April 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 67

Careers for many women are deemed successful if work and home life can be integrated. Since this
sample of women represented a slightly older demographic than many similar surveys, some of their
issues with life balance were not as salient as those
often expressed by women in the first decade of their
career. Over two-thirds of these women did not have
a child under the age of 18 years living in their homes.
Although child care was less of an issue, 18% said that
they regularly cared for an older or disabled relative,
making elder care another dimension of family.
While over half the female professionals said they
were responsible for household chores, the other half
said the duties were shared equally with their spouse/
partner. After spending an average of almost 13 hours
a week doing housework, they had over 8 hours a
week to spend in what they would call leisure. Their
average of five hours of physical activity per week
meets the recommended requirements for good
health, which reflects positively on the fitness habits
of women professionals in parks and recreation.
They often wished they had more time to do things
with family and friends, and also often felt rushed to
get everything done each day. Sometimes the stress
of work affected their ability to relax/sleep. Overall,
however, most women said they only " sometimes "
experienced work/life balance issues of feeling
physically and/or emotionally drained, feeling they
had more work than they could handle, and feeling
they had to take work concerns home with them.
Almost three-fourths noted that their employers encouraged professional development training and allowed for flexible work hours. Benefits
such as mentoring programs, career breaks, lactation rooms, and child care facilities were mostly
not available, but respondents listed other benefits such as employee assistance programs, daily workout breaks or wellness programs, family
leave, tuition reimbursement, special events, and
membership discounts.

istock, veer

Gender Equity

" Senior management (men) are not interested in either promoting me or training me for a senior management position, " an assistant manager with 32
years of experience says.
A similar study conducted of NRPA women professionals in 1992 indicated that almost three-fourths
of the women had been discriminated against in the
field of parks and recreation based on their gender.
At that time, over half said they had experienced
sexual harassment and agreed that unconscious

discrimination occurred in the field.
After 18 years, women in the 2010 study noted
gender equity issues still continue. Half believed that
women had to work harder than male colleagues to
get ahead. Only 60% of the sample believed women
have as many opportunities to advance in the field
as men. Although half the women (an improvement
from three-fourths in 1992) said they had never experienced discrimination, one-fourth said that they
had received lower pay than a male in a comparable
position and that they felt they had been left out of important decision-making opportunities.
About a quarter of the respondents indicated
they had been discriminated against for reasons
other than gender, such as being a mother, weight,
age, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, education
level, personality, religion, or for not having children. Similar to the 1992 study, almost half said they
had been sexually harassed at least one time.
How women are excluded and unconsciously
discriminated against has not changed much since
the 1992 study. " I am segregated physically, not invited to the breakfasts, luncheons, parties that my
male counterpoints enjoy, " a 33-year-old recreation specialist says. Some women also indicated
that they felt many men just did not " get " that gender equity remains an issue in the 21st century. On a
positive note, however, women believed that changes were occurring for the better because a generation of men used to operating in a good old boys'
network is retiring.
Many women also agreed that not enough policies have been implemented to support employees,
especially women. Some women acknowledged
that men often prefer working with other men rather
than women, and women frequently do not receive
the same mentoring as males. Although some women believed that traditional gender roles prevented
them from advancing, they also believed that women had all the skills needed to be successful senior

www.NRPA .ORG

a pr i l 2 0 1 1

On a
positive
note,
however,
women
believed that
changes
were
occurring
for the better
because a
generation
of men used
to operating
in a good
old boys'
network is
retiring.

Parks & Recreation 65

April 2011 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2011 - Parks & Recreation