Presentation Transcript

1. Gender Cultures and Gender Regimes

   A Cross-Cultural Investigation
2. Introduction Male breadwinner model of post war welfare state is largely being supplanted by the adult worker family model where both men and women are seen as primary workers in the labour market who contribute their respective income in the upbringing of the children (Duncan et al, 2003). The adult worker family model would still lag behind from being a good replacement to the male breadwinner model since unpaid care work would still be undervalued and seen as a barrier to paid work (Fraser, 1997 as cited in Duncan et al., 2003). The interviews were aimed at understanding gender relations within the workplace and at home to revealhow the moral economy of combining paid work and care work ensured the working of an adult worker family model.
3. Respondents’ Overview Anna Late 20s Young Indian mother Married with one child Technology Lead,Infosys Thematic Analysis Job Retention: Necessity Equality in Household Decision Making: Unequal sharing of household work Sharing of Unpaid Care Work: Crucial and Sustaining Kendra Early 40s White mother Married with one child Chartered Legal Executive Thematic Analysis The Boss: One female, the Other-’Friends’ ‘I am a mum first but also have a career’ The Household: ‘we are very equal’ Respect
4. The Boss: One Female, the Other – ‘Friends’ Background Before the birth of Kendra’s first child: Kendra worked locally as a chartered legal executive, full time, 9-5, with no benefits, just salary On news of her pregnancy, her female boss was ‘very nice about the whole thing’, treating her ‘the same as normal’ After the birth of her first child: Returned back to work after 4 and a half months, reducing her hours to 4 days a week, wages were reduced pro rata and holidays similarly adjusted Since the birth, Kendra has changed jobs, now working in central London as a chartered legal executive for new bosses who are friends After some negotiation, Kendra receives the same wage for less hours to take into account travelling, she now works 9.30-4 four days a week with the same holidays, receiving a bonus each quarter Her new bosses are funding her to study her post grad in law and LPC, and on completion she will be a solicitor, with this she receives study leave and exam days
5. The Boss: One Female, the Other – ‘Friends’ Kendra’s female boss was incredibly understanding and accommodating on news of her pregnancy, possibly because she was able to relate to the situation as a mother herself Furthermore Kendra’s new bosses of which are friends have been similarly accommodating, seeking to excel this mother and further her in her field. Kendra herself acknowledges that this could be because they were friends beforehand Kendra’s role as a mother does not limit her capacity as an employee, although as we shall see her choices will ultimately affect her ‘rise through the ranks’
6. ‘I am a mum first but also have a career’ Unlike the white mothers in the work of Duncan et al. (2003: 313) whose understanding with regard to combining motherhood and paid work ‘were mostly strung out along a primarily mother – primarily worker continuum, with an emphasis on the former’, Kendra holds a position akin to Afro-Caribbean mothers in the study, thereby ‘seeing substantial hours in employment as a built in component of good mothering’ (2003: 315) Kendra insists ‘I honestly do think that me working enhances my role as a mother. It makes me and his [Oscar’s] dad appear equal in his [Oscar’s] eyes which I think is very important’ Kendra believes her role as a mother to not affect her current status at work, although her unwillingness to work all hours will ultimately affect her ‘rise through the ranks’. Consequently, the increase in the value Kendra places on her home life since having Oscar has affected her ability to reach a higher position within her profession ‘It is a case of putting in what you want out of the firm’
7. The Household: ‘we are very equal’ Adult worker family model (Duncan et al., 2003: 309) Kendra and her husband, Adam, earn similar amounts, pay the same into the household, Adam does the washing, Kendra does the cooking, they both do the shopping, childcare and cleaning Kendra admits to do a little more in respect of Oscar: she is the main contact with the school, she knows the mothers, when the parties are and when PE is, which works to exemplify the organisational characteristic so commonly attached to the woman, and particularly the mother This is result of ‘no conscious decisions’, Kendra maintains ‘we have just muddled through and it has formed itself’ ‘We do what we can when we can as long as all of us get to work/school on time!’ Decision making within this household is based on feasibility, who can do what and when, it is not gendered, it is a matter of working as one to produce a family unit fuelled by equality, and as we shall see respect
8. Respect Kendra believes her role as a working mother positively affects Oscar’s respect towards her as a mother Evidence: ‘I have friends with children who think that their mums have nothing better to do than to look after their every whim and it seems to affect their respect’ Respect in terms of the marital relationship Kendra identifies two friends whose husbands are the primary earners within the household, these women do have problems with the man going out when he wants and consequently they have to work out their lives around their husbands She concludes ‘whilst me and my other friend do have to work very hard and miss out on a bit of time with our children, we do seem to enjoy it more and we get a lot more respect and help from our husbands’ Male breadwinner model vs. adult worker family model This suggests the male breadwinner model to have a negative effect on marital bliss, and equality within the home, whereas the adult worker family model positively equalises power relations and gender equality within the home
9. ‘Remember I am a divorce lawyer – equality seems to rule’ Kendra, 41 years, chartered legal executive
10. Introduction to Anna Late 20s Young Indian mother Married with one child Technology Lead, Infosys Thematic Analysis Job Retention: Necessity Equality in Household Decision Making:Unequal Sharing of Household Work Sharing of Unpaid Care Work: Crucial and Sustaining.
