In today’s society much of the work that
we do is not really considered work. There are many reasons for this
phenomenon which mostly revert back to what we were taught when we were
young, and from what society has taught us to be socially definable as
“real work.” One major form of this work is the work that most wives
and mothers do in and around the house. Most of them do not even
question why they are cleaning, cooking, or doing the laundry. This
is very interesting indeed because this is work that they are not being
paid for, yet these women do it very freely and without question.
So why do they do it? I recently interviewed one such worker by the
name of Mary Buchanan to try and uncover why she does work around the house
without a second thought, and to sociologically analyze these strange yet
common actions that most women engage in. Mary is a full time secretary
as well as a mother of two but this does not stop here from taking on almost
every responsibility in the home. I will attempt to look into the
impact that gender ideology, gender identity, and gender strategy have
had on the way she views housework through the answers she gives and the
way she perceives these issues.
What impact has gender
ideology had on Mary and other working women? Gender ideology refers
to the beliefs, values, and ideas that people in a society believe to be
true about certain sexes, whether it be male or female. In the United
States of America it is common for people to view men as the ones that
go out into the work place to make the money and support the family, and
women as the ones that stay home, take care of the kids, shop, and keep
the house clean.
It was no different for Mary when she was growing up. Her father
worked in a factory and her mother stayed home with the family’s seven
children. Her mother cooked, cleaned, took care of the children,
and made sure everything went smoothly within the family. She was,
in other words, in charge of keeping the family together. Mary’s
father went to work to make the money but, when it was time for him to
come home, his work was done, except for the occasional yard and outside
housework. The kids all helped around the house with the boys helping
father with manual work and the girls helping mother inside.
Mary learned at a young
age to be a good housewife and how to take care of the children by helping
her mother with her younger brothers and sisters. A good example
Mary gave me which makes me even more convinced that she learned these
habits from her mother is because she never dusted vents until a few years
ago. What does this have to do with anything? Well she never
dusted vents in the home because her mother never dusted vents. She
had not learned this from her mother when she was young so it was not a
normal part of her cleaning habits until recently.
Mothers are a key role model for their daughters and the way they grow
up. Things are now changing in society that is making it harder for women
though. In today’s society women are not only expected to do jobs
inside of the home, they are also expected to get jobs outside as well.
Mary, as I mentioned before, is not only a housewife but also a full time
secretary. She goes to work all day but when she comes home
her work is not complete. She told me that she probably spends only
four hours a day when she does not actually do work. She reads
for two hours and watches around two hours worth of television where she
gets up during every commercial to do dishes and laundry. When I
asked how she felt about this she told me that it had really never crossed
her mind, even though when her husband comes home from work he sits in
front of the television or plays on the computer. She never questioned
the fact that she actually has two jobs because of gender ideology and
the way society has specified her role as a mother.
Mary’s husband has limited
roles when it comes to the kids and house work because of gender strategy.
Gender strategy refers to the deviation of work between the man and women
that actually takes place in and around the home. An example
of this is that once when Mary had to go out of town she had to make a
list of all the things that needed to be done with the kids. This
list included their schooling, sports practices, and cooking. Without
this list her husband would have never been able to successfully take care
of the kids for the two days she was gone. Mary’s husband had never been
taught or expected to do any of these tasks before. When Mary came
home after the two day vacation she was amazed to see the children in the
same clothes she had left them in. Mary’s husband’s response was
that it was not on the list to change them and he had forgotten.
Society has not forced males into learning these skills that Mary acquired
when she was very young and it is still very socially acceptable to be
this way.
Mary’s husband does not usually take into account that she has a full time
job also and that maybe he should help around the house. This does
not bother Mary any because her father was the same way. Her husband’s
gender ideology plays a role in these phenomena as well. It seems
that this married couple, like so many others, is trapped in a stalled
revolution.
Most of the work that Mary does around the house can be viewed as invisible
work. By invisible work I mean that no one ever sees or notices it.
Since her children are both boys, she has never really had anyone to teach
as her mother taught her. This was because the boys were always taught
by the father and the girls by the mother in her household. She felt
that making them clean the dishes or mop the floor was some how out of
place for them. Both boys did have chores but none of them involved
cleaning beyond their own bedroom, which Mary states was one of her biggest
mistakes when they were younger. Her two sons and husband rarely
notice that the dishes are always done and the floor is always moped.
They take all these things for granted and rarely notice that they are
done which makes it invisible work. Society and their up bringing
has taught them to believe that Mary’s work is supposed to be done which
makes her work more invisible even though it is very evident.
Mary does have a work/love dichotomy for her work nonetheless.
She told me that if these chores were not done it would bother her and
that it makes her feel good that she can take care of her family and do
everything she can to make their lives better. This goes back, once
again, to the way society and her mother has taught her to think and behave.
More importantly this type of thinking relates to Mary’s gender identity.
Mary’s gender identity, or the way she views the work and life style a
female in the United States of America should be, has taught her to love
her work away from being a secretary. The love that Mary has for
her children and husband also contribute to this. She wants their
lives to be as good as possible and feels that it is her job to make this
happen. Her gender identity has taught her that she is in charge
of their happiness inside the home and that the father has little to do
with it. My questions made her realize how she thought about her
self and her chores a certain way and that taking care of the kids and
her home were what she believed she was obligated to do. She views
herself as a homemaker and a loving mother, and would not have it any other
way.
Although society is changing
and women are now expected to work outside of the home, their workload
at home is quite the same. Mary does not seem to mind this though.
She is very content with being a hard worker at two places instead of one
and believes, as I do, that she is the most important person when it comes
to making her family work. Society has made different genders act
the way they act and do the things they do. Mothers have taught their
daughters the things that society and their mothers have taught them.
In the end, these hard working women do not seem to mind this horribly
because as Mary told me, women do both jobs better than men would anyway.
Considering that women do not mind that society has made them work harder
is showing that these trends will not be changing any time soon.
One thing is for certain, and that is that women are very hard workers
in today’s society, and they do not receive the type of credit they deserve
for work in the home. They do not do it for the credit though. Women
do it out of love of their mother’s teachings and the teachings of society.