Men at Work

A valid point that I feel needs to be discussed comes in chapter 9 when Ellen Bravo makes the point that, “ Clearly many more men would be better fathers, sons, and husbands if they weren’t punished for it at work.” I am currently not out in the workforce I am currently a student in the undergraduate program here at Rollins, but I feel that it is a valid statement to say that men feel pressures at work when attending to certain family needs. So many older more traditional men are the head honchos in certain businesses. There is a very good chance that many of these older men frown upon males taking time off for family needs whether it is leaving a job early or not being able to come in to work so they are able to take care of their children. These elder bosses probably feel that women should be the ones taking care of the family and taking time off rather than a male, I am sure that if you say you have to leave because your child is ill that some bosses will frown upon that and question where is your wife or the child’s mother? Can’t she take care of him? I am not saying that every male superior is like that, I’m sure there are some superiors out there that encourage a father to take time off to be with the family, but there are still male superiors that will not accept a male leaving the workplace to attend to his family. A quote that confirms that there is still this idea that woman should take care of the family more than men is, “[I]t is women, more than men, who want to have children. If quantity of family time matters more to women, it is unfair for them to impose that value on their husbands.” This quote is from Marty Nemko, columnist for the American Conservative Union.