One of my favorite classes I took this semester was an intro to Sociology because as a black woman I’m a double minority and we touched the subjects that affect my daily life. It was not only a deeper look into why society is structured the way it is but an enlightenment of how we all contribute to societal institutions. One of my favorite topics was something I knew nothing about prior to taking the class: The Second Shift.

The Second Shift is basically that even though women have full-time jobs (because we’re in 2018), they’re still come home to housework that equates to another full-time job. Things, like cleaning the house, watching the kids, cooking for the family after working 8+ hours, are considered part of the Second Shift. Learning about the Second Shift was so surprising because it’s something that has been happening my whole life that I thought was just natural. The Second Shift isn’t natural, but rather we decide to put up with. My sociology teacher asked the oh so simple question of “What do we do about it?” One guy in my class suggested that women need to stop marrying men like that. Which sounds all fine and dandy, but it’s not that simple.

The first step to ending the Second Shift is to talk about it. If it weren't for my Sociology class I wouldn’t have even known the second shift existed. There needs to be a generational change in our expectations of women, especially when it comes to traditional gender roles. We need to start raising boys to not just do “masculine chores” such as taking out the trash or mowing the lawn. We need to teach boys that they should help out in the house in all aspects because that's where they live. There’s nothing feminine about cooking or washing dishes. We as a society we assign gender roles to the most basic things, and it’s kind of ridiculous.

We need to grow up as a society and realize that the Second Shift shouldn’t even exist