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
they report to their own jobs. 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. In addition, many children are involved in extra-curricular activities and this too consumes a considerable amount of time. On top of this a mother must provide nutritious meals for her family, clean the house, do the laundry, and help with homework. 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. Because women want a career or because the family needs the extra paycheck, household responsibilities, children's needs, and the marriage are often compromised as a result. It is too difficult for a mother to handle all of the responsibilities of day to day life for the most part on her own. These levels of work strain often lead to stress in the home and can ultimately affect a woman's health in a negative way. Considering that the cost of living is on the rise with seemingly no end in site, it has becoming increasingly difficult if not impossible for mothers to work only the "second shift", namely running a household and raising children. Husbands need to take start taking a more pro-active approach to domestic
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Approximate Word count = 997
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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