The illustrations Hannah has put together are beautiful:
And she sent me through her women in the workforce information which I put together with my information on the modern women to create our kind of introduction. I then put together the rough profile of Jane that we had been discussing.
Our introductory information is as follows:
The numbers of women in the workforce in
the Western World have been rising steadily throughout the past 200 years.
The Industrial Revolution of the 18th-19th
centuries and the two World Wars meant that women’s labour was necessary to
fuel an expanding workforce, and their wages were needed to supplement that of
their husbands’. Women found paid work not only in the more traditional areas
such as nursing and domestic service but also in areas such as factory and coal
mining which meant massive diversification of the types of occupations in which
women were employed as well as a sharp increase in numbers of women working
outside of the home ().
This has continued over time with feminist
movements pushing towards the ideal situation of gender equality. However,
increased opportunity for women to excel in professional employment has also
put them in the challenging and often stressful position of having to balance a
demanding career with caring for a family. Being a working mother in modern
society, quite frankly, means taking on two full-time jobs.
With work, often comes the need to commute to the location of
employment, and so becomes an important and significant part of the day. Putnam
(2000) identifies social isolation, and therefore unhappiness, as a consequence
of commuting, where others have actually flipped this perspective into a
positive; acknowledging the precious alone time it provides individuals with.
There are many factors that would influence how a person perceives their
commute including things like time, mode of transport, control. Women are seen to be more
sensitive to commuting as a result of their larger responsibility for
day-to-day household tasks (childcare and housework). Children also introduce another element to the
commute, given their potential to frustrate and distract the driver. Studies
show that higher levels of stress and psychological problems amongst the working population can often
be connected to the ever-increasing demands on time, and the struggle to
maintain a healthy work/life balance (Taylor, 2001). When evaluated beside
approximate commute times, we see an opportunity to use this time productively and relieve some of this
stress for these working mothers.
And this is Jane's profile as at this evening. We are still having discussions and are open to adjusting it:
Jane. 36. Married, 2 kids (8 & 5),
employed full time in the city, spends 1 – 1 ½ hours in the car each day.
Meet Jane. Jane is a working mum from
Wellington. Her mornings are spent getting her kids ready for school, and her
evenings are spent helping with homework, cooking dinner, preparing lunches for
the next day, and getting the kids ready for bed. By then, it’s been a long day
and all she wants is to sit down to a nice hot cup of tea with her husband.
Jane loves fine tea, she finds it comforting and relaxing, but only has time
to make a cup in those precious evening moments. She also loves to keep fit but
struggles to find time in her busy day-to-day schedule.
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