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I’ve been taking a very interesting course on sociology from Dr. Jill Stein, head of the Sociology Department at Santa Barbara City College. The topic this week has been gender descrimination. But that isn’t what I want to talk about. What she was discussing was an article about working women. There are almost as many women working as men, and an equal number of working mothers so no one is tending the next.

The article (The Emotional Geography of Work and Femily Life [from The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work] by Arlie Russell Hochschild) pointed out that the workplace has become more friendly than home. That’s because there are friends, team members, support, praise, etc. at the office. And because women usually work what she calls a “2nd shift” when they get home, home becomes tense, unfriendly, emotional, and extremely stressful. I realized that this could be one of the several reasons why the divorce rate has been climbing.

I just wanted to point this out for those who find that coming home is not entering the safe haven that it should be. If you are both aware of this problem, maybe you can create more love, cooperation, nurturing, and play at home. If you can do that, love can flourish and maybe, just maybe you can avoid your marriage ending in divorce. And for those who are not married but live together, the same thing applies.

Don’t let work be more nurturing than home. There’s something really wrong with that picture.

With much love,
Kara