The Second Shift: Current and Future Prospects of The Relationship Between Gender and Labor

The Second Shift

Current and Future Prospects of Relationships

As soon as a girl child is born, she is socialized into being caring and loving personality and given doll houses to play with; in short she is being trained to become a good home maker as soon as she realizes the gender difference. She is referred to as “a pretty girl” rather than “a tough girl.” The reference is still the same in the society that I was brought up in. The process of socialization and cultural indoctrination is not much different than during the times of my mother. However, the difference lies in the fact that we are no more trained to but are psychologically influenced to rank household chores before career. Despite the changing role of women in a patriarchal society like Nepal, we have been passively trained to take care of our spouses, and feel uncomfortable when we see our male counterpart doing the household chores. The guilt of being less involved as a homemaker and more a career oriented women seems sinister to my culture.

In this essay, I intend to analyze the division of labor based on the silent indoctrinated gender roles at home. After a careful and continuous observance for more than a decade, I have realized that my parents share a traditional relationship that is highly in favor of my father, my mother is the traditional home maker while my father is the sole bread winner for the family. With the cultural factors at play, I intend to discuss the gender ideologies that have been passed down from generations in my family. Since my grandparents shared a similar role, my parents have been passively influenced to follow. Women in my country try to fit into their mothers’ shoes; it is more than likely that my grandmother spent more time...

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...nd that my mother is satisfied with her choice of being a full-time homemaker primarily because she has seen her mother, aunts, and neighbors fulfill the same role. Hochschilds’ concept of stalled revolution is applicable to my parents’ case when my mother was involved in her training. Despite, their desire to prove themselves and be an active earning member of the household women are still trapped within the four walls of the household. The women have had strong motivation to initiate the first shift; the stalled revolution as a result of the full-time second shift that women have to work as homemakers despite making financial contribution to the household is limiting the progress of the women. If men realize their responsibility and develop a strong feeling of gender equity, it is highly likely that the second shift would be divided between the men and the women.