Sunday, June 22, 2008
Week 4, Blog #1
In Chapter 7, the authors discuss gendered organizations and work/life. Specific to the topic of parental leave, I believe the organization I work for has made some positive strides establishing criteria for such leave. But even with these clear policies, the concept of a man taking an extended period of time for this special time with his wife and child has not yet fully engrained itself into the organizational culture. When I took time off for this very reason, I was generally supported, but I also received some incredulous responses. One colleague remarked that he was astonished that I was taking weeks off to be with my family when he only took a couple of days off for his first-born. I did not take this personally, nor did feel as though I was being “perceived as having less career potential” (Eisenberg et al., 2007, p. 212). I realized that there were generational considerations at work here (e.g., this colleague is about twenty years older than me), and I believe it’s important to acknowledge this when dealing with communication in an organization, particularly if that organization is trying to “develop more gender equitable policies” (Eisenberg et al., 2007, p. 213).
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2 comments:
The paid leave for family time movement has been picking up steam in government. I think that this shows a marked shift in the male/female roles at home as well as at work. I agree that your incredulous colleague’s 20-year age difference probably accounts for his lack of understanding for why you would even want the time off. 20 years ago, it was unheard of for a man to take time off to help his wife with a newborn and be there for his child’s first weeks. I think that it also marks a shift in people’s priorities.
While this certainly exemplifies a step in the right direction, we also have to ask “what about employees who opt not to have children and are therefore not eligible for such time off?” I agree with the book’s premise that in order to create an egalitarian system in which people who want time off for personal reasons and have decided to have (or not to have) children, organizations would be wise to step back and take a global approach to how they structure employee leave. Putting family leave on par with sick and vacation leave acknowledges that family life and work life are deeply intertwined. For the employees who don’t have the need for family leave, some kind of concessions will need to be made.
Wow I was really surprised to find out that companies were even starting to think about men leaving, basically, on a sort of maternity leave. It is amazing to think that comapnies are doing this now. I think it is very cool that if you can financially afford to spend the time with your family to adjust when you have a child for the first time that you do. I am in my early twenties newly married and I feel that families do not spend enough time with each other anymore.
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