Blog #3

Household labor is unpaid labor that entails things like doing the laundry, washing the dishes and bathing and feeding children. All these tasks are necessary work for running a household. According to the video about Changing Gender Roles at Home, while even though women are currently doing far less work around the house than in the past, men are only contributing a little more.

Carework is the unpaid labor of caring for a loved one who is unable to care for themselves because of age, illness or disability. Personally I never had to do carework. I have only had to do chores like washing the dishes everyday since both my parents worked fulltime and they needed and expected us to help and contribute to our family. My brother was in charge of taking out the trash so our tasks were stereotypical to our gender which in turn affected the way our roles were socialized.

Since more women are joining the workforce than ever before their traditional family responsibilities like caring for children or caring for someone who cannot manage because or age, sickness or disabilities have become quite difficult. The first video of “Juggling Work and Care” addressed the issue of workers who need to leave their jobs in order to care for a sick loved one. In the UK they have created an online resource for people who work for a particular company that enables them to work from home if they need to care for a relative. Another issue presented in the second video clip was about a man who had four children and a wife who had suffered from depression since her first born. Choosing to be there for his family or be loyal to his job was a choice this man never had to make because the company he worked for valued care and were flexible for when he had no choice but to leave work.

Society needs to reconstruct their notions of the home as woman’s work for the sake of the sanity of all mothers. The video called The Mommy Mistique described how society is pressuring modern moms into being the perfect both in the workplace and at home. There are shows in the media like Super Nanny and Desperate Housewives that are setting the bar quite high for what a good mother is “supposed” to be. In order for society to change their notions of the home as women’s work they need to let go of the stereotypes that are portrayed in the media about women and the household. Mothers should also take political action in order for the government to increase their support for families, health care, education and day care. Over time improving some of these policies could change the way society views the home as woman’s work if the government could aid all families with these needs.