Work family worries and the meaning of life?


posted Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 pm

I’ve decided to make this post a series of questions…because I really want to hear what you have to say. Since I’ve started my research on work life interconnectivity issues, these are some of the burning questions that keep me up at night- oh yeah and the blogging

  1. What are your main work, life, family balance issues?
  2. Why is work life family balance such a difficult issue to resolve?
  3. Have work life balance issues affected your fertility decisions?
  4. Why do women, and mothers still take on the bulk of domestic unpaid work, despite juggle jobs and children?
  5. Why do married women do more housework than women in de facto relationships?
  6. Does part-time work give mothers greater flexiblity and balance?
  7. Does part-time work free mothers up to do more unpaid work?
  8. Is part-time work for both co-habiting couples with children a way to more equally share child care and domestic work?
  9. Do fathers feel they can take up family-friendly options at work?
  10. Do fathers still feel the pressure to be primary breadwinners?
  11. Are dad’s getting their preferred amount of time with their children?
  12. Do we value caring work enough?
  13. What’s the meaning of life? (just kidding) that’s probably enough for now…

but please feel free to add your own questions to this list..

5 Responses to “Work family worries and the meaning of life?”

  1. Answered on my blog, since it was a touch long. :)

    http://shonias.blogspot.com/2008/08/juggling-work-and-family.html

    Ariane said this on August 5th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

  2. Interesting questions – ones we should all ask ourselves. Without even bringing children into the equation, work, life, family, friends are all difficult to manage. I love my work, run my own business, find it deeply rewarding and challenging.

    However I can see it oozes into other areas of my life, in a way that is not necessarily healthy. And I’m constantly balancing the “importance” of what I do with the “importance” of my relationships.

    Why is it so hard? Because work – life integration is never static. While you might get the balance right one month, things change and the next month you might get it totally wrong.

    kathryn said this on August 9th, 2008 at 11:11 am

  3. A great point Kathryn! Balance or interconnectivity I guess can never be a fixed point, because life is constantly changing. Maybe just having an attitude or awareness around balance is a start … and I really think it’s something that can’t be done in a vacuum – other support structures need to be on board too..

    aztec-rose said this on August 9th, 2008 at 11:25 am

  4. My other half had a stab at these too, if you are interested.

    http://shonias.blogspot.com/2008/08/him-on-work-life-balance.html

    He hasn’t pondered these questions, so they are off the cuff.

    Ariane said this on August 10th, 2008 at 9:51 pm

  5. It was so interesting to hear you other half’s replies…that pressure to feel he has to breadwin to feel successful. It’s so inspiring to see dads like him take on the workplace culture and carve out part time work, so that he can be with your kids and find a balance…I put the challenge out there to other dads or mums to take on the questions…I’m sending the questions to my partner to RSVP ASAP

    aztec-rose said this on August 10th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

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