Working parent

A working parent is a father or a mother who engages in a work life, in contrast to a housewife or househusband. The variations of family structures include, but are not limited to, heterosexual couples where the father is the breadwinner and the mother keeps her duties focused within the home, homosexual parents who take on a range of work and home styles, single working mothers, and single working fathers. There are also married parents who are dual-earners, in which both parents provide income to support their family. Throughout the 20th century, family work structures experienced significant changes. This was shown by the range of work opportunities each parent was able to take and was expected to do, to fluctuations in wages, benefits, and time available to spend with children. These family structures sometimes raise much concern about gender inequalities. Within the institution of gender, there are defined gender roles that society expects of mothers and fathers that are reflected by events and expectations in the home and at work.

A working parent is a father or a mother who engages in a work life, in contrast to a housewife or househusband. The variations of family structures include, but are not limited to, heterosexual couples where the father is the breadwinner and the mother keeps her duties focused within the home, homosexual parents who take on a range of work and home styles, single working mothers, and single working fathers. There are also married parents who are dual-earners, in which both parents provide income to support their family. Throughout the 20th century, family work structures experienced significant changes. This was shown by the range of work opportunities each parent was able to take and was expected to do, to fluctuations in wages, benefits, and time available to spend with children. These family structures sometimes raise much concern about gender inequalities. Within the institution of gender, there are defined gender roles that society expects of mothers and fathers that are reflected by events and expectations in the home and at work. ==Motherhood penalty and fatherhood bonus== Motherhood and fatherhood seem to exist in opposition to each other in regards to work lives. Men have the potential of earning high regards for being a working father. Hegemonic masculinity plays a role in determining a man's bonus. If he is white, middle class and has a stable home life with a wife and children, he is viewed as the most appropriately masculine man available to earn a raise. Traditional work for men surrounds employment in area that highlight a father as being able to provide as the sole earner in a family. The motherhood penalty or "mommy tax", is one that hurts women's financial opportunities, especially in making poverty a majorly feminine status whereas success is masculinised. Assumptions that women will or do have children carries discrimination that says mothers are the ones who will step away from their jobs to boost their children's development. Although women may be easier to employ than men due to the hold on their salary demands, women also face a challenge of defending their rights as mothers in a working environment. Gendered expectations can push women and men into different fields, which worsens the impact of the gender pay gap for pink collar professions. Such barriers can prevent a woman from succeeding professionally, a concept known as the glass ceiling. ==Research studies== The Harvard Business Review blog and Pew Research Center have both reported the results of a study, published in May 2013¹, that suggests that mothers are the "sole or primary source of income" in approximately 40 percent of U.S. households with children. The equivalent statistic in 1960 was 11 percent. ==See also== The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home ==References==

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