It is no secret that some family tasks end up getting done at work. From doctor appointments to car-pooling arrangements, there are plenty of times that those details are worked out during a hushed call in the office, experts say. And it is also no secret that it is usually women who are calling the nannies and the plumbers and end up dividing their attention between job and home, said Naomi Cahn, a George Washington University professor of family law. Men, she has found, are usually not so encumbered and as a result, workplace equality is suffering, she said. Men, however, are not solely at fault here for the unequal distribution of household responsibilities, she said.
Women share some blame, too.
I don't want to be seen as indicting all women. But I think that sometimes we do hold on to our home duties for a variety of reasons. Certainly, society tells us we have to be good mothers and so this is our way of being good mothers. Lisa Henslee, a manager at a large Rancho Cordova company, understands such societal pressures, even though she said she is lucky in that her husband, Mark, regularly takes on household duties and the raising of their two young sons. We feel that responsibility to make sure they've got the new pair of tennis shoes when they need them or that all their schoolwork is done.