During the course of a day there are many things that go unnoticed.  This is especially true for the actions of a “typical” working woman.  Society has its own perception of what it expects out of a normal family.  The father should take care of the yard, cars, fix whatever is physically broken, but most of all go to work.  The children have the one expectation to obey their parents, which seems too hard for them to do at times.  These expectations of the father and the children have not evolved much over time.  It is the mother’s role that has extended to, not only managing the many household duties but working outside of the home as well.  Throughout this paper we will sociologically analyze the impact that gender ideology, identity, and strategy has had in the life of a modern mother named Cherie, who has a job and works at home.
         First, we will analyze the effect that gender ideology has on the modern mother.  Gender ideology is the idea that a male or female should have certain attributes and act in a certain way that is accepted and expected by the majority of society.  Cherie grew up with a father who worked as a foreman in a plant.  When he was at home his jobs were to take care of the bills, mow, and take care of the cars.  Her mother stayed home as a housewife and cooked, cleaned, shopped, and cared for the kids.  She said that she usually hung around her mother while her brother would tag along with their father most of the time.  She learned what was acceptable behavior for a female primarily from her mother because that is who she spent most of her time with and got instruction from.  Cherie enjoyed coming home from school to eat lunch with her mother and often recalls bringing her friends along because their mothers had jobs.
         Building a family of her own, Cherie had the idea to carry out the same duties that she witnessed from her mother and opted to be a housewife.  She assumed all of the household chores and took care of raising three children.  Her husband eventually landed a successful job as an executive director.  Once her children started to grow up she felt that her responsibilities at the house had diminished and found a job in the workplace.  Now she realized that she still held all the jobs at home along with those at work.
         Cherie’s childhood gives us strong evidence that helps prove her current situation.  Her mother took care of the kids and did all of the housework, which was what was expected of all mothers.  The difference between herself and her mother was that it now seemed necessary for her to bring in a paycheck once the children had grown up in order to feel a sense of accomplishment and self-worth.  She kept the same work routine at home because she did not want to disturb the home environment by changing the way that the house had been ran.  This is how she got stuck with literally two jobs.
        The gender ideology played a big part in her life because it established what she was supposed to act like and expect as a female.  She followed society’s standards by taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, and shopping just as her mother did.  She believes that society is right in assuming that the mother will stay home with the children and would do it again in a heartbeat.  She believes that mothers have a type of nurturing that males do not seem to possess and that children need while they are young.
        There is a work/love dichotomy with motherhood that Cherie admits to noticing.  Mothers do not do their absolute best job in caring for their children because it makes them look good.  In fact, their work often goes unnoticed.  Their work is invisible to many people and taken for granted by everyone who encounters them at one time or another, which leads to only one conclusion.  Mothers care for their children because they LOVE them.  This is why their work is often overlooked.  I believe that this is because the majority of society cannot comprehend love and work together.  In today’s society it is hard to find someone who truly enjoys his or her job.  The jobs that are the most enjoyable usually do not pay very well, and the jobs that are not enjoyable usually pay more in order to fill the position.  This shows us that most people in society consider good pay more important than enjoying your work.
A mother’s work is taken for granted because they do it out of love, it is what is expected out of them; they receive no pay so they must enjoy it.  This deals directly with the female gender identity.  Gender identity is how a male or a female views himself or herself.  It is their self-perception.  Talking with Cherie I could tell that many of the things she did throughout the day were even overlooked by her.  She had the mentality that many of the things she does are because she is a good mother who loves her kids.  She did not consider the typical work of a mother as work unless she held an outside job also.  This is a way society tricks even the mothers into expecting themselves to do the housework without expecting to be noticed.  Cherie did stress the importance of both parents taking an active part in the children’s discipline.
      When a mother works it increases the amount of work it requires to operate the household, plus you have to worry about your job at the workplace.  This aspect of a modern working woman is compliant with gender strategy.  Gender strategy deals with what is actually carried out within the household.  Cherie believes that the biggest difficulty in managing the life of a working mother is the public/private split.  This is managing your paid job priorities with your household priorities.  Many times she has to call in sick in order to drive her child to the doctor or dentist.  This is obvious in the workplace and often overlooked, but workers who do this are not often viewed as a serious worker or promoted as often.  This causes an internal conflict at work and gives an unfair advantage to a male or single female worker.
        It is clear that the work that a typical mother does around the house is taken for granted and it is unlikely that the societal norms are going to change anytime soon.  Cherie felt that a traditional strategy would be sufficient for a mother who does not work outside of the home.  She felt an egalitarian strategy would suffice for a mother who worked outside of the home.  A transitional strategy was not fair on any condition.  Cherie realizes that if her life is going to get any easier she is going to have to go against society’s expectations and lighten her workload with her husband.  Changing the female ideology is going to be very difficult due to the fact that females do possess a stronger nurturing quality that is needed for young children.  Many women who breast-feed develop an emotional bond with their child within the first few months of the child’s birth that many say can never be matched.  We can, immediately start respecting the effort that working housewives accomplish around the house.  Realize the actual workload that is on their shoulders and that no one blames the husband if the house is a mess.  The typical work that a mother does, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and taking care of the kids is all non-paid work but is essential for an efficient everyday life.