Strategies for work–family management at the intersection of career–family centrality and gender.

We used qualitative and quantitative data from 70 individuals at different life stages to examine work–family management strategies adopted by men and women across 4 career–family centrality profiles: career-centric, family-centric, dual-centric, and other-centric. Participant interview responses were analyzed using QSR NVivo Version 10. We used a theoretical thematic analysis and a theory-driven coding scheme (Boyatzis, 1998) to examine the data. Data were analyzed in multiple stages carried out by 2 independent coders. We found that men of all centrality profiles, along with dual-centric and career-centric women, leaned back from family to benefit their careers (e.g., delayed having children). Men and women of all centrality profiles scaled back their work demands to benefit family, yet only women reported stepping out of their work role altogether (including career-centric and dual-centric women). This gender-role-congruent finding of women stepping out was supplemented by men, of all centrality profiles, who adopted work–family management strategies aimed at enabling their current or future wives to step out. The findings suggest that in order to fully understand gender equality in the workplace, it is important to understand the social processes occurring at home, including how men and women jointly negotiate managing the work–family interface.