ABSTRACT
This chapter considers gender as distinct cohorts of feminine and masculine that is assumed to be inextricable from biological sex. Gender politics are alive and well in the workplace. The wage gap and the dearth of women CEOs are salient examples of gender politics regarding work. Different occupations and workplace cultures produce different gender norms. The chapter illustrates the culture of care that positions women as natural or ideal caregivers, and that the pull to meet care expectations jeopardizes career success and work–family balance in ways men do not, as frequently, contend with. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 28.7 percent of full-time working mothers did housework on weekdays, compared to 12 percent of working fathers. The chapter also focuses on straight, cisgender women and men, perhaps a genderless approach to thinking about the negotiation of domestic labor can be found in the lives of couples who are LGBTQ.
