The Pursuit of Work-Family Balance and The Crisis of Social Reproduction in Short Fiction by Helen Simpson and Tessa Hadley

Abstract

In this interdisciplinary paper I will embark on a feminist reading of contemporary short fiction by women writers focusing on the topic of work-life balance in the first two decades of the 21^st century. I will show how the writing of Tessa Hadley and Helen Simpson sketches the reality of the crisis of social reproduction, as defined by Nancy Fraser, and the ways 21^st century women deal with the pressure to alleviate this crisis while combining work and family. Hadley and Simpson illustrate how the postfeminist narrative of choice as well as the subsequent ideal of the balanced woman were instrumentalised in order to silence women’s reaction against the crisis in care/social reproduction. This paper will aspire to trace how women writers portray the ways that the state repudiates carework by emphasizing personal responsibility and allying with a conservative feminism agenda.  My analysis of contemporary short fiction by women writers will be informed by writing on neoliberal feminism and the work of thinkers such as Catherine Rottenberg and Angela McRobbie.