Work life gender gap narrows

The glass ceiling hasn’t been broken on the pay scale, but ambition to potentially shatter it has picked up momentum, and Millennials, (under the age of 29) are in the drivers seat. 

It’s one of the more striking and surprising findings in 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce says Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of the Families and Work Institute. For three decades the Institute has been tracking family concerns within the changing landscape of the workforce and workplace.

“There are many firsts in this study – the first time that younger men and women feel the same about job advancement, and the first time that there is no statistically significant different between men and women in their views of proper gender roles,” said Galinsky. For example, men and women are both less likely to embrace “traditional” gender roles. Even if the man earns more cash in his career, he might still be making dinner and doing housework.  

Women in the Workforce

Among the men and women under 29 years old, women are just as likely to want jobs with greater responsibility. For the first time, that attitude was neck and neck among women with and without children. According to the figures, the fruits of that drive might already be manifesting behind the scenes. Women in dual-earner couples contributed an average of 44% to the annual family income in 2008, compared to 39% back in 1997. 

The model of the working mother picked up positive steam in this report. More men and women agreed that employed women can be good mothers. 

Men in the Workforce

Perhaps one of the more startling findings is the increased level of work life conflict experienced by men. It increased from 34% in 1977, to 45% in 2008. The report once again, attributes that to changing gender roles.

Employed fathers are spending more time with their children than their age counterparts did three decades ago and men are taking more overall responsibility for the care of their children. In 1992, 21% of women said their spouses were taking as much or more responsibility, but that number jumped to 31% in 2008.

Seismic Shift in Attitude

It’s worth it to note that the data was collected in 2008, during what some economists would call the beginning of the recession. (some say more specifically December 2007) There has been a marked increase of women in the workforce due to layoffs, economic pressures and the high numbers of women entering into small businesses. So it stands to reason that the gender gap might have narrowed even further in just a year. 

The report is telling according to Ron Glover, Vice President of Diversity and Workforce Programs, at IBM (which funded the report) “Work/Life difficulty is no longer a women’s issue – it’s a people issue.” 

The report’s data collection was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation which keeps its philanthropic finger on the pulse of American society, the sciences and the economy. The non-profit is known for its support of numerous work life research programs which you can read about here.