Working Women, Government and Politics American working women find themselves in a difficult and complex situation. Women in the workforce are encouraged to compete “like men,” which conflicts with demands on their time during “second shift.” Full dedication is expected both in the workplace and at home, and little support is provided by the opposite sex and the government. If the government took greater responsibility for working families, it could implement several policies that have already been proven to ease the burden on working women and promote gender equality in other countries industrialized. In recent decades, there has been a visible influx of women into the workforce, many of whom are also mothers. In 1975, forty-seven percent of all American mothers with children under eighteen worked for pay, and by 2000, this number increased to seventy-three percent. However, the largest increase in employment occurred among women with very young children; in 1975, thirty-four percent of mothers of children aged three or younger worked outside the home, and by 2000, this rate increased to sixty-one percent (Hochschild, XXIV). This numerical growth can be explained by several factors, but the most important is that, in most families, the wife's salary is no longer an option. Although women share the financial burden with their spouses, men have not taken on as much. measures to share the domestic burden with their partners. This explains the “second shift” of women. Women are expected to meet the demands of work and home in their free time. Household chores weigh heavily on working women, with or without children. The hours that married women spend doing domestic chores, the hours that most men... middle of paper ... such policies, women cannot exercise their right to earn a living in the same way than a man. Earning a living is not an “advantage”, equal employment opportunity is not an “advantage” but a “right”. In our capitalist culture, “the one right of the highest importance to all human beings” is the right to earn a living, and by law, any obstruction of a fundamental right must be redressed by the government (Woolf, 101 ). Works Cited Blair-Loy, Mary. Competing devotions: Career and family among executive women. (Massachusetts: Harvard UP) 2003. Gornick, Janet C. and Marcia K. Meyers. Working families: policies to reconcile parenthood and employment. (New York: Russell Sage Foundation) 2003. Hochschild Russell, Arlie. The second shift. (New York: Penguin Group) 2003. Woolf, Virginia. Three guineas. (New York: Harcourt, Inc...) 1938.