Alyssa's Introduction and Thoughts on Work-Life Balance

Good afternoon all! I'm Alyssa Bronander, a senior studying Public Relations and Communications Studies with a minor in Global Studies. As the integrated communication intern for the Marist School of Communication and the Arts I have been posting news about this blog on Twitter and Facebook, and thought I would join in on the conversation as well...

Work-Life balance has become increasingly relevant to me and my peers as we are approaching the job market and, frankly, growing up. As we spend less time on Facebook and more time on Linked In our priorities are shifting from class registration to resumes. While pondering my future I often think about navigating my career path through a dismal economy, in which my field seems to be the first to be cut in many industries. In these conditions, the competition of landing even an entry level job is daunting enough, to think of achieving a home life before landing a promotion seems unreasonable.

My recent study abroad experience has opened my eyes to the many societal differences between cultures, but work-life balance had never been discussed in my intercultural communication course in Italy. This is why yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article, “Italian Women Strive to Snap Stereotype” caught my eye. Traditionally the overwhelming majority of women in Italy have exclusively occupied the home sphere and “female stereotypes are deeply entrenched in the national consciousness”. Valore D (standing for Valore donna, or value woman) is a new type of women’s association which mentors, builds skills, provides role model for Italian women in the corporate world. These services will most definitely enrich the work-life balance of Italian woman and inspire others to rethink traditional gender roles.

According to recent research by Euro RSCG Worldwide, “the millennial females surveyed were more likely than males to emphasize life-work balance over salary when choosing a job”. I find this worrisome. With new couple paradigms of partners sharing both the household tasks and bread-winning, more people are measuring the success of their family as they would a business, by working together to keep the venture (family) moving forward to increase profits of happiness/satisfaction. For men, “wanting it all” is applicable to accomplishment in their careers, where as women still find a fulfilling home life to be a major part of life’s success. Is it so wrong for women to also “want it all” in a business capacity while putting a house and children on hold?