Chapter 3 Reflection

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Chapter 3 Reflection

The image of a super mom that we think of today is a woman who is successful at work and looks after her house. The image of an ideal family is where both father and mother are equally responsible for the upbringing of their child. Parents are not worried about the roles as there is a reasonable division of labor. However, things are not as ideal as they seem. Working mothers are always super busy and in a hurry to get back to their homes because they have plenty of work to do at home as well. Yet it is established that working mothers do so much better as they are energetic and personally competent. We have seen black women who were extremely proficient at their work and managing their homes. Today’s white moms are compared with the black moms of the 60s. It is often thought that machines have made it easier for women to manage household chores, but truth be told, they have not contributed much ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"tom2tboU","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hochschild and Machung)","plainCitation":"(Hochschild and Machung)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":809,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/OnfrXiA2/items/4NXMVMK7"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/OnfrXiA2/items/4NXMVMK7"],"itemData":{"id":809,"type":"chapter","abstract":"Fifteen years after its first publication, The Second Shift remains just as important and relevant today as it did then. As the majority of women entered the workforce, sociologist and Berkeley professor Arlie Hochschild was one of the first to talk about what really happens in dual-career households. Many people were amazed to find that women still did the majority of childcare and housework even though they also worked outside the home. Now, in this updated edition with a new introduction from the author, we discover how much things have, or have not, changed for women today.","container-title":"The Second Shift","ISBN":"978-0-14-200292-6","language":"en","note":"Google-Books-ID: G1ZS3bU3ZMUC","publisher":"Penguin Books","source":"Google Books","title":"Chapter 3: The Cultural Cover-up","author":[{"family":"Hochschild","given":"Arlie Russell"},{"family":"Machung","given":"Anne"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2003"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Hochschild and Machung).

Women compromise over the status quo and accept their career and household system. They feel stressed out, tired, and unhappy about their tedious routine. They also criticize the system but then they make peace with it. The alternative of the supermom image is where men actively participate in the house chores and look after their kids after their shifts but it is frowned upon by the society. Our society and cultural values have accepted it that men can get away from their responsibilities as women will always be there to sort them out since it is their domain. Society gives space to men in case they want change and be more effective at home as well. However, if they do not change, society expects that women will take the pressure and crushing guilt. The division of the second shift should be an ostensible agreement among the couples to maintain a balance between work and household chores equally.

Works Cited:

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Hochschild, Arlie Russell, and Anne Machung. “Chapter 3: The Cultural Cover-Up.” The Second Shift, Penguin Books, 2003.