The Negative Effects of the Modern Mom

In today’s society more and more women are working outside of the homes and are not able to take care of the children on a full time bases. When the parents are unable to tend to their children, they have to seek help from an outside source. Years ago, it was natural for the mother of the children to stay at home and care for them while the father goes to work. But time has changed and there is a major increase in single parenting than before. Even in two parent homes, the mother has to work in order to maintain the house

1.) Overall main topic of this book connects between the issue of motherhood and feminism. One major key point I found while reading this book is the author, Amber Kinser explains the growth and progress of the role of mothers in the american society meaning how the roles have changed overtime. A major theme of Kinser’s book is that the public debates may focus on mothering, but the issues affect us all.  Cutting back on health care for women, on education, and on jobs for teachers, social workers and others in the service sector have their greatest impact on mothers, but they affect all of us. Motherhood becomes a symbol for how men and women, single and married, gay and straight, deal with the need for individual options and the need to act for the good of others.

Women for years have been automatically given the role of the domestic housewife, where their only job is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Men have usually taken the primary responsibility for economic support and contact with the rest of society, while women have traditionally taken the role of providing love, nurturing, emotional support, and maintenance of the home. However, in today’s society women over the age of sixteen work outside of the home, and there are more single parent households that are headed by women than at any other time in the history of the United States (Thompson 301.)

In her interviews with woman she was sure to interview very well educated women and those that strived for mere perfection. One thing is that the men in the lives of these women were not supportive and not mentioned of much. The men and society of today have placed a lot of responsibility on a woman’s shoulders when it comes to the child. It is the woman who makes the decision or is given the task to make the heavy decisions regarding the child’s future. Because of this many women choose to stay at home to be sure that the children will receive everything that they deserve and that they are not lacking in any area. Another issue that she reviews is that employers do not work with moms at all. For example she talked about the scenario where two moms brought a solution to their problem to management yet it failed to receive approval instead one mother was offered more money (Guest, 2011). Employers are not very flexible when it comes to mothers and don’t provide the proper care that is needed for a child. Since men are the ones that don’t carry the responsibility of the child’s well-being having proper day care is not a factor for them. Then there is the cost of day care which is high and can at times not compare to what the individual is making.

Is there a common attitude society has towards women, and their roles as mothers? Betty Rollin, American journalist, reporter, and author, believes there is. She calls it the motherhood myth. She writes about this subject in her essay, “Motherhood: Who Needs It?” The myth is the idea that all normal women want and need to become mothers (Rollin 286). Rollin believes this is false, and argues that there is no biological drive or instinct, that makes women want to become mothers. Society reinforces this myth into us, through many forms of propaganda. Rollin argues against the belief that women’s most important role in life is to become a wife, and mother. She calls for the freedom to choose, and explains that becoming a mother is not an

In the reading, “From the Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home”, Hochschild explains her experience conducting a case study with a series of different women to get their perceptions of their lives as mothers, but also working women. Moreover, she provides good information to start her study. She reports that in 1950, 30 percent of American women were in the labor force, 28 percent of married women with children worked out of home. Today, those numbers have dramatically increased. During her findings, she saw that women felt a responsibility to be able to balance work and life at home, focused more on children, and expressing how overworked or tired they felt. Whereas men in this study expressed that women did most of the work around the house and childcare. In addition, what stood out to me in this reading was that some men felt pleased that their wives received more income than them. For instance, in an interview a man expressed, “was more pleased than threatened by her

The days of mom staying at home full-time are long gone for most families. More women are their family’s breadwinners than ever before. Heather Boushey in The New Breadwinners, states “Women are more likely to work outside the home and their earning are more important to their families well-being than ever before in our nation’s history” (31). In families today there’s no one staying at home in the day, so there no one there when kids come home from school with everyday life.

“The vast majority of Americans (79%) rejected the notion that women should return to their traditional role in society. Yet when they were asked what is best for young children, very few adults (16%) said that having a mother who works full time is the “ideal situation.” Some 42% said that having a mother who works part time is ideal and 33% said what’s best for young children is to have a mother who doesn’t work at all. Even among full-time working moms, only about

In the article “A Mother’s Day Kiss-Off,” author Leslie Bennetts states that people look over and under appreciate mothers, leaving them to have to handle responsibilities on their own. Bennetts supports this by providing stories, interviews, and using assertive language. In the article “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was,” author Hope Edelman expresses that she feels as if she has no say in her own home. Edelman proves her point by expressing her opinion and telling stories to persuade the reader to their side. Although Edelman and Bennetts both convey their beliefs about equality, Bennetts explains how she wants equality for all women, while Edelman just wants equality in her own home.

In the article “ A Mother's Day Kiss Off,” author Leslie Bennetts claims that even through all of the obstacles that women have had to go through to get to this point, they are still discriminated against when it comes to parenting. Bennetts explains how gender roles still exist. The author tries to give examples of how women should work to improve the roles of women with families. In the article “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was.” author Hope Edelman claims it was not her choice to be the commanding “parent” (55). Throughout the article the author talks about the struggles her and her husband have had. Edelman thought marriage was 50/50, but figured out that that is not always true. The author

In today’s world, women become commonly seen as subordinate to men and that their only duty is to be a stay at home mom. This fallacy happens to

The term 'working mother' is a redundancy. No woman need feel any guilt for opting to fill her days with whichever activities give her the greatest joy and fulfillment” (English, 2005).

One of the most traditional roles to be assumed as women, is to embrace the role of motherhood, but as of the 21st century, many women are deciding to do both, facing criticism for doing both or one of the either (The Glass Ceiling Effect*).

Many studies examine the influences of the child-care practices of employed moms on kids, however, disregard how employed moms' experience of motherhood influence their own lives and their childrearing limits. Susan Lewis in her article “Motherhood and Employment: The Impact of Social and organizational Values (1991)” examines the social development of parenthood and occupation and their effect on moms. “Cultural directives prescribe that women should become mothers and subsequently reduce their involvement in paid work, or, more recently that women can fulfill all the demands of full-time exclusive mothering and full-time paid work, without modifying the demands of either” (Lewis 195). She points out the connection between “employment” and

During this last century societal views towards women have drastically changed, from being looked at as a homemaker, to a businesswoman, to a mother, and now a working mother. One thing that hasn’t changed through the years is how women are critiqued for what they do and how they do it. If a woman takes care of the house she’s lazy and doesn't use her potential. If a women works in the office more than she’s at home she doesn’t connect with her family enough. The latest judgement women are facing: are working mothers better mothers. Today, women are being put against each other to be viewed as the “better mother” just by looking at their profession.