Attitudes toward women, work and family and Changes in women's work continuity

View the most recent version.

Articles: Attitudes toward women, work and family (PDF) and Changes in women's work continuity (PDF)

Objectives

• To appreciate how attitudes toward work and family differ.
• To understand how women's role in the labour force has changed.
• To appreciate how attitudes toward work and family influence behaviour.
• To work independently and cooperatively in groups.

Activity 1

1. Conduct a small survey of student attitudes toward women, work and family. Ask the students if they agree or disagree with each of the following statements:
   1. having a job is the best way for a woman to be an independent person;
   2. a preschool child is likely to suffer if both parents are employed;
   3. a job is all right, but what most women want is a home and children.
   Record the number of agree and disagree responses for male and female students separately for each statement.
2. Have the students read "Attitudes Toward Women, Work and Family."
3. Compare the class response to the statements in step one to those in the article.
4. Discuss how attitudes toward women, work and family differ between young and old people and between men and women.

Activity 2

1. Read "Changes in Women's Work Continuity."
2. Discuss what impact women's role as caregiver within the family has upon women's participation in the labour force and how interruptions in women's paid work have changed over time. Have the teacher summarize the points.
3. Divide the class into groups of male and groups of female students. Have the female groups discuss the role they foresee for themselves at work and within the family. Have the male groups discuss what role they foresee for their spouse in the family and at work if they were to marry.
4. Have each group present the roles they foresee for women in the family and at work, while the teacher summarizes the points.
5. Discuss what implications these roles have on the long-term well-being of women.

Using other resources

• Visit Statistics Canada's internet site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ to find women's labour force participation by age for several countries. Look under "Summary Tables – The People."
• Read about how women's participation in the labour force has changed in the early 1990s in Perspectives on Labour and Income, Autumn 1995, Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 75-001-XPE.
• Use E-STAT from Statistics Canada to find data on labour force participation rates for women.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.