Gender Roles at Work and Home: Singles vs. Spouses

It’s no surprise that work and home life differs greatly for men and women, but throughout my excursion, I discovered those two spheres differ greatly among spouses and single individuals as well. I conducted interviews with two males and two females – relationship statuses, education levels, and occupation vary.

My first interview was with a 30 year old, single female working as a customer service representative for a laboratory, making roughly $32,000 annually. The requirements for her position included a high school diploma plus laboratory experience, though she dropped out of high school in her teens, she obtained the position because she has her GED and prior experience working in a pharmacy. She described her job as very stressful and demanding, but described mainly non-work related issues such as animosity among coworkers. She believes the issues with her coworkers are because of her age and sex, she is the youngest person working in the office. She did mention offhand that her boss tends to hire mainly women, “My boss has worked there since 1993, he only hires woman. He’s hired one guy and he's very quiet…” When discussing her home life, she stated she is typically tired and stressed at the end of the day, spending most weekends focusing on household upkeep, but manages to cook dinner for herself most nights.

The second female I interviewed was a 47 year old married female with two children, working as a KYC analyst for a global bank based in NYC, making roughly $58,000 annually. The position required a bachelor’s degree, which she obtained in order to be promoted. She has two sons, one no longer living at home and the other still living with her and her husband. During the interview, she didn’t discuss work very much but focused mainly on her home life. She’s typically tired from work at the end of the day and responsible for dinner and most household chores. She feels she has a healthy balance of work, family, and personal time. Despite being so busy, she remains very active outside of work with recreational and community activities; she often competes in marathons with her husband and spends most weekends cycling and running.

Marital status clearly plays a big role among these two women’s lives. One is having a difficult time living independently with no support and the other seems to have a fairly balanced life, despite having to do most of the work at home. I found it interesting that the first woman immediately discussed tension between her coworkers instead of actual day-to-day work responsibilities when I asked her to talk about her job. Mentioning the animosity among her other female coworkers doesn’t shock me, my experience working with older women has been somewhat familiar. The tension among women in the workplace might be due to the institutional sexism built into the workplace, constantly having to prove your worth, couple that with age gaps and a swarm of territorial angst ensues. Her boss’s habit of hiring women is also intriguing, her mention of it definitely suggests she senses some sort of sexism at play (there was no mention that this interview was for a sex and gender roles class). The married woman’s focus on home life rather than work was another interesting component of the interview. She described work in brief statements, but her home life described in great detail suggesting that her priorities are family than work.

The first male I interviewed was a 49 year old married man with two children, working as a senior technical support specialists for a mass media corporation; his reported salary was $69,000 plus a $5,000 bonus. He has two daughters, both no longer live at home. He stated the position he currently holds required a bachelor’s degree in computer science and/or five years experience in the field, he had neither. He lied on his resume and was never confronted about his experience or education. Much like his female counterpart, he didn't discuss his work life much, sticking mainly to his home life. He’s typically stressed from intellectual and physical labor at work and the physical labor at home. He’s primarily responsible for most of the housework regarding landscaping; otherwise his wife does most of the cooking and cleaning (in-house chores).

The second male I interviewed was a 24 year old single male, working as a freelance gaffer on film sets. Due to the inconsistency of his work schedule, his salary varies but ranges anywhere from $25,000 to $40,000. The requirements for that position aren't specific, some experience is required unless in a union. Getting work as a freelance gaffer is difficult and not always certain, jobs are obtained mainly through networks. He describes the technical work on film sets as being dominated by males; most females on set tend to lean toward the creative duties. He describes his responsibilities as physically demanding, but not too challenging. Regarding household chores, he doesn't seem too involved, “It's very long hours so I would say I'm too tired by the end of it and lean towards convenient options”. He often orders take-out for dinner and/or depends on roommates for food and household chores.

Immediately, my attention was drawn to the first man who made a point to mention his bonus, everyone else interviewed made rough estimates and didn’t mention bonuses. Second, he lied on his resume about his qualifications and was never confronted; meanwhile the married woman mentioned above needed to continue her education to obtain a promotion – still getting paid significantly less than the man with no formal qualifications. Another interesting component from both the male interviews was their mention of physical labor. The women discussed above seemed to focus more on intellectual and social stress, but the men emphasized physical fatigue with their jobs. It’s no surprise that most women are put at a desk for customer service support while the men do the heavy lifting, a big gender role trend in the workforce.

Another interesting component was their home life discussion; both men (married and single) depend on others for cooking and cleaning. The married man relies on his wife to cook for him and clean the house while he tends to the landscaping, while the single man relies on his roommates or paid services to help with the chores and provide food. The single man’s home life differs greatly from the single woman’s. The single woman described struggling to live independently and not finding a good balance of work and home life, but the single man seems to not mind having to depend on others to provide domestically. This may have something to do with upbringing, women are often conditioned to maintain the housekeeping themselves while men have no qualms relying on others because the responsibility usually isn't theirs to begin with.

Interviewing single and married men and women was both interesting and enlightening. It has brought to light the continuous gender issues in the workforce and the home.  The salary differences among the men and women interviewed are not surprising, nor is the division of labor. What I found most interesting was what the interviewees decided to focus on when I simply asked them to talk about work and home. Giving them the option to lean towards whatever subject they felt necessary to discuss in detail definitely defines what they see as a priority.