Recent articles over the past couple years have have decried the setbacks to women as a result of the pandemic, particularly regarding income loss and decreased work participation. Aside from the notion that a decline in female workforce participation must always mean an unintentional loss rather than the result of women’s intentional decision-making, recent workplace measures from the past ten years have enabled mothers to work, and demonstrate the advancements women and families have made in spite of an economic system inimical to family flourishing.
The Original Sense of “Economy”
For as long as most of us can remember, we and our families have left home daily, either by private or public transit, to go to work. It is perhaps ironic then that the word “economy” derives from the Ancient Greek oikonomía, meaning “household management or administration,” when our economic activity is primarily outside our homes. However, this was not always the case. Back before the Industrial Revolution, homes were sources of production, and every family member of proper age had a specific and crucial role to play. With the rise of factory labor, countless men, women, and children left their homes to work long hours in grueling conditions. This left them little time to enjoy family life at home, and it very much resembles our reality of hustle and bustle in the present post-industrial era.
Postindustrial Work and Family
While today’s families are no longer the producers of goods, they are similarly bound by work outside the home as were their industrial-era predecessors. Though the “gig” economy grants some individuals the ability to produce from home, the home is overwhelmingly a site for consumption of goods and services. In general, most of today’s extended families don’t run shops (enter Amazon) or farms (enter Big Ag), let alone live together as most did in pre-industrial days (you can thank the college-industrial complex for that). However, while today’s service-based economy supports the norm of parents working for employers outside the home, and as many employers recognize the near-impossibility of parenting absent extended family, companies are blurring the hard line between work and family with the help of technology and family-friendly programs. Here are few ways that workplaces, and individuals, are realizing new possibilities for the re-integration of work and family life.
Bringing Babies to Work
In the recent past, bringing a baby to work would have been unthinkable, if not impossible. The notion that one’s family life could, or should, impinge upon the work day and potentially disrupt the normal workplace flow could jeopardize one’s status as professional. Thankfully, a greater number of women in the workforce has meant greater accommodation for maternity leave and postpartum flexibility, but also an increase in paternity leave. While having babies may not exactly a boon for most people’s careers, the fact is that a good chunk of the workforce is parenting, and by offering help to new parents and especially to moms, employers are helping their employees stay on the job. Many companies have launched their own Babies at Work programs with the help of the Parenting in the Workplace Institute, which allows new parents to come to the office with their infant until they are six months old. Parents are able to tend to their children with the help of eager employee volunteers and special protocols offered through the institute, which enable the workplace to function seamlessly despite the potential disturbances of bringing a baby to work.
Working From Home
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become more than just a public health measure. Though working from home during forced lockdowns has been draining and sometimes difficult for parents due to a lack of childcare options and remote schooling, they overwhelmingly view it as a condition of their employment moving forward. This option mostly serves those in professional and creative fields, but its very existence highlights the inherent tug-of-war between work and family which every working mother or father feels. While not every parent will have the privilege of working from home, there is a good chance that the acknowledgement some parents receive for their efforts will increase employers’ trust of their employees to get the job done, as well as increase employees’ trust that employers will more readily accommodate their particular familial needs.
Welcoming Families Into Society
Such acknowledgement would go a long way toward humanizing the workplace and our culture more generally. It is no secret that our society makes childrearing stressful and difficult, whether through unreasonable cultural expectations or practical barriers to full participation. That’s why it’s up to parents to advocate for themselves and up to employers to install programs like Babies at Work which seek to accommodate busy parents, particularly moms. Women especially don’t have to lose workplace opportunities or participation simply because they’re mothers, and our economy cannot and will not thrive unless we challenge postindustrial norms by responsibly raising the next generation.
