Open AccessAll Work and No Play: Indigenous Women “Pulling the Weight” in Home Life
Author(s) -
Catherine E. McKinley,
Jessica L. Liddell,
Jennifer Lilly
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the social service review/social service review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1537-5404
pISSN - 0037-7961
DOI - 10.1086/714551
Subject(s) - oppression , gender studies , egalitarianism , sociology , indigenous , redress , colonialism , care work , political science , work (physics) , law , mechanical engineering , ecology , biology , engineering , politics
The invisible labor of household management, including child care, housework, and financial responsibilities, is a contemporary form of historical oppression adding strain and contributing to mothers' role overload, depression, distress, and health impairments. The purpose of this article is to use the Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence to understand the experiences of gender dynamics in home life responsibilities among two Southeastern tribes. Reconstructive analysis from a critical ethnography with 436 participants revealed the following themes: (1) moms "mostly pulling the weight"; (2) women and child care: "We do it all," and men-"If they're there, they're there"; (3) financial imbalances; and (4) women's resilience and resistance. Despite experiencing the resilience of gender egalitarianism prior to colonization, women persistently experience the effects of the historical oppression of patriarchal colonialism through being overburdened and undervalued in home life. Decolonization is needed to re-establish gender egalitarianism to redress this patriarchal oppression.