Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance

Front matter

Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance

Pressure to achieve work-life “balance” has recently become a significant part of the cultural fabric of working life in United States. A very few privileged employees tout their ability to find balance between their careers and the rest of their lives, but most employees face considerable organizational and economic constraints that hamper their ability to maintain a reasonable “balance” between paid work and other life aspects—and it is not only women who struggle. Increasingly, men also find it difficult to “do it all.” Women have long noted the near impossibility of balancing multiple roles, but it is only recently that men have been encouraged to see themselves beyond their breadwinner selves.

Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance describes the work-life practices of men in the United States. The purpose is to increase gender equality at work for all employees. With a focus on leave policy inequalities, this book argues that men experience a phenomenon called the “glass handcuffs,” which prevents them from leaving work to participate fully in their families, homes, and other life events. It highlights the cultural, institutional, organizational, and occupational conditions which make gender equality in work-life policy usage difficult. This social justice book ultimately draws conclusions about how to minimize inequalities at work.

PART II Causes for the Glass Handcuffs

6 “But I Was a Programmer before I Was a Dad”: Occupational Uniqueness and Occupational Identity

7 “It Is My Responsibility to Find the Right Balance”: Entrepreneurialism as a Constraint

8 “It’s Kind of .. .a Man Thing”: Gender, Economics, and the Impossibility of Leave

9 “Who Needs Time Off?” Reframing Leaves of Absence as Unnecessary xi x Contents

PART Ill

Finding the Key: Why Understanding the Glass Handcuffs Matters

Appendix A: Feminist Standpoint Theory and Researcher Positionality

Appendix B: Data Collection and Analysis