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What Is Needed to Help Women Balance Work and Family Responsibilities?

L.E. Falkenberg (Faculty of Management, University of Calgary Loren Falkenberg obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois and is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Management at the University of Calgary.)
M.L. Monachello (Faculty of Management, University of Calgary Mary Monachello completed a MBA at the University of Calgary and is currently a lecturer in the Faculty of Management at this University.)
L.C. Edlund (Faculty of Management, University of Calgary Connie Edlund is a Chartered Accountant and is currently Manager of Compensation and Benefits for Husky Oil.)

Equal Opportunities International

ISSN: 0261-0159

Article publication date: 1 March 1991

314

Abstract

One of the major challenges for managing human resources in the 1990s is to appropriately respond to employees having to manage the dual responsibilities of home and work (Paris, 1989). Balancing work and family has been considered a women's issue, with the question being whether women could handle both the home demands and the responsibilities of a paid job. Yet the entrance of women into the workforce has also required major role adjustments by their husbands. According to the traditional model of work, husbands prioritize work over family with the wife providing the necessary emotional and physical support to keep the husband in “good working order” (Pleck, 1977). In today's society, this model is no longer widely applicable, as men in dual earner families receive less emotional support than their single‐earner counterparts (Burke, & Weir, 1976; Keith, & Schafer, 1980) and tend to assume greater family responsibilities (Holahan, & Gilbert, 1979; Weingarten, 1978).

Citation

Falkenberg, L.E., Monachello, M.L. and Edlund, L.C. (1991), "What Is Needed to Help Women Balance Work and Family Responsibilities?", Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 10 No. 3/4, pp. 33-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb010548

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1991, MCB UP Limited

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