Third Shift Appearance Work: Experiences of Career-Oriented Mothers Jennifer Haskin Wayne State University
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Wayne State University Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2015 Third Shift Appearance Work: Experiences Of Career-Oriented Mothers Jennifer Haskin Wayne State University, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Haskin, Jennifer, "Third Shift Appearance Work: Experiences Of Career-Oriented Mothers" (2015). Wayne State University Dissertations. Paper 1355. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. THIRD SHIFT APPEARANCE WORK: EXPERIENCES OF CAREER-ORIENTED MOTHERS by JENNIFER HASKIN DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2015 MAJOR: SOCIOLOGY Approved By: ______________________________________ Advisor Date ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ © COPYRIGHT BY JENNIFER HASKIN 2015 All Rights Reserved DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my loves – James, Daphne, Ava, and Beatrice ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although this dissertation research is my own creation, there are a number of people who have touched this project, and made it possible. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank some of them. First and foremost, I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee for their support: Dr. Heather Dillaway, Dr. Heidi Gottfried, Dr. Krista Brumley, and Dr. Anne Duggan. I would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Heather Dillaway for being my advisor, mentor, and friend through my academic career; your undying support is something that I appreciate more than you will ever know. I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Heidi Gottfried for always providing me with great resources, and to Dr. Brumley and Dr. Duggan for joining the project in the end stages. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Janet Hankin, and the entire Department of Sociology for giving me the push I needed to finally get this dissertation research done. I would also like to thank Dr. Joe Dunbar, and the staff in the KCP/AGEP office for giving me opportunities to present my research at KCP meetings, and for generously funding my travels when I presented my work elsewhere. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Wayne State University for generously providing me with Dissertation Research Award. I will forever be grateful for the undying support and encouragement of my family and friends. Specifically, my parents Mary and Dennis Haskin, who financially supported the first few years of this scholarly endeavor, and stepped in to take care of my kids when the writing got intense. I must give a special thank you to each of my children. James, you kept me sane throughout this entire journey – thank you for always making me smile. Daphne, I could not have gotten through this process without your love, iii support, and encouragement. You always stepped in when I needed you. Ava, thank you for being so brave, for understanding when I could not always be there, and reminding me that it was okay to take a break from time to time – I needed them. And finally, my little Beatrice, who kept me company while I transcribed interviews, and gave me kisses when I needed them the most – I heart you. The four of you have all grown up so much over the last seven years, and I am so proud of the people you are. A special thank you to my dear friends, Colleen, Julia, Julie, Kristi, and Peel, who inspire me every day. I am lucky to have you girls in my life. A very special thank you to my mentors during my Master’s Degree studies at Eastern Michigan University, Dr. Jay Weinstein and Dr. Barbara Richardson. I never forgot that you had me promise to get my Ph.D. on the day I defended my Master’s Thesis. I am grateful to you both. Most importantly, there are the 21 women in the study, who took time away from their busy lives to participate in my research. Without all of you, this dissertation would not be possible. I sincerely thank you for letting me into your lives. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………….ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………..iii LIST OF TABLES………...……………………………………………………………..vii CHAPTERS Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………………....1 Chapter Two: Literature Review………………………………………………....10 Chapter Three: Theoretical Framework………………………………………….45 Chapter Four: Methodology...……………………………………………………62 Chapter Five: Women’s Appearance Work Experiences…………………….…..88 Chapter Six: Responding to Appearance Norms: Resistance and Accommodation…………………………………………………..116 Chapter Seven: Social Location and Appearance Work……………………..…146 Chapter Eight: Conclusion……...…...………………………………………….183 APPENDICES Appendix A: Recruitment Flyer…………………………………………….......194 Appendix B: Research Information Sheet………………....................................195 Appendix C: Interview Schedule……………………………...….……….…....197 Appendix D: Participant Information Survey......................................................205 Appendix E: Recruitment Letter..........................................................................208 Appendix F: Screening Sheet...............................................................................209 Appendix G: Resource Packet.............................................................................211 Appendix H: IRB Approval.................................................................................223 Appendix I: IRB Continuation.............................................................................224 v REFERENCES................................................................................................................225 ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................252 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT........................................................................254 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Participants………………………………………………………...………...79-80 Table 2: Women’s job Title/Organizational Descriptors………………………................82 vii 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Over the last four decades, we have seen a considerable increase in the number of mothers with young children in the paid work force in the United States. According to 2014 U.S. Department of Labor employment statistics, “57% of women participate in the labor force,” over 64% of whom are mothers with children under the age of six.1 Middle- class working mothers have become the norm, rather than the exception. Paralleling women’s participation in paid work is an increase in the attention to working women’s bodies and physical appearance (Wolf [1991] 2002; Rhode 2010). Corbett (2007: 157) concurs: “Appearance matters in our society today more than it ever has before.” And appearance still matters more for women than men. The increase in attention to women’s bodies and appearance also intensifies upon motherhood. In fact, I argue that negotiating appearance norms remains central to working women’s and working mothers’ daily concerns. For example, alongside other gendered expectations that accompany the transition into motherhood, new mothers in the U.S. are encouraged to rush out and “get their bodies back” to their pre-pregnancy form (Dworkin and Wachs 2004). Career- oriented mothers, already confronted with masculine “ideal worker” (Brumley 2014) norms, find themselves facing additional pressures to negotiate “professional body” (Trethewey 1999) standards and manage their post baby maternal bodies at work (Gatrell et.al. 2013). The normative assumption that women are the natural caretakers of the family and the lack of paid parental leave on the federal level in the United States, coupled with the 1 http://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/stats_data.htm 2 social and institutional pressures on women’s appearance means that contemporary working mothers with young children are presented with (at least) three shifts. For the career-oriented mother, the average workday includes a “first shift” in which she works outside of the home for pay, a “second shift” (Hochschild and Machung [1989] 2003) spent working inside the home caring for children and completing household tasks for no pay, and a “third shift” of work devoted to her physical appearance. The suggestion that “beauty work” is a “third shift” for contemporary working women in the U.S., particularly women with children, was introduced by Naomi Wolf ([1991] 2002) in The Beauty Myth. As defined by Wolf, the beauty myth, like myths about motherhood and myths about domesticity, is a coercive myth used (by men) to keep women powerless and obedient. “The beauty myth is the last, best training technique to create such a [docile] workforce.... Superwoman...had to add serious “beauty” labor to her professional agenda” (26-27). This myth teaches girls and women that their value lies not in their intellect or ability to do well in a career but, rather, in their behavior toward the attainment of something unattainable – true beauty. This myth weakens women psychologically, and empties their pockets of their hard earned money (which is still a fraction of their male counterparts’ earnings). Wolf asserts that, while the beauty myth seeps into women’s psyches during her working hours, it is their duty to devote a third shift of leisure time