Women step up as men lose jobs
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- At first glance, the scene radiates domestic bliss.
Caitlin Lawson, 17, races into the dining room to report that she has been accepted at her favorite state college. Alex Lawson, 49, a longtime auto sales executive, wraps his daughter in a bear hug. Beaming nearby is mom Antonia, 50, aka "Tuppy," whose colorful works of ceramic art fill the family's immaculate suburban home.
But like many images in these ruthless times, this picture deceives.
The Lawson home is spotless because it's for sale so they can reduce their debt. Alex has been unemployed for nearly a year; in January, he had a stress-induced stroke. Tuppy became the financial head of household overnight: She has abandoned her decade-in-the-making art career and taken a sales job at the local Apple store to keep her brood, which includes another daughter in college, solvent.
"It's all so bizarre," says Tuppy, head tilted, looking like someone who has just been told the moon really is made out of cheese. "But I'm going to do what I have to do, and do it the best I can."
Throughout the USA, moms such as Tuppy are rushing to the helm of the family ship.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67% of women with children under 18 work, and women make up 46% of the labor pool. But this recession could soon make women a majority of America's workforce: 82% of the 2.5 million jobs lost since November were held by men.
Behind that cold statistic is an often heated rearrangement of the family dynamic. With gender roles and responsibilities being radically redefined, wives now face the pressure inherent in being the sole breadwinner while also retaining their household responsibilities. Meanwhile, husbands must reconstruct their definition of contributing to the family enterprise, often swapping a paycheck for a broom.
Working mothers — and just a few fathers, as many declined to talk — reveal equal parts pride in leaping into the breach, and frustration that things have come to this. Some express relief at seeing a husband develop new at-home skills; others despair when a spouse simply shuts down.
What all of them exude is an ability to focus uncomplainingly on taking care of business.
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