Explain what Arlie Hochschild means by the "second shift," and describe the different ways people attempt to deal with it.

All answers should be able to define the second shift as the dual workload of paid labor outside the home and unpaid labor inside the home that many women face. Hochschild's study of working couples and parents found that women were indeed working two jobs: one that entailed paid labor outside the home (the first shift) and one that entailed unpaid labor inside the home (the second shift).
The best answers might also mention the historical origins of the second shift in the Industrial Revolution. Chapter 12 argues that although men and women have always performed different roles to ensure the survival of their families, these roles were not considered unequal until after the Industrial Revolution, when men began to leave their homes to earn wages working in factories. Women remained at home, taking care of children and carrying out other domestic responsibilities. As men's earned wages replaced subsistence farming, in which women had formally participated, these wages became the primary mechanism for providing food, clothing, and shelter for families. Men, in turn, gained economic power over women. Feminist sociologists contend that women's "second shift" is the legacy of this historic economic change, as women have followed men into the workplace, but men have not returned to work in the home.
Good answers should also describe some of the strategies women have adopted to cope with the second shift: hiring other women to clean their houses and care for their children; relying on friends or family members for help; refusing to do certain chores, especially those generally considered to be "men's work"; lowering their expectations for cleanliness or quality of child care; and reducing the number of hours they work outside the home.