Final answer:
Historically, women's work roles have been aligned with child care responsibilities, resulting in particular challenges in balancing work and family life. Although men are more involved in domestic tasks today, women still face higher levels of stress due to work-family conflicts. Equal opportunities and accessible child care are critical for mitigating these stresses and enabling women to contribute both at home and in the workplace.
Step-by-step explanation:
The division of work by gender historically assigned women to roles that are compatible with caring for infants and young children. This is often rooted in societal expectations and the historical context of women's roles in the family and workplace. Despite changes and the increasing sharing of domestic responsibilities by men, women still primarily shoulder the burden of child care, leading to work-family conflicts that contribute to stress.
Many women have faced barriers in the workplace, particularly when trying to balance the dual expectations of being a "good mother" and a "good worker." Historical practices have shown that women were often steered into lower-paying, less secure jobs, or passed over for training and promotion, because of the assumption that their employment would be interrupted by childcare responsibilities. Today, although there are more equal opportunities, these deep-seated perceptions continue to create challenges for women, particularly in terms of achieving fair compensation and career progression.
The concept of 'maternal feminism' suggests that the qualities that make women effective in the home should be extended to the public arena, thereby enhancing society as a whole. Moreover, the need for affordable child care is essential to alleviate the economic strain on women, especially those with lower incomes, for whom child care costs constitute a larger proportion of their budget.