Analysis Of My Mother Never Worked

My mother works every day from eight AM until four thirty PM, and when she comes home, she still continues to work. Sometimes I do not get to see her until eight o’clock at night because she is working hard on other activities. She prepares all of the meals, cleans the house, and does the laundry. Vonda is also the city clerk for the City of Matlock; therefore, she does a lot of bookwork too. She is always hardworking on the weekends. For example, she teaches Sunday school and plays the piano for the choir at church. Vonda remembered working other jobs when she was sixteen, and to me, that shows she was hardworking throughout her teen years too. Her parents were both influential to her because they had jobs, which influenced Vonda to get a job when she was a teen. When I asked Vonda what her routine was like, she listed her responsibilities on her fingers saying, “I wake up, go to work, go home, make supper, do the laundry, possibly have a piano lesson, and go to bed. I get really tired when I have a lot on my plate.” A quote I always hear my mother say to me is “Hard work pays off and makes you feel like you can accomplish your goals.” Vonda has a lot of responsibilities she has to do, but she stays positive. In everything she does, I can tell her work ethic is

She suggests that through our ignorant thinking, we are putting down the lower earning class and calling them lazy. While the author was applying for jobs, she did not put down that she received a higher education. This determined that she could not get anything over minimum wage. As she applied for numerous jobs, on her third day she hit luck and got a job as a waitress on the spot. She realizes the difficulty in finding a decent job that can pay all of her bills. “I grew up hearing over and over, to the point of tedium, that "hard work" was the secret of success: ‘Work hard and you'll get ahead’ or ‘its hard work that got us where we are.’ No one ever said that you could work hard - harder even than you ever thought possible - and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt”

Even though it was easy for women to obtain jobs in the field of domestic work or laundresses, they faced heavier exploitation; considering, that with these jobs women often had no time to care for their families. Leading a life in extreme poverty, these women had no choice, but to search for other opportunities to keep their families, and themselves, alive. At some point African American women even had to sacrifice their prides, in order to earn breadline wages to survive.

My family was a lower middle class family striving to stay afloat. In order to cover our assets so that we could live relatively comfortable lives, my mother worked three jobs. According to the liberal model, my mother’s rigorous schedule led to our family suffering from time poverty (Davis – Sower August 25 lecture notes). In my situation, time poverty was essentially the loss of family time and companionship with my mother due to her excessive work schedules. My mother’s demanding work schedule meant that often times, I had to be responsible for my younger siblings. My mom despised having to work such unenjoyable jobs that triggered my untimely responsibility load as well as her missing numerous valuable instants in all of her children’s life Nonetheless, my mother was willing to do whatever it took to provide for our family (Davis – Sower September 8 lecture

However, “all work makes an economic contribution, but the unpaid work activities related to the home have been marginalized in economic rendering of production” According to Riane Eisler (2007:16 as cited in Lindsey, 2011, pg. 277). Meaning that for human survival, and human development to be successful women’s work needs to be valued, while women are taking on the responsibilities of caregivers to others; as well as their own. In addition to the many task these women provide such as their contribution to their household chores, managing the household income, childbearing; and caring for the elderly; these jobs are all considered unpaid work to which these women will never receive any form of income for the work they provided. In the United States alone more than 40, 000 dollars annually would be paid out yearly, if these women were being paid for services rendered in those areas; such as cooking, cleaning, ironing, care givers; and financial advisor. Meaning, “at the global level, if the unpaid work of women were added to the world’s economy, it would expand by one-third, but on the positive side, the economic reality of women’s unpaid productive work is gaining public and government attention (Lindsey, 200. Pg.

In, “Halving the Double Day” by Dorothy Sue Cobble, she realizes that women get the bitter end of having a poor socio-economic status. Women are more burdened than men with balancing activities. Cobble states, “But none feel the pressure more than those juggling full-time employment with what can seem like a second shift at home” (Cobble, 1). Cobble believes that women, especially in lower income households face more stress and have less time to do things they want in life because they are burdened with finding and working in jobs as well as balancing house hold duties. Unlike men, who’s primary role in the household is to go out and work, women now who are in lower income families have to take on both roles assisting in income and doing house work. Furthermore, Cobble emphasizes that only those who are rich can benefit from the vast benefits that outsiders see in living in America. Cobble states, “Similarly the highly touted family-friendly workplace-the coveted market nook with flexible work schedules, job sharing, child care assistance, and comprehensive health and welfare coverage-is not yet a reality for the majority of salaried workers, let alone hourly workers”

Women working men’s jobs were not as welcomed in society as they were in factories. People held on to the belief that women should be house wives and not have to do much in the way of work. The man should provide for the family, and the women should take care of the family. Many of the women who worked were lower class and had to help provide for their families, or were the only providers for their families. Women who worked men’s jobs were looked down upon and thought to be no better than dirt. Although women working in factories were still women, men did not show them the same respect as they did a woman working as a secretary or teacher.

