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24 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 79 (1989)
Work and Family: The Gender Paradox and the Limitations of Discrimination Analysis in Restructuring the Workplace

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl24 and id is 87 raw text is: WORK AND FAMILY: THE GENDER PARADOX AND THE LIMITATIONS OF DISCRIMINATION ANALYSIS IN RESTRUCTURING THE WORKPLACE Nancy E. Dowd* Talk about work and family is assumed to be women's talk. It is talk about women's lives, our experiences, our feelings. Talk about work and family is tied to women's entry into the workforce and the concomitant redefinition of ourselves and our roles. It is also talk about responsibility and conflict, the conflict between work and family. In the existing structure of work and family, there is no doubt that women are at the center of the conffict, that women are central to the functioning of that structure. Women shoulder the primary responsibility for family, and it is women who are offered a secondary place at work. We feel the conflict between work and family responsibilities; we feel the highly gendered' nature of the existing structure; we live out the difference in our lives. It is the essence of the personal being political. Thus, talk about work and family is women's talk. The issues raised are women's issues, the resolution of which is essential to our equality. The public debate on work-family issues assumes the truth of this. While an article or testimony may begin with gender neutral language, the language or the references quickly slip towards women. But talk about work and family ought not to be assumed to be only women's talk. Men are harmed and affected by the existing work-family structure. Men's voices are silenced and discouraged, overwhelmed by the undertow of their conven- * Associate Professor, Suffolk University Law School. The research and writing of this article were made possible by a grant frotil the Rockefeller Foundation, Program to Explore the Implications of Changing Gender Roles. I was assisted in my research by Susan Whalen, Robert Chiavaralli, Denise Leydon, and Regina Sullivan. I have benefitted from the comments and critiques of many individuals; the views and errors that remain are my own. IThe term gendered refers to the socially and culturally constructed roles asso- ciated with biological sex. The gendered work and family structure is experienced as natural and determined rather than as created and constructed. See infra note 120.

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