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Back in the 1800s, the U.S. labor movement aimed at reducing impossibly long working hours\u2014and succeeded with the Adamson Act in 1916, which gave us the 40-hour work week. A century later, that\u2019s all changed. Research released this month in the journal Gender & Society<\/em><\/a> confirms that \u201coverwork\u201d\u2014 working more than 50 hours per week\u2014has become part of the job for many Americans, though with different effects for men and women. Over the past thirty years, hours at work\u2014especially in higher income jobs\u2014have increased, and over one-third of men and nearly one-fifth of women in professions work more than a 50-hour week<\/a>.<\/p>\n A new Gender & Society<\/em><\/a> <\/em>study reveals how overwork contributes to the \u201cstalled gender revolution<\/a>\u201d and helps to explain why there isn\u2019t more equality in the workplace, despite the popular belief that equality between men and women is a social good. The new study gives hints, too, about the challenges women face in order to \u201clean in\u201d and get ahead.<\/p>\n Who is affected by overwork? <\/strong>In \u201cOverwork and the Persistence of Gender Segregation in Occupations<\/a>,\u201d Indiana University sociologist Youngjoo Cha<\/a> reports that overwork affects men and women differently\u2014especially in fields where there are a lot more men than women to begin with. Dr. Cha finds that the impact of overwork on men and women is especially pronounced in occupations where the majority of employees are men, known as \u201cmale dominated occupations.\u201d She found that:<\/p>\n The problem, according to Cha, is simple. Overworking mothers continue to have a larger share of caregiving responsibilities, compared to other workers. Cha explains that \u201cOverwork disadvantages women with children in particular. In overworking workplaces, you have to be there or be on call all the time. That expectation can be met by people who have few caregiving or community responsibilities and who are not primary caregivers at home.\u201d While men and women have adjusted their ability to share domestic caregiving in recent years, these more extreme situations of overwork demonstrate the limits of the flexibility that men and women often aim for\u2014but can\u2019t always achieve.<\/p>\n Why does overwork affect mothers only in male-dominated professions? <\/strong>Cha\u2019s finding that overwork discourages women in male-dominated occupations begs the question, why? \u201cIf it were a case of women\u2019s reticence to work additional hours,\u201d Cha explains, \u201cwe would expect overworking women to be discouraged regardless of whether mainly men or women were at work.\u201d But her results do not show that. Instead, the results suggest that something<\/em> about jobs that are mainly populated by men discourages women. What\u2019s that something? Cha observes that male-dominated professions are more likely to maintain strong and inflexible expectations of overwork.<\/p>\n Does this tell us anything about what dual earner couples can expect? <\/strong>Workplaces dominated by men tend to operate on outdated assumptions about \u201cseparate spheres\u201d marriage — that is, families that have a homemaking woman and a breadwinning man. Yet today both partners are employed in nearly eighty percent of American couples.<\/p>\n Is this a case of opting out? <\/strong>Cha considered whether she had found evidence of \u201copting out\u201d\u2014the claim that women, when they can, leave work when they become mothers. \u201cIn my study, not all women with children leave the labor force. When they work long hours, it is the combination of being a mother, working long hours, and being in a male dominated profession that is discouraging.\u201d Where overwork only in a male-dominated occupation influenced married women\u2019s choices, Cha also found that husbands\u2019 income didn\u2019t change the basic findings.<\/p>\n In her article, Cha argues for promoting workplace policies that minimize the expectation for overwork, such as setting the maximum allowable work hours, prohibiting compulsory overtime, expanding the coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act\u2019s overtime provisions, and granting employees the right to work part-time hours without losing benefits. She advocates labor policies that can reduce work-family conflicts and benefit women, men, families, and firms.<\/p>\n As University of Massachusetts sociologist Joya Misra, editor of Gender & Society<\/em>, comments, \u201c\u2018Leaning in\u2019 might not be the same for everyone. Cha\u2019s study shows us that despite our best efforts, work and home still seem to generate unequal opportunities and benefits. The loss affects everyone: We\u2019ll stop losing highly qualified women in their careers of choice when we reduce barriers like the culture of overwork and unequal sharing of care-work at home.\u201d<\/p>\n The study is based on analysis of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, a national longitudinal household survey collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. The data covers years from 1996 through 2007. The sample was limited to full-time workers ages 18-64 who were in a job at the beginning of each of the survey periods.<\/p>\n\n