Work v. Family

Ashley Rollins
ashley.r.rollins@gmail.com

Today in my Media Ethics class, we watched the movie "The Paper." I noticed that a common theme throughout the movie was the struggle of balancing work and family. In "The Paper," the character Henry Hackett had several tough decisions to make that are very applicable to working parents in the real world. With a baby on the way, Hackett had to decide whether or not to accept a job at a more prestigious paper that required less hours but received more pay, or to keep his more demanding, lower-income job at a paper he enjoyed working for.

Although I have neither a full-time career nor a family of my own, I have witnessed this struggle for balance in my own family growing up as my father tried to gain more success in his career. Similar to Hackett’s character, my father felt the pressures of obtaining a higher paying job in order to provide the best he could for his family. This leaves me wondering if there truly can be a balance between work and family? It is parents' responsibility to provide for their children so they naturally try to achieve higher paying positions. Is it possible for somebody to be successful in his or her career but also be a dedicated full-time parent?

Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, discusses her personal struggles of balancing work and family in the video below.