Overtime keeps dads at work, moms at home

WASHINGTON -- What does it mean that the number of mothers who stay home full time has risen nearly 13 percent in less than a decade? Have women finally realized that they can't "have it all"?

Not really. A closer look at the relevant Census data reveals that the number of stay-at-home fathers has also jumped -- by 18 percent since 1994. Does that mean men, too, have discovered they can't have it all? Unlikely.

So what is going on here? As usual, it's the economy. The rise in breadwinner/homemaker families stems, quite simply, from high levels of overtime work.

America's workers put in longer hours than those in any other industrialized country -- even Japan, a culture with a word for "death from overwork" (karoshi). Overwork in the United States is particularly common among male managers and professionals, more than one in three of whom work 50 or more hours a week. In general, long hours are a male phenomenon. Few mothers work overtime: 95 percent of mothers work less than 50 hours per week year-round during the key career-building years -- because those are also the key child- rearing years.

Overtime is largely masculine, and homemakers are overwhelmingly women. The relatively large jump in stay-at-home fathers reflects their small numbers: Children under 15 are 56 times more likely to live with a stay-at-home mother than with a stay-at-home father. Roughly one in three U.S. kids under 15 has a mom at home full time. The equivalent figure for fathers is under 1 percent.

How does overtime drive the breadwinner/homemaker family? Consider the family's alternatives: Dual-job families in the United States work far longer hours than in most other industrialized countries. Mothers -- and fathers -- face an economy that offers "fast track" jobs at 50-plus hours per week, or dead-end jobs, many at 20 to 25 hours per week, with little in between.

This leaves mothers facing three unattractive choices. Either they remain in a "good job" that keeps them away from home 10 to 12 hours a day, or they take a part-time with depressed wages, few benefits and no advancement. Or they quit.

Faced with the choice between quitting their jobs and never seeing their children awake, many mothers will indeed "choose" to quit. But what if both parents could find a 30- to 35-hour-per-week job that wasn't a career-stopper? Many married mothers, now home full time, would jump at the chance to share employment and parenting equally with their husbands. High-quality, reduced-hours jobs are even more important for single mothers, who often have to provide all of the caregiving, and nearly all of the support as well, alone. Recent studies suggest that we should care.

The traditional breadwinner/homemaker model has two significant drawbacks. First, if the couple should divorce, mothers typically experience a sharp decline in economic status. Often they descend into poverty and take their children with them. Nearly 40 percent of divorced mothers are poor. And even if the children of divorce do not end up in literal poverty, they are less likely to reach their parents' social and economic level or obtain a college education.

Second, children in intact breadwinner/homemaker families also pay a price. Recent studies show that when a mother drops out, the father tends to work longer hours. And fathers who work long hours tend to contribute less to household work, including child care. Here's the irony: Mom may drop out so the kids will receive more parental attention, only to find that the kids end up with less parental attention overall than when she worked full time. Researchers report that father absence is a painful part of many childhood memories, particularly for boys. One recent study found that father absence also correlates with early sexual activity in girls.

What if dad drops out instead? Studies suggest this may work better. Parental time with children may be less affected because employed mothers typically are less willing to consign all child care to the stay-at-home spouse. So children in families with stay-at- home fathers may well receive more parental attention than children in households with stay-at-home mothers.

We need corporate and public policies that are family friendly. Corporate policies need to address the stigma that so often attaches to use of flexible work arrangements. And the issue of work hours -- of overtime gone wild and of the need for quality reduced-hours jobs - - should be placed on the public policy agenda at both the state and national levels. Only when government and business work together to end the family-hostile climate in U.S. workplaces will Americans get what parents want -- and children need.

Joan C. Williams is a law professor at American University and author of "Unbending Gender: Why Work and Family Conflict and What To Do About It."

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