Different takes on men who take time off for family Rebecca Theim Published February 20, 2002
Although mothers who take time off from the job to care for children frequently contend that they feel professionally penalized, a new study indicates that fathers who do so are viewed even more negatively.
Julie Holliday Wayne, an assistant psychology professor at Wake Forest University, asked 242 research volunteers to review mock personnel files for working women and men and rate them across a range of attributes. The findings? Study participants generally rated men who had taken time off to care for children or ailing parents far less favorably than women who had done so. Interestingly, Wayne found it was acceptable for men to take time off to care for sick children, but not for newborns, healthy off-spring or ailing parents.
"What this suggests is that women get more latitude when they take leave to care for family members--including infants or an elderly parent--while men get the same consideration only when they take leave to care for a sick child," Wayne said. "In the past, psychologists have found that a woman is perceived as not as good a mother if she chooses to work. This research suggests that a man is perceived as not as good a worker if he puts his family first."
Wayne undertook the study after noticing "lots of anecdotal information about men facing discrimination" if they sought more work-family balance. She said she recently saw evidence in her own life that even the suggestion of such bias can discourage men from taking a more active role in child rearing. Shortly after giving birth to her first child last fall, she asked her husband to take a third day off from work to help with their newborn. His response was, she recalled: "Julie, your research scares me."
These findings come even as a growing percentage of women outearn their husbands. Data from the government's Current Population Survey show that the proportion of dual-earner couples in which wives earned more than their husbands increased from 16 percent in 1981 to 23 percent in 1996 (the last year for which a comprehensive analysis has been completed). And among couples in which the wife earned $100,000 or more, almost two-thirds of the wives outearned their husbands. For those families, it would make more economic sense for the husband--rather than the wife--to stay home with the children.
"The lesson is that organizations need to create a culture in which it's acceptable for men to participate in family life," Wayne said.