In the article “Digging In’ by Robert J. Hastings it was about the closing of the Old West Side Mine meaning that the end of the mine resembling a nice, steady job for the next 8 years. A family in the town there was a coal order form the welfare office, then a few days on WPA, the family had a garden in the backyard, they had a couple pet chickens that gave those eggs. The mom and dad had strong strength, the dad had willingness to take any job and mom’s ability was to stretch every available dollar. Both the mom and dad needed to find a job, but most of the “jobs” were those you made for yourself.

“The Importance of Work” is an essay from The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan. The whole essay talks about how humans can contribute to the society with their full capacities through work and that women should hold jobs equivalent to men. Friedan insists that men and women need work that satisfies their creativity and contributes to human society. Today, doing paid work is a necessity because it helps us get through the day wether for our needs or our pleasures. The money earned from work supports the whole family. According to Mrs. Olive Schreiner, “if women did not win back their right to a full share of honored and useful work, women’s mind and muscle would weaken in a parasitic state; her offspring, male and female would weaken progressively, and civilization itself would deteriorate.” (Friedan 8) I strongly agree with this statement. I believe that the work ethic of most generations are influenced by parents. It is obvious that we look up to our parents. If the parents do not show any desire to work, their children will copy them and will not contribute to society. If a mother who is a stay-at-home mother or has a different job does not work hard or does not show any work ethic, her children will look up to her and follow her footsteps and eventually “civilization would deteriorate.” (Friedan 8)

“Dad lost his job,”(67) Lori informed Jeanette. Which was not a surprise, but it was the job that he had for the longest period of time. Because Rex lost his job and the family had no real source of income the Walls were left with crumbs to eat. But Mary Rose could not let her family live a life of constant worrying about food, so she gets herself a job. A job as a teacher at the school which Lori, Jeanette and Brian attend. This is the first time that Mary Rose has a job and it shows Jeanette as well as the other children that women are also allowed to have jobs and make money. That men are not the only ones who are allowed to

In this paper, I will explain how the article “The Lady and the Tramp (II): Feminist Welfare Politics, Poor Single Mothers, and the Challenge of Welfare Justice” by Gwendolyn Mink relates to the thematic focus of working women and the Marxist and socialist branch of feminism. In Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction, Rosemarie Tong explains that Marxist and socialist feminists understand women’s oppression as a labor issue. Women’s work is not viewed as a productive contribution to society. One of the ways Marxist and socialist feminists sought to improve women’s oppression was through the wages-for-housework campaign of the 1970s, which fought for work done in the domestic sphere to be paid and respected by society. In this same vein, Mink’s article can be viewed as a continuation of sorts of the wages-for-housework campaign. Mink suggests that poor single mothers have the right for their work to be recognized by society and supported economically like the Marxist and socialist feminist in the 1970s.

Women’s unpaid labor in maintains a systems of oppression in many ways. In Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee’s Women’s Voices Feminist Visions unpaid labor done by many women is, “undervalued as women’s formal productive paid labor in the workforce is prioritized” (Shaw & Lee, 2015, 471). Shaw and Lee are saying that women work at home is devalued because it is viewed as informal and as work that is done out of love or is natural work. Since the work being done is viewed as natural work, it further reinforces gender stereotypes by stating that women are supposed to do the household work which is deemed more as feminine. This thought process follows patriarchal thinking, where women are expected to do the

It took me eighteen years to spend some quality time with my mother and discover what an incredible journey she has had with my brothers and me. She is the kind of person who has always been very involved with all parts of our daily lives. In fact, she was the kind of mother who always had time for her three sons, worked full-time and had time to devote to community projects too. Her energy and enthusiasm for all of these things seemed endless and she always tried to teach the three of us to see the value in the idea of giving back to the community. I was always glad that she was present at my games and supported me through school, but it took me over a decade to learn what motivated her to be so

In this poem “Woman’s Work”, the mother is forced to do household cleaning which represents a domestic life and the impact of gender specific roles. This poem is written in the third person point of view. The speaker is the daughter of a mother who doesn’t work outside, but only inside of the house, and is forced to do household cleaning with her as she hears her friends playing outside in the street. Author Julia Alvarez uses imagery, simile, and alliteration to portray the meaning of the poem that women work harder than men.

A mother is someone who can take the place of all others but no one can take the place of her. There are many different definitions you could use to describe your mother. My mother, Pam Krull, fits every one of those. Today I decided to pick the three that I thought was most important to me. I admire and aspire to be like my mother because of how supportive, how selfless, and how loving she is.