In today’s society much of the work that we do is not really considered work.  There are many reasons for this phenomenon which mostly revert back to what we were taught when we were young, and from what society has taught us to be socially definable as “real work.”  One major form of this work is the work that most wives and mothers do in and around the house.  Most of them do not even question why they are cleaning, cooking, or doing the laundry.  This is very interesting indeed because this is work that they are not being paid for, yet these women do it very freely and without question.  So why do they do it?  I recently interviewed one such worker by the name of Mary Buchanan to try and uncover why she does work around the house without a second thought, and to sociologically analyze these strange yet common actions that most women engage in.  Mary is a full time secretary as well as a mother of two but this does not stop here from taking on almost every responsibility in the home.  I will attempt to look into the impact that gender ideology, gender identity, and gender strategy have had on the way she views housework through the answers she gives and the way she perceives these issues.
         What impact has gender ideology had on Mary and other working women?  Gender ideology refers to the beliefs, values, and ideas that people in a society believe to be true about certain sexes, whether it be male or female.  In the United States of America it is common for people to view men as the ones that go out into the work place to make the money and support the family, and women as the ones that stay home, take care of the kids, shop, and keep the house clean.
It was no different for Mary when she was growing up.  Her father worked in a factory and her mother stayed home with the family’s seven children.   Her mother cooked, cleaned, took care of the children, and made sure everything went smoothly within the family.  She was, in other words, in charge of keeping the family together.  Mary’s father went to work to make the money but, when it was time for him to come home, his work was done, except for the occasional yard and outside housework.  The kids all helped around the house with the boys helping father with manual work and the girls helping mother inside.
        Mary learned at a young age to be a good housewife and how to take care of the children by helping her mother with her younger brothers and sisters.  A good example Mary gave me which makes me even more convinced that she learned these habits from her mother is because she never dusted vents until a few years ago.  What does this have to do with anything?  Well she never dusted vents in the home because her mother never dusted vents.  She had not learned this from her mother when she was young so it was not a normal part of her cleaning habits until recently.
Mothers are a key role model for their daughters and the way they grow up. Things are now changing in society that is making it harder for women though.  In today’s society women are not only expected to do jobs inside of the home, they are also expected to get jobs outside as well.  Mary, as I mentioned before, is not only a housewife but also a full time secretary.   She goes to work all day but when she comes home her work is not complete.  She told me that she probably spends only four hours a day when she does not actually do work.   She reads for two hours and watches around two hours worth of television where she gets up during every commercial to do dishes and laundry.  When I asked how she felt about this she told me that it had really never crossed her mind, even though when her husband comes home from work he sits in front of the television or plays on the computer.  She never questioned the fact that she actually has two jobs because of gender ideology and the way society has specified her role as a mother.
        Mary’s husband has limited roles when it comes to the kids and house work because of gender strategy.  Gender strategy refers to the deviation of work between the man and women that actually takes place in and around the home.   An example of this is that once when Mary had to go out of town she had to make a list of all the things that needed to be done with the kids.  This list included their schooling, sports practices, and cooking.  Without this list her husband would have never been able to successfully take care of the kids for the two days she was gone. Mary’s husband had never been taught or expected to do any of these tasks before.  When Mary came home after the two day vacation she was amazed to see the children in the same clothes she had left them in.  Mary’s husband’s response was that it was not on the list to change them and he had forgotten.  Society has not forced males into learning these skills that Mary acquired when she was very young and it is still very socially acceptable to be this way.
            Mary’s husband does not usually take into account that she has a full time job also and that maybe he should help around the house.  This does not bother Mary any because her father was the same way.  Her husband’s gender ideology plays a role in these phenomena as well.  It seems that this married couple, like so many others, is trapped in a stalled revolution.
Most of the work that Mary does around the house can be viewed as invisible work.  By invisible work I mean that no one ever sees or notices it.  Since her children are both boys, she has never really had anyone to teach as her mother taught her.  This was because the boys were always taught by the father and the girls by the mother in her household.  She felt that making them clean the dishes or mop the floor was some how out of place for them.  Both boys did have chores but none of them involved cleaning beyond their own bedroom, which Mary states was one of her biggest mistakes when they were younger.  Her two sons and husband rarely notice that the dishes are always done and the floor is always moped.  They take all these things for granted and rarely notice that they are done which makes it invisible work.  Society and their up bringing has taught them to believe that Mary’s work is supposed to be done which makes her work more invisible even though it is very evident.
Mary does have a work/love dichotomy for her work nonetheless.  She told me that if these chores were not done it would bother her and that it makes her feel good that she can take care of her family and do everything she can to make their lives better.  This goes back, once again, to the way society and her mother has taught her to think and behave. More importantly this type of thinking relates to Mary’s gender identity.
            Mary’s gender identity, or the way she views the work and life style a female in the United States of America should be, has taught her to love her work away from being a secretary.  The love that Mary has for her children and husband also contribute to this.  She wants their lives to be as good as possible and feels that it is her job to make this happen.  Her gender identity has taught her that she is in charge of their happiness inside the home and that the father has little to do with it.  My questions made her realize how she thought about her self and her chores a certain way and that taking care of the kids and her home were what she believed she was obligated to do.  She views herself as a homemaker and a loving mother, and would not have it any other way.
        Although society is changing and women are now expected to work outside of the home, their workload at home is quite the same.  Mary does not seem to mind this though.  She is very content with being a hard worker at two places instead of one and believes, as I do, that she is the most important person when it comes to making her family work.  Society has made different genders act the way they act and do the things they do.  Mothers have taught their daughters the things that society and their mothers have taught them.  In the end, these hard working women do not seem to mind this horribly because as Mary told me, women do both jobs better than men would anyway.  Considering that women do not mind that society has made them work harder is showing that these trends will not be changing any time soon.  One thing is for certain, and that is that women are very hard workers in today’s society, and they do not receive the type of credit they deserve for work in the home.  They do not do it for the credit though. Women do it out of love of their mother’s teachings and the teachings of society.