Working Mothers in the 21st Century
In the past fifteen to twenty years there has been a sex-role revolution in the United States. The typical American family with the husband at work and the wife at home with the children is no longer the typical American family. With close to 50 percent of all married women with children now working outside the home, the "typical" family now represents less than 20 percent of all American households. The role of women has changed, but not yet the role for men. It is obvious that a dual-career marriage apparently means a marriage in which the wife has two jobs. The workload that mothers have taken on can result in unhealthy stress levels and lead to other illnesses. The division of labor in the household has not changed significantly over the last fifteen years even though wives have careers outside the home. In fact, men whose wives are employed outside the home typically spend little more time on housework than men whose wives are not employed. Women have become overburdened with these "second shift" responsibilities and it is time for men to start contributing to the domestic duties. Many mothers start their day as early as 5 a.m. to get their children dressed, fed, and off to school or day care before
In an article by Lynn Norment, The trials and triumphs of working mothers, she writes that many working mothers acknowledge that they simply don't have enough time in their lives to accommodate both career and family as well as they would like to, but most say they are happier working outside the home than not. In addition, many children are involved in extra-curricular activities and this too consumes a considerable amount of time. Using the scale, he has found that women typically spend more time working at paid and unpaid tasks than men. What does make the difference is whether they have children. In a recent study by Linda Luecken and her colleagues at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina there is solid evidence of the physical impact of "role overload" among working mothers. While many husbands may be pitching in more at home, they often finish their assigned tasks and then relax. After putting in an eight hour day and in many cases considerably more, the working mother must rush home to relieve the babysitter or pick up her kids from daycare. Linda Lueckens study examined 109 women with full-time clerical and customer-service jobs. A working mom is virtually always on call and responsible for managing the details of home. The increased strain in working mothers comes from the reality that women still carry most of the child-rearing and household responsibilities. Marshall, EdD, of Wellesley College's Center for Research on Women hold what she calls a "scarcity hypothesis", which presumes that people have a limited amount of time and energy and that women with competing demands suffer from overload and inter-role conflict. Urine samples were collected over a period of two days to measure levels of stress hormones. The evidence shows that the increased demands on working mothers often results in physiological changes associated with ill health. There is often something unexpected to cope with-- spilled milk, lost homework, a sick child, the search for new child care.
Common topics in this essay:
,
Ulf LundbergPhD,
Linda Lueckens,
Lynn Norment,
North Carolina,
Research Women,
outside home,
typically spend,
Linda Luecken,
women children,
typical american family,
women children home,
household responsibilities,
children women,
employed women,
levels stress,
total workload,
career family,
typical american,
|
Acceptance Essays
