Can New Moms Balance It All?

Paid maternity leave is not a guaranteed freedom for U.S. women. This leaves women involved in the working class to get back to work weeks after giving birth in order to provide for their new child. According to Workin’ Moms, new mothers question if they can have it all. In the episode “Bare”, viewers get the perception that women have a high amount of pressure returning to work after maternity leave.
Kate, a strong business woman, was enthusiastic to get back to work. As she was leaving her house, she struggled to say goodbye. It would be the first time that she would be away from her baby boy for long hours at a time. She got emotional and was physically attached to her child while her husband was out the door waiting for her. This scene enforced the cultural norm that women tend to be more emotional than men. Another norm it enforced was that men are always waiting on women. This impacted the viewers perceptions in a negative way that pushed them farther back into the cave.
At work, Kate jumped right back into the swing of things. She demonstrated a strong female lead, as she is high up in the company. She was the only female, as she was surrounded by white males. This sent the cultural transmission that women can have the same jobs as men. However, her male coworkers poked fun at her as she sometimes struggled, like spilling breast milk on her papers. This enforced the norm that men do not understand moms. It demonstrated that they do not help out around the house and brought the viewers back to the 60s.
Kate decided to stay at work late in order to finish her project and prove to her coworkers that she can balance everything. While at work, her nanny facetimed her because her child had said his first word. Kate had missed such a large milestone in his life because she was providing for her kid. This sent a cultural transmission that women are not always in the house to take care of their kids. It brought up the issue of class and how most families need both parents to be working in order to make ends meet while helping viewers escape the cave.
Overall, this is a quality piece of media. It is an episode that a lot of women can relate to and can be a reminder that they are doing the best they can. It displays strong females and the working class, which is not always portrayed on TV. It voiced the struggles of balancing everything that most women face when going back to work after giving birth. Most importantly, it leads to the question: Should maternity leave be longer? If it were longer, Kate would not have missed such a large moment in her son’s life. Although some scenes in the episode enforced cultural norms, the main message aided in pulling the audience out of the cave.
