Changing the Conditions of Work: Responding to Increasing Work Force Diversity and New Family Patterns
Author(s)
Bailyn, Lotte
Abstract
This essay analyzes how the work force in the U.S. is changing and how the distribution of family types in the United States is dramatically different from what it has been. More than half of all mothers with children under one are now in the paid labor force (Hayes, Palmer, and Zaslow, 1990); 45 percent of all paid workers are women (Johnston and Packer, 1987). And 28 percent of all households are female-headed house holds (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1989). It is not surprising, therefore, that a study by the Bank Street Work and Family Life staff has found that between two and three of every five employees are having problems managing the often conflicting demands of jobs and family life (Galinsky, 1988). Yet the structure of the workplace is still geared to the assumption that workers can commit all their energy and time to their employment.
