http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12063822/emotional-labor-gender-equality/
At the beginning of the school year, I came across this article in Harper's Bazaar on emotional labor and the unequal imposition it places on women, and particularly, mothers. I quickly showed the article to my mom, dad, and sister, as I recognized that I, as well as my other family members, definitely took part in placing undue efforts of emotional labor on my mom. The article above reminds me of the different arguments presented in "The Politics of Housework" piece we will discuss next Monday in class. I believe many of the counter-arguments presented to the statements made by men embody this concept of emotional labor--it should not be solely the mother's job to do all of the housework herself, or to think about what needs to be done in the house and ask others to do it. All members of a household should take part in the mental and physical energy necessary to keep it within certain sustainable living conditions. Both the Harper's Bazaar article and "The Politics of Housework" definitely shed light on the traps that me and my family fall into (i.e. "Mom, I like my room messy, I don't mind it!") that place extra emotional and physical labor on my mom. I hope that by sharing this article with my family we will all work to pull our own weight in the maintenance of the house as well as the care of one another (both emotionally and physically) in order to become more compassionate and just people.
I think the frustrating nature of emotional labor that women experience today is similar to the ideas presented in Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. Women had trouble voicing what their concerns were (to their husbands especially), just as they do today. One quote from the article that I found particularly important was "I find myself worrying about how the mental load bore almost exclusively by women translates into a deep gender inequality that is hard to shake on the personal level". This makes me wonder what we can do to reduce the mental load felt by women today.
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