La doble jornada

A benchmark in its field, this work remains relevant more than thirty years after its original publication. Coined from this book, the term "double shift" describes work done at home in addition to paid work done in the formal sector. Hochschild and his associate researchers interviewed fifty couples and looked at a dozen households throughout the 1970s and 1980s to explore the leisure gap between men and women. Research showed that women still take over most of the household and childcare responsibilities despite their entry into the workforce. This "double shift" affected the couples, causing feelings of guilt, marital tension, lack of sexual interest and sleep. On the other hand, Hochschild shared the stories of some men who shared the burden of housework and childcare equally with their wives, showing that while it is rare, it is a reality for some couples. The research also presented a clear division between ideological preferences of genders and social classes. Adding up time in paid work, babysitting, and housework, she found that working mothers spend one month more work a year than their spouses.