Balancing work and family

Pleck, J.H. (1999). Balancing work and family. Scientific American Presents: Men's Health.

With women's move into the workplace over the last few decades, men's roles have changed as well. Men spend much less of their lives working than they did in the past. Father's are not only becoming more available, but more engaged in the family as well. However, these effects are countered by an increase in divorce rates and an increase in the number of unmarried fathers. The family is far more psychologically central to men than work, as is the case for women. Fathers tend to carry their emotions home with them from work, whereas mothers keep their family experiences insulated from the workplace. There also still exist gross gender differences in the nature of behavioral interaction with children. However, despite changing roles, companies have not caught up in their sympathy for their male employees' work-family problems, so social change is still lagging.