Natasha Zaretsky – Women, Work, and the War on Fatigue

The Journal of American History · Jan 30, 2025 · 51m

In this episode of the Journal of American History Podcast, Andrew Cooper speaks with Natasha Zaretsky about her article, "The War on Fatigue: Women, Work, and Energy in the 1980s," which appeared in the December 2024 issue of the Journal of American History. Natasha shows how, during the 1980s, the United States transitioned to a dual-earner economy in which most mothers of young children worked for wages outside the home. Faced with the challenge of balancing wage labor and family responsibilities, working mothers were told that they needed to conserve, manage, and invest their physical and…