Now make some sentences of your own with these words and word combinations

Work or Family: There’s a Problem

When the 20-th century began most of American families shared one characteristics: the wife didn’t work outside the home. The only exceptions were black women. If a wife worked it meant that her husband was not able to support a family. By contrast to the beginning of the century, in the 1990s over 60% of women were in the work force. The transformation was relatively quick. The two major reasons for that were the Great Depression and the World War II – when most women just had to start working. They became electricians, machinists, carpenters, as well as lawyers, engineers, physicians and proved that they could do this sort of work not worse than men.

As work for married women is now accepted and commonplace, the internal character of American families has greatly changed. Most women have to combine family and work outside the home. There is the so-called Supermom – the woman who tries to juggle a career with a family. Others have come to the conclusion that the dual role can often cause them to be mediocre at both. So they’ve given up their career to stay home with children. Some view it as a temporary solution until their children start school. But even when at home, women pursue various interests. They participate in all kinds of organizations, e.g., English-teaching committees for the foreign-born, in fund-raising activities for the colleges they graduated from, the jog in the morning with friends, etc. All that gives them a feeling of achievement.

The major worry for most is that if they decide to go back to work they’ll have problems with finding jobs. Many women say they continue reading in their fields so that they won’t fall behind. Others say that they communicate with their former colleagues to keep up with what is going on. Otherwise, they say, you feel that you’re “a bit of touch”.

Men haven’t easily accepted changes in the family pattern with working women. Sometimes they show anger and resentment. One Atlanta attorney says, “My wife has her own career as a lawyer and when I arrive home from a tough day, all I want to do is put my feet up and have a drink – the sort of thing a man always expects. Instead I have to help with the household or attend to my children. I frequently have to cut short my own working day in order to pick up our eighteen-month-old son from day care or to spend time with my older child. Often I’m also the one who is on call in case of illness, who prepares many of the meals, and who keeps the house clean”.

On the one hand, a majority of men now believe that both sexes should enjoy equal employment opportunities, but on the other, most also believe that children may be harmed psychologically if their mothers work outside the home. This contradiction increasingly rules the Americans.

D. Use these cards to discuss “family problems”.