11. Background of Anna’s Household Anna (name has been changed) is based in the state of Karnataka in India Working as technology lead (TL) in leading information and technology firm, Infosys Mother of Rianna who is eight months old Her household comprises of her husband, herself, her mother and Rianna Her mother has agreed to shoulder the responsibility of child care for the first few years Anna’s husband used to work abroad in Saudi Arabia before the birth of Rianna and moved to India after her birth to shoulder the responsibilities of the household.
12. Job Retention: Necessity High preference for retention of her job since she echoes that ‘for IT industry if we have break in our career then it’s kind of difficult to get another job when we are planning to join back’ Not very happy with her work conditions regarding the performance rating system since this would make her ineligible for pay hike because she was out of work for ‘a long time’ after delivery of her first child No facility for flexible hours or other maternity benefits although ‘the government employees have better maternity benefits’ Working to contribute to family since ‘with one person’s salary it is getting really difficult to live’.
13. Equality in Decision Making:Unequal Household Work Single primary wage earner in the household as they both are earning and contribute to family income Her husband’s work pressure does not let him contribute to the household chores The division of responsibilities towards household was understood as being possible ‘since my mother is here, I can share it with her’ The adult worker family which is seen in this case still falls behind in equal sharing of household responsibility and is sustaining itself on a carer within the kin group but still being an outsider in the nuclear family and is a temporary member within the household
14. Sharing of Unpaid Care Work: Crucial and Sustaining Role of the respondent’s mother is vital in sustaining the household The account of such temporary arrangements in households calls for greater scrutiny in understanding the modern nuclear families in countries like India where child care is largely passed on to the immediate kin and this is seen as both obligatory and sustaining the adult worker family model. It is also to be noted that the care work of new born is undertaken by respondent’s mother making it evident further that care work is a woman’s work and seen as the extension of her natural role as carer and provider.
15. Conclusion It is seen that Anna corresponds to the ‘Afro-Caribbeanmothers’ position of ‘primarily worker’-‘mother/worker integral’ axis (Duncan et al., 2003). Anna does agree that it would have been impossible for her to concentrate on work if her mother had not consented to move to their home for shouldering of child care responsibilities. This also reiterates the results of the study by Duncan et al (2003) which found that ‘more qualified, middle class mothers were more likely to value paid work and to be in employment’(2003: 11) The context and analysis of a very well educated, middle class woman like Anna does make one realise that care work or domestic work is still not a man’s responsibility and even if he contributes a marginal proportion of sharing of tasks it is largely appreciated.
16. Continued Further, the ‘new household economics’ (Becker, 1981,1996 as cited in Duncan et al., 2003) is relevant to the analysis since even with full time employment of mother, she still takes a larger responsibility of the day to day maintenance of household as her husband is mostly outside home and more immersed in the labour market due to the nature of his job. This not only has gendered sanctions but also plays outside the idea of ‘gender equality’ within household.
17. Conclusive Finding The respondents’ differences in geographical locations and their different backgrounds mean that it largely obliterates visible similarities, thereby they still have common axes of Afro-Caribbean mothering and fit well into the ‘adult worker family’ model, although as discussed the ways in which they achieve the latter is undertaken in different ways. Thank you!