Ethnography Assignment
Research design:
When thinking about what question to ask for this project I thought that I wanted to do something that related to my life in some way. Growing up I always felt like my mother was the only mom that didn’t work and always felt that my family was perhaps a little too “old fashioned.” In many of the readings we have read for this class women balancing work and family has been a major topic. Women coming home from a full time job and pulling what is now being called a second shift at home is in the top ten major issues women are most concerned about. Although the issue of having a job and simultaneously fulfilling necessary roles at home was mentioned frequently, the idea of being a full time housewife has only been mentioned in passing. Even though it is definitely not the norm these days it has been said that a full time housewife does have a real job. Therefore I wanted to ask the question: Housewives at work: can this really be considered a full-time job?
Methodology:
I decided I would spend time at my parents home for a day and really study what exactly it was that she did all day. After the observation period I write down a schedule of her typical busy day and then would sit down and interview her and find out her thoughts on the subject. Below are the interview questions I asked, answers included.
1. Do you feel like the work that you do every day around the house can be considered equivalent to a full time job?
Yes, definitely. I fulfill many roles, many small part time roles like taxi driver, accountant, seamstress, etc that maybe not by themselves equal a full time job but all together I definitely do as much work as someone with an 8 to 5 job.
2. Do you ever feel inferior because you don’t have a “normal” job and contribute financially?
No, because I do in fact, contribute financially. If I were to stop doing the things I did everyday then we would have to hire someone to do all those things.
3. Do you feel like you still make a contribution to society as a full-time housewife?
Yes of course. I am teaching and instilling values in my children so that they will grow up and be functioning productive members of society. Since I have 5 children I feel like counts as 5 substantial contributions!
4. Do you think that it would be possible for you to continue the work that you do every day and also have a career?
No, there would simply not be enough time in the day. It would be literally impossible.
5. Do you feel fulfilled in your role as a housewife? Do you feel that your family appreciates you enough?
Yes I know that I am doing important work no matter what anyone says. Although sometimes I am stressed out and feel like my family takes me for granted occasionally, I know that they really do appreciate me and would much rather have me here at home with them than at a desk somewhere all day.
Field Notes:
I have always known that my mother was indeed a busy person although she didn’t have a job but I didn’t realize to what extent she actually worked each day. I decided to write down everything I saw her do that day and she filled me in on the rest of what I missed, including everything in between waking up and going to bed at night.
5:40 am: Alarm goes off, get up and dress, get Molly (my little sister) clothes out for the day
5:50-6:00 am: Head to kitchen, assemble Molly’s lunch to take to school, start working on breakfast
6:15 am: Wake Molly, get her dressed and ready
6:30 am: Back to kitchen, feed Molly and give her medicine for the day
6:45-6:50 am: Bus arrives to take Molly to school, wait and wave goodbye
6:55- 7 am: Wash dishes, make beds, and clean up around house
7:30ish: Lie back down and take about an hour nap if time permits
8:30 am: Up again, get ready for the day, eat breakfast, put on laundry load number one for the day, make phone calls, and write out bills
9:30 am: Head out door to go to Grandma’s house
10 am: Arrive at Grandmas; help her finish dressing or whatever she needs help with
10:45 am: Leave to take Grandma to the doctor appointment at 11:15 am
12:15 pm: Leave doctors office and run any errands that Grandma needs, grab lunch
2:30 pm: Leave Grandmas to return home to meet Molly’s school bus at 3pm
3 pm: Greet Molly at bus, check mail
3:30 pm: Wash Molly up from school, read communication journal sent home with Molly each day
4pm: Get Molly settled in watching Veggie Tales, playing a computer game, or reading to her. Clean lunch box out
4:30 pm: Make a cup of tea, relax for a few minutes. Fold laundry put on 2nd or 3rd load on for the day
5pm: Begin dinner preparation or start thinking about what to do for dinner. If older brother Max is home he can watch Molly
6-6:30 pm: Have dinner prepared, feed Molly
7 pm: Wash dishes, tidy up in kitchen
7:30-7:45 pm: Get Molly ready for bed, bathe, brush teeth, read bedtime story etc
8:30 pm: Say goodnight to Molly, head to do more laundry and make phone calls. Maybe some free time with Dad.
10 pm: Watch news
10:30 pm: Do daily exercises
11:15pm: Set out things for tomorrow morning, finish up laundry, tidy up house
12-12:30 am: Get ready for bed, in bed by 1 am
Write Up:
In conclusion, I discovered housewives really do as much, if not more, than someone with an outside of the home job. I think that it would be interesting to do more research on this topic of full time housewives. I think if it were studied more, it would be discovered that those women who do have an 8-5 job really cannot do all of these things that my mother does each day. A study about sense of fulfillment might be an interesting future research experiment for sociologists.
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