During the course of a day
there are many things that go unnoticed. This is especially true
for the actions of a “typical” working woman. Society has its own
perception of what it expects out of a normal family. The father
should take care of the yard, cars, fix whatever is physically broken,
but most of all go to work. The children have the one expectation
to obey their parents, which seems too hard for them to do at times.
These expectations of the father and the children have not evolved much
over time. It is the mother’s role that has extended to, not only
managing the many household duties but working outside of the home as well.
Throughout this paper we will sociologically analyze the impact that gender
ideology, identity, and strategy has had in the life of a modern mother
named Cherie, who has a job and works at home.
First, we will analyze
the effect that gender ideology has on the modern mother. Gender
ideology is the idea that a male or female should have certain attributes
and act in a certain way that is accepted and expected by the majority
of society. Cherie grew up with a father who worked as a foreman
in a plant. When he was at home his jobs were to take care of the
bills, mow, and take care of the cars. Her mother stayed home as
a housewife and cooked, cleaned, shopped, and cared for the kids.
She said that she usually hung around her mother while her brother would
tag along with their father most of the time. She learned what was
acceptable behavior for a female primarily from her mother because that
is who she spent most of her time with and got instruction from.
Cherie enjoyed coming home from school to eat lunch with her mother and
often recalls bringing her friends along because their mothers had jobs.
Building a family
of her own, Cherie had the idea to carry out the same duties that she witnessed
from her mother and opted to be a housewife. She assumed all of the
household chores and took care of raising three children. Her husband
eventually landed a successful job as an executive director. Once
her children started to grow up she felt that her responsibilities at the
house had diminished and found a job in the workplace. Now she realized
that she still held all the jobs at home along with those at work.
Cherie’s childhood
gives us strong evidence that helps prove her current situation.
Her mother took care of the kids and did all of the housework, which was
what was expected of all mothers. The difference between herself
and her mother was that it now seemed necessary for her to bring in a paycheck
once the children had grown up in order to feel a sense of accomplishment
and self-worth. She kept the same work routine at home because she
did not want to disturb the home environment by changing the way that the
house had been ran. This is how she got stuck with literally two
jobs.
The gender ideology played
a big part in her life because it established what she was supposed to
act like and expect as a female. She followed society’s standards
by taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, and shopping just as her
mother did. She believes that society is right in assuming that the
mother will stay home with the children and would do it again in a heartbeat.
She believes that mothers have a type of nurturing that males do not seem
to possess and that children need while they are young.
There is a work/love dichotomy
with motherhood that Cherie admits to noticing. Mothers do not do
their absolute best job in caring for their children because it makes them
look good. In fact, their work often goes unnoticed. Their
work is invisible to many people and taken for granted by everyone who
encounters them at one time or another, which leads to only one conclusion.
Mothers care for their children because they LOVE them. This is why
their work is often overlooked. I believe that this is because the
majority of society cannot comprehend love and work together. In
today’s society it is hard to find someone who truly enjoys his or her
job. The jobs that are the most enjoyable usually do not pay very
well, and the jobs that are not enjoyable usually pay more in order to
fill the position. This shows us that most people in society consider
good pay more important than enjoying your work.
A mother’s work is taken for granted because they do it out of love,
it is what is expected out of them; they receive no pay so they must enjoy
it. This deals directly with the female gender identity. Gender
identity is how a male or a female views himself or herself. It is
their self-perception. Talking with Cherie I could tell that many
of the things she did throughout the day were even overlooked by her.
She had the mentality that many of the things she does are because she
is a good mother who loves her kids. She did not consider the typical
work of a mother as work unless she held an outside job also. This
is a way society tricks even the mothers into expecting themselves to do
the housework without expecting to be noticed. Cherie did stress
the importance of both parents taking an active part in the children’s
discipline.
When a mother works it increases the
amount of work it requires to operate the household, plus you have to worry
about your job at the workplace. This aspect of a modern working
woman is compliant with gender strategy. Gender strategy deals with
what is actually carried out within the household. Cherie believes
that the biggest difficulty in managing the life of a working mother is
the public/private split. This is managing your paid job priorities
with your household priorities. Many times she has to call in sick
in order to drive her child to the doctor or dentist. This is obvious
in the workplace and often overlooked, but workers who do this are not
often viewed as a serious worker or promoted as often. This causes
an internal conflict at work and gives an unfair advantage to a male or
single female worker.
It is clear that the work
that a typical mother does around the house is taken for granted and it
is unlikely that the societal norms are going to change anytime soon.
Cherie felt that a traditional strategy would be sufficient for a mother
who does not work outside of the home. She felt an egalitarian strategy
would suffice for a mother who worked outside of the home. A transitional
strategy was not fair on any condition. Cherie realizes that if her
life is going to get any easier she is going to have to go against society’s
expectations and lighten her workload with her husband. Changing
the female ideology is going to be very difficult due to the fact that
females do possess a stronger nurturing quality that is needed for young
children. Many women who breast-feed develop an emotional bond with
their child within the first few months of the child’s birth that many
say can never be matched. We can, immediately start respecting the
effort that working housewives accomplish around the house. Realize
the actual workload that is on their shoulders and that no one blames the
husband if the house is a mess. The typical work that a mother does,
cooking, cleaning, shopping, and taking care of the kids is all non-paid
work but is essential for an efficient everyday life.