Two-Career Family versus One-Career Family - Essay Example

Two -Career Family versus One-Career FamilyIn a two career family both the individuals who are heads of a household take care of the family and pursue their careers together (Hester and Dickerson 1). On the other hand, in a one- career family there is only one earning member (Gladow and Ray 1). In the 2-career family lifestyle both men and women face challenges. Women traditionally have performed the domestic works like taking care of the children, parents and the other household works. They are so used to performing these household jobs that when they step out into the professional world they start to face challenges because this sphere is new to them.

Similarly, men are more familiar with the official work, but when they have to manage the household duties they find it really difficult to manage both at the same time, simply because they have to devote more time towards the domestic activities. So, both men and women have to sacrifice time for both the activities and thus reducing the efficiency in the sphere they are more familiar with. It has been seen that even a highly educated wife can look after the home, which the husband cannot (Hester and Dickerson 1).

In a 1-career family the earning member has to face different types of problems and challenges like taking care of the family finances, transportation, taking care of the children and other household jobs all alone (Gladow and Ray 1). In the 2-career system both share the duties, may be not equally, while in the 1-career system the only bread earner has to take all the responsibilities. The 2-career family lifestyle is more popular than the other form and the primary reason is to increase the family income as the cost of living is increasing day by day.

Although it results in financial gains, it brought with itself problems as well. The husband and wife have rarely been able to equally share the responsibilities, especially at home. Women, with equally challenging and demanding job roles, compared to men have to take the load of the domestic work. Although men have encouraged women to start a career in the professional field, they have not been able to help them out in the domestic work and share equal responsibilities. They could never turn into a partner in this field and at best they have been helping hands for their wives.

Hence, wives have to bear the brunt of the responsibilities at home. But it should be noted that the stress levels among the traditional couples are same as the modern ones (Hester and Dickerson 1). In a 1-career family system there are very few opportunities for financial gains as there is only one earning member. And over that there exist problems already mentioned earlier (Gladow and Ray 1). In case of the 2-career family system, both the parents do not get enough time to spend with their family together as they are busy with the dual responsibilities.

But still at least one of them has some time to give to the children, especially the mother (Hester and Dickerson, 1). But, in case of 1-career family system the only parent has to put the entire focus on the financial condition of the family and has to work accordingly, thus the children are totally deprived of the love and care of their parent, although the single working parent is totally committed towards the family. The individual is so busy that there is no time to think about the personal needs as well (Gladow and Ray 1).

In the 20th century there was a theory that more the husband earns, the less the wife will work irrespective of the income capability of the wife. But a rise in female labor force suggests that irrespective of the husband’s income, the more the wife is capable of earning the more she would work (Janssens 10-11).The 2-career family system will be adopted by more and more families and it will continue to exist, but the earning members have to deal with the drawbacks creatively and find solutions to these problems (Hester and Dickerson 1).

ReferencesGladow, Nancy and Margaret Ray, The Low-Income Single Parent, Journal of Extension (1984) 22.5, October 1, 2012 from: http://www.joe.org/joe/1984september/a2.phpHester, Susan and Kitty Dickerson, Serving Dual-Career Families: Problem or Opportunity?, Journal of Extension (1984) 22.4, October 1, 2012 from: http://www.joe.org/joe/1984september/a2.php Janssens Angelique, The Rise And Decline of Male Breadwinner Family, Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1997. Print.