ABSTRACT
Work psychologists have long recognized increasing diversity of the workplace. One of the most significant changes in the demographic characteristics of the workplace is the dramatic increase in the labor force participation of womenparticularly married mothers (Smolensky & Gootman, 2003). Married mothers, even those with preschool children, are increasingly likely to remain in the workforce throughout their childbearing years. However, there is little discussion of the increasing proportion of working families among industrial and organizational psychologists or management scholars in the United States. In 1997, 68% of all children lived in a household in which all parents worked for pay (Bianchi, 2000). Although balancing work and family is not new for working women, what is new is that the pool of women who work outside the home when their children are young has expanded. Importantly, with more married mothers employed, there is evidence that the share of dual-earner couples working very long workweeks (over 100 hours for the husband and wife combined) has increased over the least three decades (Jacobs & Gerson, 2001).
