Work-Life Balance: The Importance of Human Resource Managers' Role

Gender And Work

Traditionally, patriarchal societies assign to men the responsibility for providing income to the household and women all obligations related to the domestic, such us care and child rearing and housework. Traditional gender roles division linked male identity to the concept of “profession” and female role to “mother and/or wife”. This explain how still in the current society a behaviour or attitude is associated, appropriate or not, according to the gender of the person.

In recent decades, the labour market has undergone significant changes. There have been economic, political, social, cultural and structural reforms that have meant that many women become part of the workforce, breaking their traditional role and achieving qualification levels and work experience comparable to men. Women’s increasing participation in paid work has led to the transformation of family structures, from breadwinner-homemaker model to dual-earner arrangement.