The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work

Abstract

At a childcare center in the basement of the Baptist church, Diane Caselli, a childcare worker in blue jeans and loose shirt, methodically turns over small upended chairs that rest on a Lilliputian breakfast table. The center works on "child time." Its rhythms are child-paced, flexible, mainly slow. Gwen Bell is reasonably well-informed about Amerco&s;s flextime and reduced-hours policies, which are available to white-collar employees like her. But she has not talked with her boss about cutting back her hours, nor have her joking coworkers, and her boss hasn&s;t raised the possibility himself. Women fear losing their place at work; having such a place has become a source of security, pride, and a powerful sense of being valued. But women have entered the workplace on "male" terms. It would be less problematic for women to adopt a male model of work—to finally enjoy privileges formerly reserved for men—if the male model of work were one of balance.