No Thank You. I Don't Need the Overtime!

           I believe in class we were approaching an interesting topic known as the second shift. The second shift refers to the work, usually performed by women, concentrated in the home after leaving a job of pay outside of the home. I find it interesting that regardless of this progressive day in age that women are still the individuals mainly working the second shift. We have come so far as a society to including the importance of women in the workforce, realizing that a single income within the house is no longer able to sustain the family. However, we are no closer to understanding as a group of people that we cannot expect women to delegate themselves to performing an extra set of duties within the home, as well as outside of the home, alone. When will we learn that the home is a collective effort? Personally, I believe that our expectations of women to take on this second shift, lessens the importance of their work outside of the home, aiding in the beliefs of some individuals that the work women perform while on the clock is meaningless. We don't expect men to take on as many duties upon re-entering the home. Is it because his work is seen as far more important than his female companion in importance and necessity?
          Secondly, it continues to engender work that is meant for women and work meant for men. When we assign specific duties to one sex over another we ingrain those duties to the roles that are assumed under them. So, even if a woman is a C.E.O. or "head boss" at a company, having to fulfill the second shift when she returns home, signals that her career outside the home is less important in comparison to her "true atmosphere" of the house and her more important identity as a "caring wife". Yet again, a form of sexism is dispersed. However, benevolent sexism is at play, not only is the idea of women taking on the "second shift" a form of seeing them as the only means of perfection concerning the well oiled machine of a properly taken care of home, which speaks to the belief that women are nurturing, caring, loving, all the things that many men believe themselves not to be. Benevolent sexism, also gives the impression that women who are able to pull off such heavily involved duties as working outside and inside the home are "Superwomen", leaving women who are incapable of doing the same feeling "Super-lacking" and unable to measure up.  The major issue with this particular form of sexism, isn't that it is blatant like that of hostile sexism. The problem lies in it's ability of making women feel like total shit, but in a round-a-bout nice way, which is far worse than just putting it out there for the world to see!