Struggling to Balance Work and Care

The poll found that about half of all women surveyed are worried about their ability to balance their work responsibilities with their personal or family needs. One in four women in America (26 percent) say that in the last year or two caregiving demands have had a negative impact on their ability to keep a job or advance in the workplace. The numbers tell a more sobering story when broken down by age and race or ethnicity.

Forty percent of Asian women in America and 39 percent of Latinas said that their jobs or careers were disrupted by caregiving demands. Black women (23 percent), white women (22 percent), including white women without a college degree living in rural America (15 percent), reported the least work-care conflict. Low rates of reported disruption from Black women may be explained by the longer history of Black women’s involvement in paid work while raising families and lesser guilt over this dual commitment, as sociologist Dawn Marie Dow has recently found.

Women in their 30s and 40s, who are increasingly sandwiched between starting or raising a young family and caring for aging parents, feel the work-care squeeze most acutely. Forty-one percent of women in their 30s, and 35 percent of women in their 40s reported that their family responsibilities took a toll on their work in the last year or two.