Mother's Day Kiss Off Summary

A Mother’s Day Kiss Off
In the Article, Leslie Bennetts talks about women who have been given the wrong impression of life. The impression of life being a fairy-tale, in which the man is the breadwinner and the wife stays home and tends to the house and the children. She also talks about, the so called fairy-tale crashing when the prince leaves for good. The gender roles in the home are women being taken advantage of.
Marriage in the American society has had clearly defined gender roles in the past. The husband’s role of the house is to be the breadwinner. The wife’s carries the role of being the caregiver. Three main phases of American economy, how family lived and made money to support the family, have influenced the gender roles of the household.
As economy changed to a wages of family economy the gender roles became more defined. Women have a lot of tasks to do in the household. The men worked outside of the home and women were restricted to the home to provide childcare and attend to household duties. Most men still have the mindset that cleaning up around the house and tending to the children are the part of women’s work. When emotional support, social and intellectual development for the child is needed the mother/ woman of the house is the sole provider. It’s not necessarily a disadvantage for the women but it is an added task for them to provide, even though it’s a form of nursing the children. It especially becomes useful if the man of the house is absent due to work, death or has abandoned the household, for the children already look to her to tend to their needs.
Some women take on the role of being a stay at home mom instead of working in a field where they would happy this can lead to feeling resentful for some. Women who have had careers have quit their jobs to take on the role as house wife are upset as well. Women can grow angry if they feel left behind to do everything as far as taking care of the children, household and now take care of the finances due to the absence of the breadwinner for various reasons. Women prefer to manage their marital status simultaneously with their career. The ability of a woman to do well lies in the perception that she can handle household duties and other tasks with strength. They have worked hard to get the education. If possible women should chose to work because if she were to remain at home she would be wasting all the knowledge she got through education during the early years of her life. It would be a “waste of human resources” if she does not work no matter if her husband has a well paying job or is rich enough to support her and the entire family.