Introduction
Division of labour in many families is based on gender differences which impacts the role played by males and females in their household domestic chores. Gender roles are the social constructs which expect certain attributes or characteristics in the personalities of individuals based on their genders, and includes among other things, the activities of males and females and the roles they play (West & Zimmerman, 1991). West and Zimmerman (1991) affirm that these distinct societal perceptions of males and females cause gender differences in their preferences of jobs and the functions they perform at home or at work.
Main body
In her book, ‘The Second Shift,’ Arlie Hochschild describes what she calls the “Stalled revolution”, a period where women are now working outside the home but the jobs they are going out to and men they coming home to have not changed to accommodate this second shift. Hochschild investigates how working parents are developing strategies to address their daily problems, and incorporates their ideas about gender and their own gender identity. Through a longitudinal study conducted by interviewing and observing several working parents, she tries to investigate their gender ideologies which influence their gender strategies. Among the couples she interviewed and observed were the Tanagawas and the Shermans.
Peter and Nina Tanagawa’s marriage is based on transitional ideologies where Nina wants to work and still be committed to doing house work but believes that Peter’s work should come first. They married based on their similar marital values. Nina, an executive mother of two, earns more than her husband and does the house work. Peter works as a technical book sales and suppresses his emotional attachment to his children because he wants Nina to take the leading role as a parent. Hochschild explains how the culture of super mommy is influencing some men not to share the house work (Pg. 24). She argues that the images and articles of working mothers do not reflect the actual experience these mothers go through, as a result of which some men like Peter Tanagawa are influenced to assume the wife (Nina) is capable of handling both, work and home efficiently.
Peter claims that Nina should do the house work because she is more interested and competent in it and has personally chosen to put her time and energy into it (Pg. 81). Peter explains that he is not involved in house work because the society portrays the impression that working mothers are competent and do not need help (Pg. 24). Additionally, Peter’s resistance in sharing the house work is also based on societal perception that women are characteristically suited by virtue of their natural energy, competence and emphatic nature to assume the dual responsibility of work, hence, Nina should do the same without his help. When Nina is sick from pneumonia because of her fatigue from balancing work and family, Peter describes Nina’s situation as a result of her circumstances and not her problems. Instead of sharing the house work and assisting Nina, Peter works harder, trying to extend the market for his technical books, even though he does not like his work (Pg. 95). This belief of Peter is endorsed by the fact that gender is constructed by society for the purpose of social interaction, and individuals behave in particular ways to support their gender identities (West and Zimmerman, 1987).
Peter’s belief that women are naturally competent to handle both, work and family without problems, stems from his interactions with the social world. Peter’s gender ideology is to simply provide emotional support to Nina and the children. This is evident when their daughter Alexandra needs help in adjusting at school and Peter tells Nina that she should handle it in the best possible way she can and that he would support her decision. Hochschild closely observes Peter’s strategy of not being involved in solving family issues which is based on his gender ideology of men lacking in characteristics which make them naturally incompetent in dealing with children. Researchers have noted that differences in gender are initiated at an early age when children learn to accomplish gender successfully in order to be judged as capable social actors, (West & Zimmerman).
Peter also displays his belief of being emotional supportive to Nina in her career (Pg.198). Hochschild concludes that Peter is resistant in sharing housework due to his awareness of the role of men in his social world (Pg. 201) which emphasises that a man’s role in the family is to provide for the family’s needs and not share domestic work. Simultaneously, Nina’s workplace does not accommodate her parent hood and although she is successful and competent at her work, the work is not flexible for her to balance domestic as well as professional work. The men at her workplace believe that she is managing well because of the super mommy images they see. Nina cannot cut back her working hours and continue to be perceived as a valued employee. Nina continues to struggle, balancing work pressure and family needs.
Peter’s resistance to house work is also based on the idea of preserving his manhood. Peter believes that he does not need to balance because he has already lost his power over Nina’s salary, basing his belief on his social perception that women should not earn more their husband. Hochschild argues that beneath Peter’s resistance in doing house work is the fear of losing his status as the man of the family in his hometown community (Pg. 209). Society is structured in such a way that men feel judged by the world based on their capacity to support the family and their working status and are not expected to take part in domestic activities. This has also resulted in Peter and Nina keeping Nina’s salary as a secret because Peter wants to protect his manhood and social status in the world.
