Barriers to a Better Future for Workers, Especially Women

Many women described how their considerable domestic burdens and care responsibilities limited their ability to pursue opportunities and studies, impacting their future of work. Historically, domestic work has fallen disproportionately on women. Even as notions of more equal divisions of labor between the sexes is codified in law and the workplace, the home remains a more stubborn site of unequal work for many Americans. And the home continues to be considered a private space, free from government meddling, which in practice means more limited structural support for the particular care burdens of women, especially around child care. The domestic burdens create additional demands on women’s time, placing them in a bind—often better (and more automation-proof) jobs come with more demands on their time and with less control over those time demands, neither of which is compatible with their care responsibilities.

Domestic responsibilities create a “second job” for many women and limit career advancement and training opportunities

The considerable burden of domestic duties like cleaning, cooking, and child care informed decision-making for many of the women interviewees in particular. Many women described starting their days very early and working long hours at grocery stores, gas stations, and fast food restaurants. When they returned home, they began what amounted to a “second shift”—spending hours caring for family members, driving children to activities, helping with homework, cooking, and cleaning. Often, these domestic responsibilities leave little time for any other activities.

A bookkeeper, 47, told us, “I am a struggling working mom, trying to take care of other people’s children. I’m a single black mother raising one child, one stepchild (my daughters’ best friend), and a godson, because his mother didn’t want him.” She said, “I wake up at 3 a.m. and leave for work by 4 a.m. When I go home, I shower and change. Then I have to take care of whatever everyone else needs: school meetings, laundry, package pickups. I hate grocery shopping because that is where I work.” A grocery customer service manager, 40, sketched out a similarly busy day

My day starts at around 3:30 in the morning. I jump in the shower, get going to start work at five. There's so much at work, it's not the same every day. I'm off by 2:30 in the afternoon and I go home. I have stuff that I pulled out in the morning that I can cook for dinner. I make dinner for the family and help with homework, as by then the little ones have come home from school. So then after doing dinner and helping out my kindergartener with homework, I go to a boot camp class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for about an hour, and then I come home. By then my husband's already home. He helps out a lot with the little ones. We'll have the kids ready, showered and ready to go to bed and hopefully we're all in bed by 8, 9. And then I start the next day again.

A 23-year-old gas station assistant manager said, “At home, I'm a housewife. I'm just there cooking, cleaning. Sometimes we go out to the park. Just me and my daughter just basically go out—to the park, the mall, or shopping. It's just us two because my husband's always working.”

Several women laughed at the question of what they do for fun outside of work, answering that their “fun” was domestic labor. One woman, 44, said that when she is not at her job in a fast food chain or the gas station where she works long hours as a cashier, she is at home fixing the house, cooking for the children, and walking the dog. “Yes, cooking is work. You have to clean, wash the dishes, clean the kitchen. It’s work. It’s always working, and working at the house.”

Family considerations and domestic responsibilities impact work trajectory and opportunities

The care responsibilities and domestic work that many of our interviewees managed had a direct impact on their career decisions and trajectory. Many with families expressed that what they wanted from their jobs was the ability to provide financially and to secure benefits like health insurance for their children—even at the cost of remaining in less professionally fulfilling roles. (See Care responsibilities, family, and stability) A female grocery manager, 45, said

The benefits were always good. I was a single parent, so I had to always have insurance for the kids, so that was a huge thing. And the flexibility, too, is nice because I write my own schedule, so I could obviously accommodate if I need to do other things. Some of the times, not all the time, but a lot of the time, that works for me too. So it did have perks, but now that I feel I don’t need so much flexibility because now that my kids are grown and gone…I look at it now a little differently than I did when they were younger.

A male retail manager, also 45, said, "I enjoy my job. I’m not excited to go to work, but also not upset. It’s more of a providing role for me for benefits, and obviously pay. My schedule for the most part works out well,…[since] I have a day off during the week so I can be with the kids on that day.…is there something I would have rather done? Maybe.”

We also heard from many workers—mostly, but not exclusively women—about their preferences for control over their time through stable schedules, manageable responsibilities, as well as flexibility and hours that can accommodate their care responsibilities. Family-focused priorities directly impacted job decisions, sometimes significantly. Several women we interviewed described making major career shifts due to their caring responsibilities and family considerations.

Other women changed careers entirely to stable jobs that allowed them time to care for children, even at the expense of higher salaries and more professionally fulfilling work. A bakery manager, 45, said, “what I like about [national grocery chain] is that it worked with you and your family. It flexes, which was very, very, always very important to us.”

