Posts Tagged ‘ethic of care’

[caption id="attachment_1551" align="alignright" width="122" caption="Debjani Chakravarty"][/caption]

Here’s part 2 of Debjani Chakravarty’s essay on work life balance. A PhD in the Women and Gender Studies Program at Arizona State Debjani ChakravartyUniversity who worked as a journalist and a social worker in India, Debjani is also an artist. You can view her beautiful artwork here. Comments below will thrill us both.

Neo traditional discourses and the media constructed mommy wars point at the fallacy of women having too much on their plates. The answer lies in choosing one role set, preferably home and child bearing over paid work. Motherhood is aligned with a discourse of citizenship and duties by the state. The question of a mother’s rights is articulated only by feminists in this post feminist era where women’s problems are framed as having solutions in increased consumption. The solution can range from taking a work life balance quiz in Cosmo or Oprah to setting up a home office with the latest technological gadgets. The question of work life balance becomes a project of the self, with the issue state and workplace policies not considered by the very women oppressed by multiple role expectations, smarting under immensely demanding gender identities.