The March 6, 2009 Forbes article titled,
Why Women Who Opted Out Are Opting Back In, points to changing work patterns in today's times of economic uncertainty. In many families, women income earners play an increasingly important role in the family income, either as the sole or primary bread winners.
This shift toward dual-career families raises questions of how to succeed at home as well as at work. According to Amy Keroes, who runs
Mommytrack'd, a Web site for professional women who wrestle with work-family balance, working women are still doing 70% of the hou
sework.
Finding solutions for the family is discussed in the book,
Getting to 50/50: How working couples can have it all by sharing it all. Authors
Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober focus on how to ensure both work and families win in dual career households.
This area of research is particularly interesting as we have published our study titled,
Dual-Career Academic Couples: What universities need to know. While the
Clayman Institite study focuses on practices, policies and programs to successfully navigate a dual career, the 50/50 book does the same for family life.
When attending the book discussion at the
Women's Community Center at Stanford University, I took away some key tips that could apply to dual-career couples in academia, business and industry. My two favorite tips were:
- Shrink the size of the pie: I often get overwhelmed by my high standards for how the homelife should be. Organic, organized and quality time is my mantra. The authors suggest that by shrinking the size of the pie, we can find a way to manage it all. Perhaps Mac-n-cheese for dinner once in a while is not such a bad thing
- Praise and acceptance: instead of criticizing my partner for the work he does around the household, I could instead appreciate his efforts. This has been going a long way toward our own dual-career happiness!