A mid-career administrative professional, 44, reflected on the career tradeoff she made to care for her daughter

My belief is that you can have it all—you just can't have it all at once….I went to school and studied information systems, but yet I'm a secretary in a clerical role. I made the decision not to go into the computer field and be attached to a pager, a phone, and a laptop. I made the decision to go into something that was less demanding. I knew my secretary role was not going to be as sexy as what I went to school for. But then I could devote more time to my child, especially since I was a single mom and I didn't depend on her father to play a role. I knew that I had to be at school for all the meetings….My daughter is now graduating from college and will begin a PhD program this fall. A lot of people are like, ‘well, how did you do that?’ I answer, ‘sacrifice, sacrifice.’ I sacrificed many, many nights. I was willing to sacrifice a part of my life for her. I would do it all again if I had to.

Camila’s Profile describes how care commitments and financial shocks impact decisions around career changes and higher education.

Internal promotions create opportunities but are less accessible and/or attractive to women

While it was rare for workers to discuss plans for a major career change, we commonly heard an interest in internal promotions and pathways to management. The workers we spoke with mostly commented on the immediate benefits of promotions in terms of higher pay, access to better benefits, and/or more scheduling control. Management pathways are not only instrumental in raising standards of living. Moving into higher management positions can also reduce exposure to automation risk. For instance, a cashier is in the highest category of automation risk, while a front-line retail or fast food manager is low risk.

One of the most striking gender differences in the interview responses was the sharp differences of views among men and women in their desire for management opportunities. Many men we spoke with expressed an interest in moving up into management positions, without reservations. In contrast, somewhat under half of the women we interviewed said they were not interested in management promotions at all, while others expressed a desire for management or an internal promotion, or had mixed feelings.

This gender gap can negatively impact the ability of female workers to adapt to technology changes at work and to be resilient in the face of automation. Given the difficulties identified by the workers in our study in changing careers altogether, internal pathways to management provide an accessible path toward greater economic stability and resilience to automation. Unless the concerns raised by female workers are addressed and management opportunities are made both attractive and possible for them, women workers risk falling behind.

Several young men working in entry-level grocery and fast food positions expressed a desire to be promoted to manager positions, including department manager. They said they envisioned making a career in this way. A 25-year-old seafood manager said, “I wouldn’t mind being a meat manager at some point, actually running the department. That’s probably the next step.” An 18-year-old fast food worker said he “could see” himself “forming a career at his chain, and “becoming a manager.”

The views expressed by women in our interviews shed light on the many factors influencing the gender differences in attitudes toward management. These views echo a larger body of research that examines why women are less satisfied with management positions than men and are more reluctant to pursue management.¹,² In the context of the future of work, this disparity can contribute further to gender inequality by limiting the resilience of women workers to automation risk. Below are several themes that they raised in explaining their negative views on management opportunities.

1) Bad experiences in management positions. Several women described how being female caused problems when they became managers, and that colleagues disliked their management approach. Several suggested that negative experiences during previous management positions caused them to think twice about any promotions in the future.

One bookkeeper and floor supervisor, 31, said, "I don't really run the floor much anymore, which is okay with me because of course, you have your colleagues who think you want to be above them. And that's not necessarily the case. You're just doing what is asked of you and you're asking them to do what is asked of them…I don't want to be part of management, so I think I am done with that.…I don't [think] there is any reason why. I just don't—I'm not interested.”

A gas station assistant manager, 23, said, “after a year, I got promoted to [present position], which was very surprising. I took the offer; I thought, ‘maybe I just need it to make me feel that I can do it.’ I took it and then it was a bad idea because everybody was like, ‘now you think you're all that because you're an assistant manager, when I've been here longer than you and they gave it to you.’ I'm here now, it's getting kind of easier now. Then they offered me a store to run on my own. But I told them, ‘I'm not ready for that.’ I can barely handle this store. I see how other managers are struggling with the company and struggling with their cashiers—that they’re calling off, that they have to do overtime, they have to work two shifts in a row. And they tell me, ‘if you become a manager, there is basically no day off. It's like a 24/7 hour job. If somebody calls off, and you don't have coverage, then you have to go.’ But that’s the only reason I was like, ‘no.’”

A retail cashier and customer service worker, 39, told us, “I started as a health and beauty and cosmetics manager and had to do all the department work and stocking. Then [the] pets manager and the pharmacy department manager left, and I had to take it up. Every day my job was threatened. ‘You need to get this all done; there's other people who can do this if you can't keep up.’ During that time, my husband and I were trying to have another baby, but the stress of everything, it wasn't happening. So I quit.”

