Role Strain (Chapter 4)

This entry is concerned with role strain for women. Women can work full-time jobs and then come home to take their "second shift" as a mother, which is also a full-time job. I find this topic very interesting, because as a woman, I am obviously looking to have children in the future and I concerned about this role strain. I expect to go to medical school, be a wife and in time, have children. I am worried about how I will do all of the tasks expected of me, especially because they are all so radically different.

This scholarly article about role strain is very interesting. The studies done have found that working mothers experience "role overload" and "role spillover". This fits very well with the thought that mothers who are full-time employed experience a significant amount of role strain and stress. Role overload addresses the stress part of this and states that too many tasks and too many things to do and to be puts a lot of strain on the woman. Role spillover occurs when there is a role overload and the woman might let the stress of the strain affect her tasks at work or at home. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12156/m1/1/high_res_d/thesis.pdf

 Figure 1: Professional Mom (Source: The Thriving Mama, 2013)

This YouTube video from Fora TV discusses how women might view working a full-time job and caring for her children. The speaker emphasizes the importance of continuing to work even with the strain, because the long term benefits will typically be greater than being a stay at home mom.

This blog about motherhood addressed solutions to role strain and stress. These might be to take a break  or to reduce the pressure or responsibility a woman has. Motherhood has a high potential to be stressful without the addition of a full-time job, so these solutions are crucial. http://www.smartmomz.com/moms-and-the-role-strain/

This research article is concerned with a lot of issues surrounding role strain. I think the most interesting issue is whether or not dual-earning families have less role strain and conflict. The research done for this article found that dual-earning families, that is where both parents supply income, there can be a major increase in role strain and conflict. It might be more expensive for child care and household services than if one parent had just stayed home.http://www.kon.org/urc/v5/humphrey.html

"(24/7) once you sign on to be a mother, that's the only shift they offer"- Jodi Piccoult

(Source: My Sister's Keeper, 2003)