging the Work- Family Divide?

• Personal Strategies
• Despite institutional obstacles that produce
  gender mismatches, shared values of commitment
  and equality
• Skepticism about collective solutions, but shared
  efforts to craft flexible, personally tailored
  work-family careers
• Collective Prospects
• Diverging work-family strategies fuel political
  cleavages
• But shared uncertainty fuels reluctance to
  moralize support for defining family as process,
  not type
• Transcending the impasse?
• Focus on institutional obstacles, rather than
  individual values
• Workplace flexibility, equal opportunity
• Communities of care
• Recognize gender dimension of social policy
• Help parents enact flexible gender strategies
• Help young adults enact egalitarian ideals of
  work-family balance

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Finis