Good Working Mothers as Jugglers: A Critical Look at Two Work–Family Balance Films

Abstract

We examine the portrayals of two good working mothers in popular work-family balance films-Melanie in One Fine Day (1996) and Kate in I Don 't Know How She Does It (2011).Using a critical standpoint, we build on communication work-family/life scholarship to extend theoretical understanding of underlying ideological notions of the good working mother. In particular, we analyze Melanie and Kate's performances that reflect the underlying cultural ideologies of being an ideal worker, a true domestic woman, and an intensive mother. Further, we explicate how this juggling of identities portrays good working mothers as perpetually defensive. We go beyond the analysis of ideologies to lay out some of the consequences of the performance portrayals of the good working mother, in that she should (a) accept While the broadest definition of juggling is to "continuously toss into the air and catch (a number of objects) so as to keep at least one in the air while handling the others," the second most common definition is to "cope with by adroitly balancing, i.e. she works full time, juggling her career with raising children" (Oxford Dictionary, 2015). Indeed, "juggling" language is also used by work-life scholars; as one example, Golden (2001) notes how "multiple role-identities associated with work and family require juggling conflicting demands" (p. 233). Women in particular "juggle responsibilities" as they strive to be good workers and good mothers, also known as good working mothers 1 Turner & Norwood, 2013). Notably, there is no parallel term of a good working father; since discourses of work-family/life issues often reflect gendered role expectations of work and private responsibilities, the personification of "balance" seems more targeted at working mothers, reflecting how work-family/life conflicts are sometimes viewed WORKING MOTHERS AS JUGGLERS 4 as merely a "women's issue" in the workplace (Drago, 2007;Kirby & Buzzanell, 2014).We critically examine how mediated portrayals of the "juggling act" of the good working mother reflect the underlying cultural ideologies of being an ideal worker, a true domestic woman, and an intensive mother. Further, we explicate how this juggling of identities portrays good working mothers as perpetually defensive, laying out how these portrayals to teach women to (a) accept "punishments" from children, (b) conceptualize fathers as secondary parents, (c) solve problems on their own, and (d) choose family over work. Leading in to this critical examination, it important to describe our varied positionalities as people and scholars.Our working relationship began in a five-day work/life course led by the first author at the National Communication Association Institute for Faculty Development. We spent a week immersing ourselves in the work/life literature, watching these work/life films, and discussing ways to integrate this research into our teaching and indeed our lives. From this experience, the five of us decided to work together on a deeper analysis of the films we referenced i...

Immigrant academic mothers negotiating ideal worker and mother norms during the COVID-19 pandemic: Duoethnography as a co-mentoring tool for transformative learning

“…Yet, we were stressing over not going the extra mile as immigrant mothers. As women who have been brought up in a patriarchal society, we are expected to be better at caregiving than men ( Kirby et al, 2016 ) and be responsible to preserve the sanctity of our family’s Indian cultural identity ( Manohar and Busse-Cárdenas, 2011 ). Since we were unable to hold these cultural expectations as object that we could detach ourselves from to question whether they were gendered, we tried to continually meet those expectations at the cost of our own well-being.…”

“…We realized that if delegating to co-workers could be framed as a positive leadership behavior that helps to develop capacity in our teams, others might be more receptive to such redistribution of work instead of misunderstanding us for resisting ideal working. Similarly, on the family front, we realized that if we engaged our family members more in attending to household chores of child-rearing, it can create an opportunity for family members to bond and connect with each other and reduce the pressure of intensive mothering on us ( Johnston and Swanson, 2007 ; Kirby et al., 2016 ). Ritu wrote, My husband, my elder daughter and me, we have agreed to focus on what we do best when it comes to taking care of the twins.…”

“…With children adjusting to learning from home due to schools and daycares adopting an online or hybrid class schedule during the pandemic, academic mothers are multitasking constantly through switching back and forth between cooking, cleaning, writing papers, teaching, leading meetings, home-schooling, and changing diapers. With no sense of separation between personal and professional lives, the long days requiring women to engage in constant cognitive acrobatics to juggle work and family identities ( Johnston and Swanson, 2007 ; Kirby et al, 2016 ) are pushing them toward burnout.…”

A key to recovery for working mothers? Psychological detachment and the roles of relaxation, mastery and control on boundary violations

“…While boundary violations can happen at work (family interrupts work), the present study focuses on the management of the home role boundary because of the increasing expectations placed on employees to work long hours and stay connected to work after hours (Adkins and Premeaux, 2014; Becker et al ., 2021). The reality of being available at all hours is draining, and for working mothers the pressure is especially real as they must be available around the clock both at home and the office (Ferrante, 2018; Kirby et al ., 2016).…”

“…Competing expectations, displayed in the opening quote, are fueled by cultural ideologies in the USA of what it means to be a good working mother, which encompasses being an ideal worker who can never do enough at work and must always be on call (Wieland, 2011), a true domestic woman who manages household responsibilities and an intensive mother who places their kids' needs above all else (Kirby et al ., 2016). Considering the multiple roles and societal expectations placed upon them, it comes as no surprise that working mothers in the U.S., particularly those with children under 18, “often struggle with work-life balance and feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish all that they must at work and at home” (Brenan, 2020, para.…”