The Career Life Balance And Family Life - 1277 Words

The career-life balance and family life in Brazil has changed dramatically in the later half of the 20th century, primarily due to globalization, rapid urbanization, and Brazil’s transition into democracy. These drastic changes have caused Brazilians to make alternations their traditional lifestyle, including their family structure, home-life, work-life, and values to become more similar to the westernized world. Alterations to the family structure will likely continue as more Brazilians enter the job market, pursuing higher education and professional careers, and becoming more competitive with other nations. 2 Traditional Brazilian Families Brazilians have traditionally modeled their social and value structures around family, both†¦show more content†¦Large families of six or more children were common, and men being the single breadwinner of the family led and made decisions for the family group. 3 Brazil’s Modern Workforce Fast-forward to modern day Brazil and this structure has transformed to follow that of the western world. Today Brazil’s birth rate has dramatically decreased from the average of six children per woman in the 1960’s to around 1.9, even lower that the current U.S. birth rate. This drastic change is primarily due to the change of role that women now play in Brazilian society and their entrance into the workforce. As more women enter the workforce the traditional roles have changed to allow more equal distribution of household chores and child raising between men and women. Also, a lesser emphasis on the Catholic Church and its preaching’s (including the church becoming more lenient on once taboo topics) has allowed women to partake in contraception methods to prevent and control pregnancy. In modern Brazil, approximately 80% of women within childbearing age use contraception. Women are also perusing higher education at a rate that has now exceeded men, with 62.9% of degrees in Brazil going to women, again another force that has pushed women into the workforce and into professional careers. Although there has been a large emergence of women within the workforce