Scholars have found that the movement of women into careers since the 1950s has been made possible, in part, by the commodification of child care. What this has meant, essentially, is that women who pursue a carreer hire other women to take care of their children. The job of child-raising, then, is not shared equally by men and women, but is increasingly put off onto working-class and poor women (disproportionately women of color and immigrants) who are usually paid poorly as day care workers or nannies.
Enter Sarah Palin. Much has been said about the irony of the Republican Party, a party known for encouraging women to stay home and be moms, choosing a woman with a special needs infant to run for V.P. The pick, however, is consistent with both gender norms and new work patterns, so long as her childrens’ caretaker is still a woman.
Reader Allison K. observed that she always sees seems to always see Palin’s infant, Trig, in the arms of other women (see Allison’s post here): Palin herself, his sisters (especially Bristol), even Cindy McCain. Some examples:
Sometimes he appears with both Sarah and Todd Palin (these found here and here):
But we almost never see Todd as the primary caretaker. (As McCain mentioned recently, Todd Palin’s a tough guy.) I found only two images (for example, here) on the first 30 pages.
I did an image search on Google for Trig Palin and found that Allison’s observations are accurate. We can’t tell if this is due actual differences in who holds the child, dissemination of images by the Republican Party, choices by journalists and editors, or reader-choice (which images get highlighted on blogs and such), but it’s certainly a way to re-affirm a gendered model of parenting, even as it is being boldly challenged by Palin’s candidacy for Vice President.
Read about the distribution of mothering here and here.
