Reported by Angela Anderson
Approximately 76% of Americans work more than 40 hours per week, 27% of workers haven't taken a personal or sick day in the past 3 years, and from 1970 to 2006 the average number of hours in a working year increased by 200.
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One often hears of debates as society collectively fights against common injustices such as gender inequality, racial inequality, environmental protections, and so forth. Our employers are well aware of anti-discriminatory laws and their liability to uphold to certain environmental regulations. These rules serve an important purpose to protect our communities, but today there is a growing injustice that our country is blankly ignoring. The American workforce needs to focus on protections for the family. Without a well foundation we cannot work collectively and efficiently towards these other issues. The individual’s foundation is built in the family, and as of now, our foundation is quite unsteady.
One of the leading causes of divorce is financial strain and overloaded work schedules. As previously stated, since the 1970’s, the average American has increased their yearly workload by 200 additional hours. Hand in hand, divorce has also increased over these last four
decades and it now stands that 50% of all marriages end in divorce.
Once a person divorces they are much more likely to divorce a second time, if remarried. Children involved in this will face much disruption and stress. Although statistics show that divorce has a small impact on an individual’s education and career success, it still undermines the youth’s mental health and has a greater chance to adversely affect the child’s own marital relationships in the future.
But marriage isn’t the only damaged piece of our balance here. Parent and child relationships take a big hit too.
"Uninvolved Parenting" is a style of parenting defined as being detached, neglectful, indifferent, and least demanding. This parenting style mostly occurs with busy parents and, not
surprisingly, uninvolved parenting is the most common type of parenting here in the U.S.
What effect does uninvolved parenting have on children? It makes children rude, unpredictable, anxious, and clingy. Uninvolved parenting results in the lack of emotional skills of the child. The relationship between uninvolved parents and children in this setting is described as rejecting, as parents too often tell their children to leave them alone to let them work.
It’s time for the American workforce to advocate for familism, in which the needs of our families take precedence above all else. We must speak up for changes in workplace culture that support work-life balance. Our children depend on it, our partners depend on it, and our own well-being depends on it.
But how?
Suggestions include leveraging technology to create more flexibility for both genders. This new work culture should also count those evening hours spent working on laptops and towards quality, affordable preschool and after school care.
It all begins by having honest conversations with our employers, urging a focus to lead to better work-life balance. Your family is a priority, and your life must be organized to prioritize them as such. Together we can create a more holistic definition of success.
