Unit D - Blog 35

The EEOC recommends “best practices” for employers to adopt for their organizations. These best practices aren’t new laws and aren’t required, they are only suggested. Several times throughout the text, the term work/life balance was used. English uses these same terms while addressing these same issues. This entire document was completely consistent with all of the issues that English points out in Gender on Trial. The EEOC recommendations were also applicable to men as well. One of the laws under these recommendations allows for men to not be denied leave time when women are allowed to have these same benefits at that organization. One big difference in the terminology used on the EEOC document compared to Gender on Trial was the term “caregiver.” However, this term was used in the book Putting Children First. Also, the EEOC and Putting Children First both addressed the care giving of elders and not just children. The EEOC document clearly states that there is not any legal obligation to follow their “best practices”, but that there suggestions are higher than the minimum legal requirements. Towards the end of the best practices they explain that having a better work life balance increases efficiency. This was pointed out in the material during Putting Children First, but seemed pretty absent during Gender on Trial. In fact, the perception was almost opposite when it came to flexible scheduling in law. The current lawyers suggested that work quality and efficiency would decrease, not increase. I don’t think many law firms would adopt these practices as they are only recommendations. In fact, I think that many of the laws that are considered to be minimal requirements may even cause a lot of firms to be in liable situations. These best practices appear to me to be pretty gender equal. The EEOC points stereotypes that Gender on Trial also did that “men are thought to be ill-suited for caregiving and thus not in need of parental leave or a flexible work schedule”, and that “Women caregivers are often thought to be less committed to their paid work or to be likely to be less competent because of their actual or likely role in caregiving.” This is nearly identical to the perspectives that are clearly displayed in Gender on Trial. It seems that law is the extreme and is really a great example to show that there are gender inequalities and there is a poor sense of work life balance. If you think about all of these same concepts can be applied to any nontraditional job for women, but law paints a bright picture of what is really going on.