If you have gone out to eat since 2020, or wanted to purchase a product from a local store, you have likely felt the frustration of worker shortages, which will likely impact the future of society and family in our country for some time . While many of us are frustrated with unemployment levels, waiting longer for products and services, there may be a silver lining that is going unnoticed. With regards to the home, modern advancements have solved the problem for many, but not for all.
For the last half-century, financial concerns have increased, compelling many American families to pursue two incomes. The Pew Center shows that dual-income homes increased from 25% of American households (with children) in 1960 to 60% in 1990, where it has remained since. Covid changed some of this, as many companies found a way to allow people to work from home. Since re-opening, many of those companies have kept that model so that many women don’t have to choose between working or staying at home with their children.
The January, 2022, jobs report found that 275,000 women left the workforce in the previous month alone, leaving the women’s workplace participation rate at 57%—a rate that pre-pandemic had not been seen since 1988.
Amanda, a senior manager with an accounting firm, coaches young women fresh out of college. Her training makes women stand out more in the job market, and they can increase their chances of landing a higher position in the company. These women are well educated, but they are not handed the choice to stay at home. Societal expectation puts pressure on them to pursue their careers and start making money; to “become successful” and “climb the corporate ladder”, rather than being given a choice how they want to map out their own lives with their families.
Should a woman stay at home and start a family while he works and pays off college debt? Or would she be better off pursuing a career and delaying children? Maybe their family structure allows the husband to be with the children during the day. Of course, I understand that this overlooks the single mothers who do not have the luxury of this choice, but this is a complex topic, to be sure.
Amanda has had a personal history of managing a home life while involved in a successful career. She knows what raising kids involves and how demanding a career can be. She says that she has recently cut back on her own participation in the workforce and she shares why:
Pandemic rules caused a lot of burnout for herself and her colleagues. Meetings on zoom became much less formal, and the kids and dogs interrupting a zoom meeting became acceptable. Mostly, she liked being able to work while staying home with her kids. Of course,She still puts in a lot of hours during tax season, but the rest of the year, she is more free to work as little or as much as she wants. Previously, she felt pressured to work, but in reality, all she had ever wanted was to be a stay at home mom. Now, with a lot of support from her husband who owns his own business, she can be more involved with the children, while still managing a career. Bringing these parts of her life into better harmony has lowered her stress levels, and reduced the pressure she felt her marriage was under, and she feels her children are better off for her decision.
Women’s participation in the workforce began as a necessity In the first two World Wars. The sharp jump beginning in the 1960’s was a result of seeing work as a social justice issue, as women fought for fair pay and treatment in the workplace. What is not reported is how the rate of divorce has followed the trend closely, steadily climbing year over year, until it hit a dramatic increase in the 1970’s. Crime rates have climbed steadily with the rate of divorce. More kids are raised by a single parent. Which impacts promiscuity, school performance and crime among adolescents.
Rebecca A Clay, a freelance writer (note: single, with no children) attributes women leaving the workplace to “Insidious societal messages that women should be mothers and that mothers should put their families first.”
I found it interesting that these articles about how awful it is for women to stay home, all feature photos of women happily interacting with their children. Hmmmm…
Amanda says in reality, the “Insidious societal messages” are the new ones. Many women are deciding they don’t want to go back to work, or, like her, at least not at the level they were pre-pandemic. When they were forced to stay at home they realized how much they missed their families. They have rediscovered some good old-fashioned truth.