Paper Example. Jessica Grose, Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier

A woman's task is never complete: many women in the United States grow up with the depicted mentality, and they feel that it is factual. Among the women, is Jessica Grose who is the author of Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier argues and showcases that while the males in the current generation begin to get involved in cooking and childcare, cleaning still unfairly falls on the females. Grose, in her article, begins to create her credibility with reputable sources and personal facts, giving out impressive statistics and facts while applying emotional appeals successfully. However, as she completes her views in her article, her arguments and credibility are weakened in attempting to appeal to the emotions of her audience and readers.

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In Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier, the author first sets the stage through analyzing and describing a particular scene where she was cleaning her house with her spouse after being shut in a Sandy Hurricane. She showcases the uneven distribution of house chores, especially during cleaning in her marriage, while comparing to the broader feminist concerns of who conducts the cleaning in a relationship (Grose). Moreover, the author proceeds to discuss some of the facts and reasons why men never contribute to disinfection and the praise for a clean environment is always for women. On the other hand, the media and several advertisements praise men in childcare and cooking but not in ensuring that they are in a clean environment (Oakil et al. 81). Therefore, in seeing the depicted scenario, Grose tries to find possible solutions to the challenge and she suggests the division of tasks based on ability and skills that an individual has including making a table or chart of which chores are done by which person that makes cleaning to be more fun while using gadgets (Grose).

In her entire article, Grose depicts numerous strong sources which appeal to ethos and strengthen her credibility, building her argument. She mentions sources like Sociologists by Judith Treas and P&G brand manager of North America which boosts her credibility by showcasing that she has completed her assignment and has given out the statistics and facts as well as some expert views and opinions to support her argument (Grose). Also, Grose uses personal examples of her home life and relationship to support and introduce her concern that depicts her first-hand experience with the challenge and a personal stake.

Adding to Grose's ethos appeals when she uses strong appeals to logos, having numerous statistics, facts, and logical progressions of ideas and opinions. She points out the distribution of household chores and facts regarding her marriage, and it is depicted when she says,' "Both of us used to work. We used to split the midnight feedings of our baby, but my husband would admit that he never cleaned the house nor the baby's clothes. I could do the dishes every time, and he barely knew how the dryer or washer operated in the apartment that we stayed for almost a year" (Grose).

The depicted facts support and introduce the idea that the author used to conduct more household chores than her husband. Also, she supports her claims with other statistics such as "Approximately 55% of the mothers and women in the United States who are employed full time often do most of the housework on an average day while only 18% of the males do the same" (Grose). Moreover, women who are working with kids are often doing more than a week of their second shifts works as opposed to their male partners (Grose).

"Even in the most gender-neutral nations like Sweden, women still overpower men in doing household activities working approximately 45 minutes more in a day than men" (Grose n.p). The depicted statistics are among those which logically support the claim of the author that the challenge is real and substantial in that men do not conduct their fair share of household activities. Thus, the numbers and details can be seen to build an appeal to logos and impress the readers or the audience that the action is a challenge worth discussion (Oakil et al. 83).

As the story in the article progresses and along with the strong appeals to logos, the author can be seen to make more appeals to pathos at the start and the middle sections. Some various words and phrases are charged emotionally in her introduction, which establishes a sympathetic image. Grose depicts that "she was expectant for eight months and her spouse could find it challenging to fight with her as she was massively pregnant" (Grose). Thus, the image which she evokes regarding the vulnerabilities and challenges of being expectant and the high emotions felt by a woman during that period effectively introduce the seriousness of an argument. The primary aim of Grose is to make her readers sympathize for her. For instance, the words such as "headache, be shunned, be judged, not fun, insisted, argued," to mention but a few evoke negative emotions regarding cleaning which makes the reader sympathize with females who feel stunned and judged (Grose).

However, as the article ends, it lacks the same effectiveness level while appealing to the ethos. For instance, the author notes and depicts that when men always do their assignments, they are said to be "enacting small gender heroism instances or sighs that barf." Using the term "barf" can be said to be jarring to the reader as it is immature and unprofessional (Grose). The word is a shift from the numerous intelligent voices that have been researched and established by the author, which makes the reader less likely to take Grose seriously. The action, thus, damages the strength and argument of the author's credibility.

The last statement in the article is that the author uses pictures of her husband in a manner that weakens the discussion. She ironically talks about her husband as she says that "there is a big market that is untapped for iPods used in scrubbing the toilet. I guess my husband can buy one" (Grose). Reflecting her husband and marriage is an appeal to personal credibility or ethos, and while the scenario works perfectly in the introduction, it lacks the seriousness and strength in the conclusion that the generated topic deserves.

In conclusion, the main aim of the author is to try to balance household chores between males and females. Most cleaning tasks are often left for women in as much as they can be busy sometimes. However, in as much as the author starts the essay by effectively persuading the readers regarding the unfair distribution of home maintenance and household cleaning labor, her power is lost at the end where she needs to drive home her argument most. Moreover, the challenges can be seen by readers to be existing both in her relationship and also worldwide. However, her transition to sarcasm and humor makes a keen reader not to take the challenge seriously as the article ends. Thus, Grose could have driven home the fair distribution of household tasks by both genders throughout her essay.

Works Cited

Grose, Jessica. "Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier." The New Republic 19 (2013).

Oakil, Abu Toasin Md, Linda Nijland, and Martin Dijst. "Rush hour commuting in the Netherlands: Gender-specific household activities and personal attitudes towards responsibility-sharing." Travel Behaviour and Society 4 (2016): 79-87.