Families, Dual-Career

Isla H. Simpson & Amy E. Alberts

Over the past 100 years, both the workplace and the home have undergone substantial changes. One such issue, which has received considerable attention, is the dual-career family. A term first coined in the late 1960s, the “dual-career” or “dual-earner” family was originally characterized as a peculiar or revolutionary type of dual-wage, heterosexual family born of complex social and political transformations (Gilbert, 1994). However, a closer look at the history of dual-career families in America reveals that diverse races and cultures have been differentially involved in and affected by dual careerism. According to Lois Hoffman and F. Ivan Nye, in 1960, median socioeconomic African American and White families were disparate in their participation in the labor force. To illustrate, within these families, 48% of African American mothers participated in the paid labor force, compared with 16% of White women (Hoffman & Nye, 1984). These statistics reveal not only workforce participation rates ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.