ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we look at the school-oriented work of mothers who are employed, as well as the educational work of fathers. This category includes employed mothers who work full time, as well as those who are employed part time for more than 10 hours per week. Some of those we talked to who work outside the home had variable hours. Paula Jackson (Downtown School), for example, worked as an interviewer in a local mall. When she worked in this capacity, she was on the job full time. But she did not work every day. In addition to the variability of demand for the kinds of surveys she did, her employers adjusted her schedule to her husband’s shifts. Carol Irwin’s (Downtown School) hours of employment were also vague and variable, largely because she worked in some kind of informal courier service and was on call. In addition to the irregularity of her hours, she also had to be out late into the night. We also have included Susan Heller (Downtown School) in this group. She was not in fact employed, but she was in full-time training as a veterinary assistant and was paying a baby-sitter for her youngest daughter and when her son came home from school. Alice Orton (Uptown School), the only single parent in our group, was employed full time. She paid a neighbor to care for her son when he got home from school and left her younger son with her parents who lived in a nearby city.
