A tip of the hat to the blog Monster Thinking, with its recent post, "What Employers Can Do to Recruit & Retain Working Mothers," for this point:
This Is Not Just A Woman’s Issue.
It is vital that employers regard this as a company challenge—important for all individuals and for the health of the organization—not only an issue for female employees. Paternity leave and flextime are often not as readily available to men, and men don’t feel as comfortable taking it. Companies should encourage male employees to engage in the work-life conversation.
If we level the expectations for both genders, we will not have such an insurmountable disparity in the opportunities available to men and women. This TED talk by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg offers a powerful perspective on leveling the playing field.
Fun fact: If you live in California and you're a new dad, you can usually get six weeks of paid family leave for bonding with your child. It may not be full pay, but it beats a sharp stick in the eye.
But to get to my point: So long as we still refer to workers struggling with job/life balance as being on the "mommy track," we're perpetuating the idea that only women are responsible for caretaking their family members. And that may continue to send the message that men who take time to care for a new baby or aging parent are somehow weird or abnormal.
As it stands, the American workplace profits from the assumption that every household runs on a gendered division of labor. This hurts both men (who miss out on family life) and women (who become financially vulnerable because they lose earning power). The question I have is: What is stopping us from uniting against the common enemy here?
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