New Paradigm discussion addresses work and family-life issues for men

Betty Friedan, center, addresses the Washington, D.C., symposium audience Oct. 28, while panelist Anna Padia, left, of the AFL-CIO and moderator Edward Lawler, dean of the ILR School, look on. Lloyd Wolf

By Briana Barocas

Do corporate America and public policy recognize the changing expectations men face at work and at home? "The Changing Nature of Work and Family Life: A Focus on Men" was explored at the second in the series of New Paradigm Symposia on Oct. 28, sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Cornell's Institute for Women and Work, a division of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).

Held at the Carnegie Endowment Center for International Peace in Washington, D.C., the conference room was filled with a lively audience of about 150, who included Cornell-in-Washington students, a variety of Cornell alumni, people from the public and private sectors and from academia, labor and the media.

Once again, panelists joined renowned women's rights spokesperson Betty Friedan, distinguished visiting professor at ILR and director of the New Paradigm Project, in the evening discussion. Panelists included Keith Hammonds and Kelley Holland, associate editors at Business Week; James Levine, author of Working Fathers: New Strategies for Balancing Work and Family; Anna Padia, vice president of the AFL-CIO Coalition of Labor Union Women; Deborah Smith, Cornell M.A. '71, senior vice president of human resources at Merck & Co.; and Jonathan Stutz, program manager in corporate diversity at Microsoft Corp. Edward Lawler, dean of the ILR School, moderated the discussion.

Following welcoming remarks by Lawler, Friedan began the discussion by stressing the importance of focusing on men, since most of the work done on work and family life issues has centered on women. She pointed out that "men who take a more active role in parenting live longer," a finding that should serve as an incentive for men to achieve a work/life balance. And she said she believes that "work/life is the way to go for women, men and family."

Friedan also discussed the need for creating a new measure of personal success and of the "bottom line" in business. We need to start redefining the bottom line immediately, she said, to include quality work/life balance as an important factor. And Friedan said she believes that as companies invest more in the well-being of their employees, their revenues and stock values also will increase.

Hammonds and Holland spoke together about "The Daddy Trap" article -- which Hammonds wrote and Holland provided commentary on -- in Business Week Sept. 21. According to Hammonds, "organizations ask too much of men at the expense of family." Fathers are feeling stress since they are expected to work longer hours and have pressure to share in the home-based work as well. Holland argued "there have been changes, but we still have a long way to go." Fathers now are helping at home more than their fathers did. However, said Holland, men are very task oriented when it comes to child rearing, and "mothers are still the parent of last resort" for emotional support. Men must take a more holistic approach to child care, she said.

Most family policies in the workplace have been formulated in terms of women, but men experience just as much work/life conflict as women do, pointed out Levine. To really move ahead, he said, "We have to look at diversity differently."

Padia described the role of the working father as "the invisible dilemma." She also talked about the new area of elder care and the importance of including it in discussions of work/life issues and about using the term dependent care in reference to both child care and elder care. Padia said she believes changes need to take place in three different areas -- on a personal level, with increased public hearings on work/life issues and with a return to real human values.

Stutz and Smith focused their remarks on what some corporations are doing. According to Stutz, Microsoft is trying to form an employee base that reflects its consumer base. Therefore, the company is looking to build diversity into the system. He emphasized the importance of top-management support in such efforts and described a variety of the work/life programs that Microsoft has introduced.

Smith talked about the "arbitrariness of time" in the workplace -- how people are treated and whether their time is being wasted with stressful, last-minute projects that cut into their personal time. She explored the question of what a corporation can do in terms of supporting its employees by restructuring work, and she cited examples of workplace initiatives that Merck and other companies have implemented to make it easier for people to manage their time.

One important question that arose during the question-and-answer session is where the boundary lies between work and private life. That discussion brought up several issues that will be addressed in future symposia.

The next New Paradigm Symposium will be the evening of Dec. 10, also at the Carnegie Endowment Center for International Peace, and it is titled "Contracting Out: Danger Signal for Working Women and Men?"