2) Lack of support for managers. Frequently, women cited observing other managers in the workplace and being put off by their stress levels and the lack of support they received from more senior managers. A grocery bookkeeper, 47, said

"I wouldn’t want the headache. I’ve seen how managers are STRESSED OUT. They have so much on their plate, and then big bosses come in and if the schedule is too heavy…it’s just too much."

The 23-year-old gas station assistant manager said, “my schedule would consist of traveling and going to other places, and I'm not interested. I wouldn’t want to do that [be a regional manager]. This store is already a lot of work, I can't imagine being the manager of six times more stores. It’s too much stress if the office does not help you figure stuff out. They only care about your money, not if the employees are okay.” A slightly older worker, 30, with the same job, agreed. Higher management jobs are “too stressful,” she said. “I think if being a manager of this store is already a lot of work, I can't imagine being a general manager, being a manager of six, ten stores. I think it's too much of a headache, too much stress, especially if bosses don’t help you as much as they should. They only care about their money, not about ‘are your employees okay?’”

3) Stress and responsibility. Several women shared that they were not interested in the responsibility and stress of management roles, preferring to stay in entry-level, non-supervisory positions. A fast food worker, 54, said management was not for her “because it’s too much responsibility. I like the kitchen." A 21-year-old receptionist said

“I'm having a hard time thinking if a promotion is something that I would really want to do or not. Do I really want to give up all the simplicity of my job? Because it's super simple. I don't have a lot of responsibility for things that I have to get done. If I do have responsibility, I get really stressed out that I’m not going to finish it and that I'm going to disappoint someone.”

4) Travel and hours. Other women were put off by the travel requirements and/or longer hours required with a promotion. For instance, an assistant gas station manager, 29 (See Camila’s Profile), was encouraged by her boss to apply for a new position as a trainer. “He said that I was ‘fit for it.’ I applied for it, but only because he told me to apply for it. But I wasn't really looking forward to it, I didn't really insist on it, because I'm just really used to where I'm at right now. It's convenient to my house and has a flexible schedule. Being a trainer would consist of traveling and going to different places and I'm not ready for that.”

5) Domestic responsibilities. Other women we spoke with felt constrained by domestic responsibilities and family considerations. For instance, a retail cashier with two children and a considerable commitment of caring for her aging mother (featured in Kathryn’s Profile), told us that she was not interested in the stress and long hours of higher management roles that would limit her time to care for her children and add even more to her very full plate.

For several women who are now in management positions, confidence and experience played an important role in increasing their comfort level. Some women reported having more ambition for management after already serving in management roles. The experience of doing the job allowed them to gain confidence. One manager, 45, told the story of her reluctant transition

I had been working there for about three months when I got promoted to a customer service manager, which needs a bookkeeper running their books. I went from doing little jobs to jumping into a [national grocery chain] job. And it was very, very scary at first. I remember coming home to my ex-husband and saying, “oh my gosh, I can't, it is way too much. Like, definitely, I can't do it. I wanna quit, you know, I can't do it. It's a lot of numbers. It's so stressful and so many people.” And he said, “you're not a quitter, you know, you don't quit because things get difficult. Just go back and learn day by day.” And I'm very, very grateful that he…didn't say, “you know, that's fine, stay home with the kids, we'll find something else.” He pushed me to go back, which is good because I did, I learned. And like I said, then I got promoted into being their manager and have been ever since.

A medical secretary, 32, told us about learning how to manage on the job. "I want to do a management position. Before, the manager we had…was with the company a long time. When the managers left, there was an interim period where we didn't have anyone. So, I basically did all the management stuff. And it was a lot of work: I managed the staff, I did everything. But, now that I've done those six months of basically being a manager, I was like, ‘I can definitely do this.’ And I know that's a step up financially and more responsibility. And that's probably what I'll look for next."

Better Policies to Support Women

Our interviews highlighted why it is important for policymakers to ensure that the needs and preferences of women are central to policy development. To help women out of the time bind of ever-more demanding management jobs and the needs of their children and adult dependents, policymakers need to enact family-supportive policies to help with the caregiving. These policies should include generous federal paid family and medical leave that enables care for new babies and adult family members, universal pre-K, and more robust subsidies of child care to enhance quality and access and which will allow providers to pay child care workers a living wage.