Family Ties: Balancing Commitments to Work and Family in Dual Earner Households

Abstract

This paper examines the process by which married men and women form and balance work and family identities. Hypotheses derived from alternative conceptualizations of the commitment process are tested with data from the 1977 quality of Employment Survey. We find that for both men and women engagement in work and family roles leads to identification with those roles. However the process of identity formation differs for men and women in ways that correspond to gender-based differentiation in household and workplace activities. Married women employed outside the home give precedence to family in balancing work and family identities while married women may have the discretion to build identification with work and family roles without trading 1 off against the other. Despite differences in the process of commitment formation our results suggest that when men and women are engaged in similar work and family roles they are almost equally committed to those roles. (authors)