Blog 4

I believe that there are many different sets of characteristics for a good family life. Characteristics for family life differ from family to family. There is not one set for all families however, I do believe some characteristics for one family may have one or two that is the same as another. One characteristic for good family life that I believe is definitely important is time. In order for a family to be good there has to be time spent between them. Also, communication, health care, child care, support, happiness, responsibility, caring, and morals play a role in good family life. It is hard to maintain some of these characteristics when the parents of a family is constantly working. A family, more so parents, have to learn how to balance family and their career. To balance your family and your career means to have time for your family and time for work. When trying to balance family and career, parents should not let their work interfere with family time. There may be jobs that does not allow parents to work at home therefore, that working parent have to have the drive and motivation to separate the two from each other. It may be difficult to separate family and work because there is always something that goes in within the family that may stress the working parent out while at work because they can't be there or get to the issue at the time. Even when the working parent arrives home there may be times in which they will receive calls from work in which the have to take. This however, takes time away from spending time with their family. Also, sometimes there are jobs that have on call duties in which when they need you they call you to come in. That can happen at anytime in which again, takes time away from spending time with your family. However, there are many more reasons why a balance between family and work is difficult to achieve. Sometimes there is mandatory meetings, over time, long hours that are required for employees to work or participate in.

Changes in gender roles has made work and family situations more complicated for women because women still feel that it is there responsibility to take care of their family. Although, society is being more acceptable for men to take on women tasks, women still have that drive that it is there duty to nurture. Therefore, women is doing twice as much work by working in their place of employment and working at home. This becomes complicated because women come home from long hours of work and then start to do household chores which leaves no time for themselves or family. Now that more and more women are becoming employed men are now subjected to do tasks they normally wouldn't do if it were years ago.

There are numerous ways that employers can be sensitive to their employees family needs and obligations. If more employers were sensitive to their employees needs, there can be an increase in "productivity, quality, and retention." One way that employers can show sensitivity is by allowing flex time. In the PowerPoint it does display some companies that allows flex time such as traditional flex time and daily flex time. I, myself, use to experience traditional flex time in which I was allowed to create my own scheduled which worked perfect for me because I was able to work around my school schedule. If it worked for me I am positive it worked for those who had children. It was a great change in the company until they removed it and placed us on a strict schedule which caused concerns and stress. Another way would be telecommuting, in which allows the employee to work at home. This is one of the methods the management in the UK mentioned which worked great with their carers. Another good program, that I believe is great, is the FMLA act which benefits mothers and families. I think this act is very beneficial because it gives the mother time to interact with her newborn child and family while still getting income. This relieves a lot of stress and gives the mother time to relax for a couple of months. Not only can employers help with the needs of employees but the support of family and friends can help as well. Having the support from others can help in many ways. A good support system makes things a lot easier. If a mother is having trouble with someone watching her kids she can call her family members to help. Also, the support from co workers can make a day more easier and calm. It is always good to have someone there for you when it is needed.

Blog 3

Carework on a personal issue is something that I have experienced my whole life since I was younger. My mother had five children, in which I am the second oldest. My mother and father work constantly to make sure everything was taking care of for their kids. Therefore, since they were working constantly, me and my eldest sister were the ones watching my younger siblings majority of the time while they were at work. Me and my eldest sister had to make sure my younger brothers and sister were fed, homework was done, and basically watch over them. When my mother would return home from work, work did not stop there for her. She made sure the chores were done, groceries were fine, food was prepared, and made sure my younger brothers and sister were bathed. My mother worked constantly and my father would sometimes help but majority of the time my mother was the one doing most of the household duties. As far as this issue being a public issue carework is extra work and labor for women in which they are not getting earnings from. This extra work can cause stress on women because they may be overwhelmed with work in which can result in low performance at their place of employment.

There were many issues that was presented in the clips "Juggling Work and Care." Some issues that was presented were carers having to leave work to take care of family responsibilities at home. The UK brought up interesting efforts to handle and support those who are carers.
I believe their efforts to help carers is a great idea. Supporting carers by making time flexible, allowing to work at home, creating networks, focus groups allows carers to take care of their responsibilities at home without having to quit there job. By creating this type of support system brings good to the company because then carers will be more loyal, committed, and an increase in productivity. Society, however, needs to reconstruct the notions of the home "women's work." Society should realize that women are not the only one doing work at home as well as being a stay at home mother. There are males as well that stays at home to handle care taking responsibilities.

Blog 2

In the readings and videos there were many issues of justice that sparked my interest. I do agree that segregation do in fact exist still today. Most work forces that include jobs such as hard labor consist of mostly men. For instance, warehouse, truck driving, or construction positions contains mostly men. There is also majority of men that have manager or top positions for an example at my friend place of employment there are four assistant vice president positions in which all four positions are held by men. There are also two vice president positions in which both of those positions are held by men. That raises an issue with justice because it is, to me, segregating against women.

How I would define sex segregation, is the separation between men and women. In society, today, men and women are segregated as far as for stereotypes, media, employment, etc... At Arizona State University, I would say that there is segregation between male and female. For instance, while looking back at my class schedule since my freshman year in Fall 2006 through Fall 2009, I had 22 female professors and only 9 male professors. This example shows that there is segregation between the two because there is a high number in female professors rather than male. In the "patriarchy" video the author displayed many different points of segregation especially within our government. In the U.S. Congress there are only 70 women working out of 435. As for the Senate there are 16 women working out of 100. This alone displays segregation exist in this country. Socialization is related to patriarchy because a patriarchy is based off of a social organization. In a social organization men and women basically follow norms or social behaviors that fit there social position in society.

In the job market men still make more money than what women do. In the radio report it is stated that " women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes." Therefore, although the recession has hit and a lot of men are loosing there positions, women are still not making more than men. Moreover, because of the loss in jobs which included a majority of men, sex segregation and the wage gap still exists because "medical care, pensions, and paid vacations," still remains in men positions also the wage earnings are still higher in men positions.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Tomisha and I am a Senior this year majoring in BIS (Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Studies). The reason I've decided to go along with this particular blog handle is because it is very easy to remember. However, the reason why I have chosen this course is becasue justice, in general, has always been an area in which I have had interest in. Also, justice is one of my concentrations for my major, along with family studies. Though, what I hope to gain from this course is more knowledge on justice, the history behind women and justice, and women in the work force. However, what is meant by the idea of women, work, and justice, in my opinion, is the rights and struggle women have been through in the past to achieve justice in society and in the work force. Some issues that draws me towards justice is incarceration and inequality. An issue that I find important to me is poverty. Poverty is very important because it is popular in many countries in which women, men, and children suffer and experience. Working women and men, work long hours of labor and still reside in poverty. Another issue that I find important to me is the justice system in courts. I do not believe that there is equality in some that are tried. Therefore, I view justice as confusing, becasue there are some people who follows the norms of justice and there are some that are unjust. To have justice is to have equality, and that is something that women did not experience in the work force in the past and sometimes still today. These issues however, are related to women, work, and justice because there are poor working women that is still in poverty as well as there are some women that have not been fairly trialed.