Peter also fails to accept Nina’s salary gracefully because he feels that he should be the one earning more and looking after the needs of the family. In fact, Peter believes that he has gifted Nina with the opportunity to work. Hochschild (1989) argues that husbands’ housework contributions do not follow logical rules of economic exchange and the more husbands are economically dependent on their wives, the less housework they do, probably as a measure to reassert their masculinity (Hochschild, pg. 231). In this way, Nina continues to struggle with pressures of work and home and stops pressing Peter to help because of the fear of divorce. Examining the opportunities surrounding her, Nina realizes that remarrying would be difficult because of her successful career. Divorce seems to bring more sufferance to women than to men and lowers their class status in society. As such, Nina cuts back on her paid work and hires helpers so that she can feel like she is engaged in only one shift. Nina also has the emotional responsibility to make their situation appear fine. Through this and many other examples, Hochschild argues that society does not tend to view house work as work because it is invisible and unpaid, which is the reason why this work is not empowering and does not give one sense of accomplishment.
Hochschild argues that it is not only cultural ideas or upbringing which shapes gender ideologies but also the constraints and opportunities which individual face (pg. 231). For example Michael Sherman shares the house work and is involved in raising their twin children not because he is trying to make up for losing his power in other realms of his marriage but feels the need to give up the idea of having more power than his wife. Hochschild observes that sometimes situations change the gender ideologies individuals. Michael Sherman is a traditional man on the inside but appears to be an egalitarian man who has changed because of the situation he is in due to his twin children (Adrenne, pg. 232). Michael shares the house work even though he earns more than his wife Adrenne and even suppresses his career ambitions to devote himself more to his children.
Michael learns in life to slow down his pace in life because of his children. The reason for this, Hochschild mentions is men’s reaction to a situation they have faced in their lives, being with a hostile or absent father and their desire to accomplish something which their fathers failed to provide as men (Pg. 228). She also states that men who stay at home to care for their newborn babies become nurturing and kind (Pg. 243). Michael Sherman takes pride in raising his twin boys dismissing the notion that men who share domestic responsibilities and chores are compensating for their low salaries. Hochschild discovers that there different reasons why working parents share house work. She argues that men who share are randomly distributed across the class hierarchy dismissing the notion that men who earn less are likely to share (pg. 237). Additionally, Hochschild explains that men who help in the house work also depend on the women to encourage the involvement of their husband without demanding it. Hochschild argues that money does not appear to be the only underlying principle in the strategies of men and women regarding house work. If this were the case, then most women with low paying jobs would be doing the entire housework without any help from their husbands.
Both Michael and Adrenne appreciate each other’s contribution to their family income which proves the fact that finances do not determine the strategies which determine the role played by men and women in the house work; rather, the organization of society determines the choices of individuals whether or not to take part in the house work. Strategies are actually based on the opportunities and constraints which couples face in their lives. The Tanagawas and Shermans have different perceptions to housework and handle domestic chores distinctly because of their opportunities and constraints.
When the attitudes and approaches of these two couples are compared, the pocketbook logic fails to apply and the assumption that men do not engage in house work if they are financially privileged fails to apply because Michael earns more than his wife. On the other hand, Peter’s income is less than that of his wife; yet he is averse to the idea of helping his wife. Peter displays constrains due to several gender ideologies such as retaining his manhood, and his perception that house work and child rearing are the sole responsibilities of women. His earnings, which are less than that of his wife, also force him to preserve his social status of being the man of the house, since he considers himself falling behind his wife with regard to the salary. In Michael’s case, the birth of twins has forced him to share responsibility with the wife in the housework. Through these interviews and studies, Hochschild proposes that the government must create policies to harmonize employment and familial responsibilities for women and men in order to promote egalitarian sharing of domestic and community responsibilities.
References
Arlie Russell Hochschild (1989). The Second Shift.
West, Candace and Don H. Zimmerman. (1991). Doing Gender. In Judith Lorber and Susan A. Farrell (Eds.), The Social Construction of Gender. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.