Creating a Culture of Work-Family Balance within Businesses (I)
(New Woman, 2006-11-30)
Introduction
In
almost every country of the developed world, women are an
integral part of the workforce, and this, in itself, is
positive. Regardless of whether or not certain mothers have to
work outside the home due to their financial situation, or
whether they work outside the home by choice, professional training
and work offer women (just they do men) an opportunity
to develop their talents and to place them at the
service of others, and thus (along with other factors), can
offer women a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Achieving equal
access to higher education and professional training, and having equal
opportunities to participate in the workforce are authentic advancements for
women.
The complementarity between men and women is a source
of mutual enrichment in all ambits of human life, as
well as in the professional ambit. When men and women
contribute their specific talents, experiences, capabilities and virtues to a
job, that job, as well as the man and woman
who have collaborated in it, is enriched. Precisely because they
are different in their abilities, in their points of view,
in the way they approach life, men and women can
mutually teach each other how to be better workers.
Part
of the challenge facing the work-family balance dilemma is being
able to recognize, accept and value these differences so as
to be able to take advantage of them, and to
be able to defend the interests and develop the qualities
of both men and women as men and women with
an attitude of solidarity.
The work-family balance issue is a
very, very complex issue. It would be a mistake to
consider work-family balance exclusively as a “women’s” issue. Solutions that
focus exclusively on women will always be incomplete and lack
overall effectiveness, though there is no doubt that women are
affected by it in a particularly acute way. The complexities
of the issue in itself, the misinterpretations of its underlying
causes, and the shortcomings or misguided good will of some
proposed solutions, make achieving a genuine work-family balance one the
most urgent and crucial issues of our day.
Work-family balance is
about more than politics of job flexibility or parental leave.
Achieving work-family balance means reorienting the concept we have of
work so that work life strengthens, serves and enhances family
life, since the family is a good in and of
itself. This means organizing the “what, how, when and where”
of work in function of the “why” of work, namely,
the sustenance and development of the person and of his
family. In settling the work-family balance issue, we must begin
with the firm principle that the life and needs of
the family come first, and that in this equation, family
takes precedence. Work is a means; family is an end.
Work-family balance is possible. Yet, work-family balance must first be
desired before it can be achieved. Therefore, if work-family balance
is to become a reality, action must be taken at
both levels: making it desirable (showing work-family balance, or rather
its effects, to be a positive and necessary value), and
making it practically possible to implement (through realistic, cost effective
policies that respond to and satisfy families’ true needs). Work-family
balance is a matter of changing social attitudes, on the
one hand, and social structures on the other, but both
simultaneously.
Achieving work-family balance requires creating a culture favorable
to work-family balance.
“Creating a culture” is product of the
cooperation of many different agents (the family, the media, educational
systems, governmental bodies, civil associations, the private sector…), the present
document, limits itself to focusing on how businesses can cooperate
in bringing about this cultural change, and why it is
in their best interests to do so.
Creating a Culture of Work-Family Balance within Businesses (III) ( New Woman, 2006-12-21 )
Creating a Culture of Work-Family Balance within Businesses (II) ( New Woman, 2006-12-14 )
Creating a Culture of Work-Family Balance within Businesses (I) ( New Woman, 2006-11-30 )
Words of Tom Wappel (Liberal MP) Defending Traditional Marriage in Canadian House of Commons ( Tom Wappel, LifeSiteNews.com, 2006-11-24 )
What's up with British youth? ( Carolyn Moynihan, www.mercatornet.com, 2006-11-24 )
