What I Have Learned About Women, Work And Society - Essay Example

[Supervisor What I Have Learned About Women, Work And Society Most studies of women's roles have adopted ratherformal and simplistic definition of these "roles," not allowing for their content and subjective meaning in the real context of women's lives. Thus, there is little doubt that the effect of employment on women's well-being strongly depends on the type and quality of the job, the extent of control and mastery in the workplace, and the balance of investments and rewards. Professional or managerial work affects women not in the same way as work on assembly line or in service sector. Women's socio-economic status and access to social support inside and outside of the family can also mediate role performance. Another important dimension of women's roles has to do with choice and necessity. "Public" roles, such as worker or social activist, are usually voluntary, and hence conducive to the sense of mastery and self-actualization (Boris and Chaudhuri 2001). Conversely, caretaking roles are often experienced as "imposed," and lead to perceived loss of control and poorer mental health. Therefore, universal models of role interaction should be supplemented by the more contextualized studies in specific groups of women of different age, ethnicity and social standing. Professional or managerial work affects women not in the same way as work on assembly line or in service sector. Women's socio-economic status and access to social support inside and outside of the family can also mediate role performance. Another important dimension of women's roles has to do with choice and necessity. "Public" roles, such as worker or social activist, are usually voluntary, and hence conducive to the sense of mastery and self-actualization. Conversely, caretaking roles are often experienced as "imposed," and lead to perceived loss of control and poorer mental health. Therefore, universal models of role interaction should be supplemented by the more contextualized studies in specific groups of women of different age, ethnicity and social standing. The bulk of earlier social research on women's roles was typically focused on the roles of younger women, i.e. those of wife, mother of young children, and employee; few studies addressed the issue of role overload in older working women. Using concepts of "caregiver stress" or "caregiver burden," the impact of elder care on the caregiver, as well as the cumulative effect of multiple roles, have been increasingly addressed. (Barbara Hanawalt 1986) The need in family-based care of the elderly is rapidly expanding in response to growing life expectancy and population ageing. Since women live, on the average, 5-7 years longer than men, they form the majority among both providers and recipients of care. The need for support and assistance progressively ascends after age 65, and by age 85 over half of the elderly cannot function without help. Despite growing social and geographic mobility in modern families, the ties between the elders and their adult children are stronger than was believed in past decades. Long-Term Care Survey in the U.S. has shown that 80% of elder care is provided by family members, and 72% of the caregivers are women, usually daughters or daughters-in-law. (Boris And Janssens 2000) Another demographic factor increasing the likelihood of having elderly parents while still young is the postponement of childbearing in most western countries. Many middle-class women, who invest time and effort in education and career, marry and bear children in their 30s and even early 40s. By the time these children start families of their own, their parents may well be into their late 60s. The small number of siblings in modern nuclear families also results in excessive caregiver burden falling on a single child, usually a daughter. About two million American women are simultaneously engaged in care of their teenage or younger children and ageing parents. An adult woman can expect to spend 17 years of her life caring for children and 18 years helping an ageing parent. Women, who care for both their children and parents, as well as work outside the home, experience especial role strain. The social expectation that women should be available for helping others regardless of their own interests and commitments is still dominant, while social and institutional support to women having multiple roles is often very limited. Several studies have compared the care-giving styles of men and women. Male caregivers were more likely to organize and manage services than provide hands-on care, while women tended to do both. The need to help ageing parents has to be viewed in the general context of women's lives, including dramatic variance in their lifestyles, personal resources, and pressures of daily living. Working-class women or those from disadvantaged social groups (e.g., immigrants or single mothers) may especially suffer from added demands of elder care. Unable to hire help and getting little support from their male partners, these women have to work longer hours, sleep less, and juggle their multiple roles, often with feelings of guilt and inadequacy (Boris And Janssens 2000). Middle- and upper-class women, who enjoy greater financial freedom and social support, may handle their multiple roles more successfully. They also get more professional support in eldercare: daycare centers, home attendants, and other social services aimed at alleviation of the family burden (including eventual placement) are more accessible to and utilized by educated working women. The literature on caregiver stress centers on several sources of hardship of family care-giving. While multiple roles (meaning work and family) may be mutually enhancing, multiple care-giving roles often involve emotional distress and exhaustion resulting from competing, and often conflicting, demands of care recipients. As opposed to women's roles in the public realm, care-giving is seldom remunerated either in terms of material rewards or social credit. While emotional and physical investment in child care is usually colored with hope and aspirations for the future, care for the elderly, especially the frail and demented, may be perceived as an unfair burden, if not a waste of time and energy. Women whose paid jobs also involve care-giving (e.g., nurses and daycare workers) or services (cleaning, sales, secretarial work) have especial trouble taking over their second (with children) and third (with parents) shifts at home. Since the bulk of working women in most economies are employed in service-oriented sectors, the replication of similar monotonous and unrewarding duties at work and at home is highly common. Its psychological costs for the women involved include a higher prevalence of depression, somatization (i.e. physical manifestations of mental problems), and tobacco and alcohol dependencies as tools for coping with the stress. In the context of women's competing roles as workers and caregivers, this article explores the experiences of a group of women living under especially harsh role strain. Juxtaposed with downward socio-economic mobility, and the loss of support networks experienced by many immigrants, the caregiver responsibilities of these women are especially hard to meet. Virtually all care-giving to the elderly, sick or disabled took place within families. The profession of social worker in a western sense did not exist; social security workers were but small bureaucrats who never left their offices. This study tried to cast an in-depth look into the lives of the women belonging to the "sandwich" generation, whose multiple roles as workers and caregivers have been juxtaposed with immigration experience. Unlike most previous macro-level linkage and survey-type studies of multiple roles it sought to explore role content and subjective meaning in the specific micro-context of women's lives (i.e., in combination of middle age, Soviet past, resettlement, and role pile-up). In that sense, the study adds one more facet to the growing pool of qualitative research on immigrant women. Works Cited Barbara Hanawalt; (1986) Women And Work In Preindustrial Europe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press Boris and Chaudhuri; (2001) Voices of Women Historians. Indiana University Press Boris And Janssen's; (2000) Complicating Categories: Gender, Class, Race And Ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Read More