Supportive workplace lets young women help partner

Washington, Jan 21:

Young women would love to share household responsibilities equally with their partner if there is a work-family balance in place, finds a study.

COUPLE COOKINGResearchers from University of Texas at Austin and University of California-Santa Barbara found that if workplace policies that support work-family balance such as subsidised child care are in place, women are even more likely to prefer an egalitarian relationship.

“If policies such as flexible scheduling, parental leave and subsidised child care were universally in place, women would be even more likely to want an egalitarian relationship with their partner and much less likely to want to be primarily responsible for housework and childcare,” said David S. Pedulla, assistant professor of sociology at University of Texas at Austin.

The findings also shed light on the factors contributing to persistent gender inequality and the ways in which government and organisational policies could be redesigned to improve the lives of young men and women.

A key implication of this research is that men’s and women’s current work-family arrangements are often suboptimal and result from a particular set of unsupportive workplace policies and practices.

“If we were to change the workplace policy environment, we would likely see changes in how people express their ideal preferences for balancing work and family life,” added Sarah Thebaud, assistant professor of sociology at University of California-Santa Barbara.

The study is forthcoming in the journal American Sociological Review. IANS

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