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A review by afterwordsbooks
The Second Shift by Arlie Russell Hochschild
3.0
Hoped to finish this book with a big sigh of relief and a "thank-goodness-we've-come-so-far-since-then". Disappointed to find that no huge strides have been made (based on personal experience and of those close to me) and that we still lag miles behind other countries who benefit from government policies that support families, helping them to find that elusive balance between career, family/marriage.
Hitting hardest, the author reflects on "marital clashes [that] reflect a broader social tension- between faster-changing women and slower-changing men. .... More important, over the last thirty years, men's underlying feelings about taking responsibility at home have changed much less than women's feelings have changed about forging some kind of identity of work." At first publication in 1989, it's pathetic that this still rings woefully true.
Speaking to divorce rates in our country, not surprisingly "Sharing the second shift improved a marriage regardless of what ideas either had about men's and women's roles. Whether they were traditional or egalitarian, couples were happier when the men did more housework and child care."
The author's call to action, "in the era of a stalled revolution, one way to reverse this devaluation is for men to share in that devalued work, [homemaking, child rearing] and thereby help to revalue it. Many working mothers are already doing all they can at home. Now it's time for met to make the move. In an age of divorce, marriage itself can be at stake."
Really? No kidding....
Hitting hardest, the author reflects on "marital clashes [that] reflect a broader social tension- between faster-changing women and slower-changing men. .... More important, over the last thirty years, men's underlying feelings about taking responsibility at home have changed much less than women's feelings have changed about forging some kind of identity of work." At first publication in 1989, it's pathetic that this still rings woefully true.
Speaking to divorce rates in our country, not surprisingly "Sharing the second shift improved a marriage regardless of what ideas either had about men's and women's roles. Whether they were traditional or egalitarian, couples were happier when the men did more housework and child care."
The author's call to action, "in the era of a stalled revolution, one way to reverse this devaluation is for men to share in that devalued work, [homemaking, child rearing] and thereby help to revalue it. Many working mothers are already doing all they can at home. Now it's time for met to make the move. In an age of divorce, marriage itself can be at stake."
Really? No kidding....