How Do Working Women Affect Marriage, Family?

Published August 10, 1989. I recently read a report on a topic of interest to many in this area. It has to do with women in the work force. John Naisbitt, author of the popular book “Megatrends,” noted in a recent newsletter that women are working in increasing numbers.

If Naisbitt, popular forecaster of future trends, is correct, the large number of women in the work force is likely to increase. And apparently women are not just staying at entry-level jobs. According to Naisbitt, they are moving into managerial positions.

A generation ago, 28 million women were in the work force; today there are 53 million, according to Naisbitt’s newsletter. The number in the workplace is not only increasing, “They are also moving higher up the corporate ladder of venturing into entrepreneurships.” Naisbitt notes:

1. Women now hold 35 percent of the 12.6 million executive, administrative, and managerial jobs in the United States, nearly double that of 15 years ago.
2.  Eighty-three percent of the women in Fortune 500 companies hold titles of vice president or higher. In the early 80s, fewer than a third did.
3. Forty percent of all computer programmers are now female.
4. Wall Street is composed of 25 percent women. Ten years ago, it was almost entirely male.
5. Women hold 40 percent of all managerial positions in the retail trade. “By century’s end, female retailing managers may well be in the majority.”
6. Even in manufacturing, women make up 20 percent of all managers.
7. Twenty-five percent of all small U.S. businesses today are owned by women. New female-owned start-ups are growing by 10 percent a year, compared to 4.3 percent for men.

Naisbitt predicts that with the increase of women in the workplace – by 1995, 60 percent of the work force will be female – will come a new agenda of corporate philosophies. Issues such as child care, job-protected family leave, flextime, flexiplace (work at home), and flexible benefits will need to be restructured.

Someone once noted that we ought to take greater interest in the future because that is where we will spend the rest of our lives. If Naisbitt’s predictions about women in the work force prove to be accurate, interesting questions arise.

Now that more married women are moving into managerial positions in the work force, will the trend significantly affect marriage and family life? Will marriages be helped or hindered by the trend? Will the additional responsibilities and subsequent income bless or burden couples? Will husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, and children all make the necessary adaptations to maintain stable marriages and family life?

What do you think?