This week’s challenge the notion of separate spheres because so much is intertwined when looking at the spheres of work life and home life. Each sphere has its role in someone’s life as well as interacts with each other. It particularly affects women because a lot of methods that can improve the life of working women would occur because of overlapping both spheres. Crittenden’s article mentions “child-rearing is the most important job in the world”, which is a statement we all have heard at some point, yet many actions taken by employers do not recognize the importance of child-rearing. If employers recognized this things such as providing working women with child care options would provide women with the opportunity and ability to work without worrying about how to pay for or find adequate childcare. Raising a family is no longer just a private matter, because of the importance of the role community resources play.
Nina Simone Dudnik’s article “sex and the single (woman) biologist”, also points out the negative ways in which work and home have been issues that overlap each other. As high status professionals in the field of science, Dudnik and her peers face challenges with balancing both. By balancing, I mean having to put their focus in one area and sacrificing success in another. “He and his wife went to graduate school together; now he runs the lab, and she’s sort of a part-time lab manager”, “I know of one professor who runs the lab while her husband works for her. The downside: She has no kids and never stops working” (Dudnik, 110-111). Both are examples how these women have had to sacrifice a personal life or a successful career because of the ways in which being a professional in their field has been stereotyped for men. Therefore, they have had to work twice as hard to accomplish their level of success.
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