Balancing Work and Family Life, Essay Example

Most sociological works on the subject deal with the consequences of being a single mother, and the challenges of juggling work and family life for and from a female’s perspective. Very few studies consider the fact that increasingly more men are becoming single fathers. It is, therefore, imperative to investigate their ability in coping with the joint effects of vocation and domestic occupation. According to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) (2010), not only are fathers more likely than mothers (87 percent) to be in fulltime employment, but it was also discovered that between 1998 to 2001 the proportion of lone fathers as compared to lone mothers increased when it came to balancing work and vocation. More so, the workload is generally higher for fathers than it is for mothers by approximately two-thirds.   In 1999, for instance, a survey by Fisher, McCulloch, and Gershuny showed that fathers in Britain worked an average of 46 hours per week with nearly 40 percent working a minimum of 48 hours and one-eight 60 or more hours per week. This produces an undue amount of stress, worsened, according to a poll recently surveyed by the American Psychological Association (APA) (2007), by the fact that men are less able than women to cope with domestic-related stress. This essay evaluates a father’s perceptive on balancing work and family life, assesses the consequences, and offers solutions.

The Problem

Work and family life combined can be a stressful phenomenon for a father balancing this alone. According to the American Psychological Stress survey (APA, 2007), 50 percent of the men polled vs. 40 percent of women stated that stress negatively affected various aspects of their life such as job satisfaction, whilst 45 percent of men versus 35 percent of women reported that stress effected their overall satisfaction with life. It seems, therefore, that men are less able to cope with being a single father or with balancing work and family life than women can. The endeavor to balance both affects not only their job but also their overall psychological mental well-being.

Consequences

According to Palomares (APA, 2007), men react to their stress in destructive manners such as with binge eating, alcoholism, or smoking which inevitably acts as a negative role model for children, with children, potentially, indulging in those same destructive acts in their adult years.

Fathers with atypical working hours (such as 50 hours minimum) may indulge in destructive or abusive domestic conduct (towards either or both partner and children) as outlet for their stress. More so, the EOC discovered that so-called ‘atypical’ fathers (namely those who maximized their working hours) tended to lower their participation in childcare and housework. The result rebounds on the partner and children causing them to experience a whole set of mental health problems of their own. In fact, partners of such fathers often find themselves lonely, isolated, and guilty with their relationship inevitably suffering as a result (Robinson, 1998). Aside from unfaithfulness in marriage occasionally occurring, family members may retaliate with verbal resentments and emotional distance. Children of such atypical father may become ‘parentified’, in the sense that they forfeit their childhood, are forced to care for themselves, and emerge in later life with this “empty hole inside” (Robinson, 1998, p. 121). The parental bond – mother with child – can become more valued than the marital bond, since father’s physical and emotional presence is lacking. The overall result is that the ‘atypical’ father (the one who, when seeking to merge work with family, overcompensates work) fails to achieve equilibrium between family and work.  He loses his family by dedicating himself to his work.

Even without considering such radical negative results, and even for those fathers who showcase more typical working hours, the undue amount of stress resultant from their responsibilities may impede them from investing the amount of quality time that they wish they had with their children.

Conclusion

A number of studies (e.g., Fisher, McCulloch, & Gershuny, 1999) show that since the 1970s there has been an upward swing with fathers spending more time with their children attempting to balance both work and home. As opposed to the mid-1970s where father spent less than 15 minutes per day to child-related activities, by the late 1990s fathers dedicated at least 2 hours a day. In total, time spent by fathers accounts for one-third of total parental childcare. Having to assiduously fulfill demands of the workplace at the same time can be stressful.

The APA suggests that fathers investigate the source of their stress, become conscious of the ways that they deal with it, find healthy ways to deal with it, and, most importantly, seek support (such as a Fathers’ Support Group) to do so. Other commonsensical tips include being less of a workaholic, being assertive (namely declining unimportant duties), pacing oneself, finding a family-friendly workplace, and taking care of oneself (Dads for Life).

The EOC urges that an informed public debate is needed about how fathers can and should balance their economic and other commitments to children and partners. The introduction of paternity leave is a positive suggestion, although it is, simultaneously, problematic since, as research in Britain demonstrates, fathers are disinclined to take parental leave that is unpaid.

The EOC further recommend a change in workplace culture so that active fatherhood is accepted and the prevalence of longer working hours reduced. There also needs to be greater flexibility in the working place for fathers, so that fathers have greater control over their working day.  Finally, addressing the traditional gender pay gap could also be helpful since males, traditionally paid more than females, might impose expectations on themselves as the family breadwinner, thus imposing greater stress on father to absorb themselves in longer working hours.

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Fatherhood balancing act takes a toll on men’s health (http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/fatherhood-health.aspx)

Dads for Life. Balancing family and work (http://dadsforlife.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=247:balancing-family-life-and-work&catid=70:fatherhood-101&Itemid=130)

Equal Opportunities Commission (2010). Fathers: Balancing work and family. (www.eoc.org.uk/research)

Fisher, K., McCulloch, A. and Gershuny, J. (1999) British Fathers and Children: Working paper. Essex: Institute for Social and Economic Research

Robinson, B.E. (1998). Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, their Partners, and Children, and all the Clinicians who treat them. USA: New York University Press