One of the Girls

One of the Girls explores the challenges of navigating patriarchal gender expectations alongside the demands of modern, professional life. Despite the advances that successive feminist movements have won in gender equity, women around the world continue to perform a disproportionate share of domestic and care work, often in addition to professional demands. Women are often expected to be high achievers in the workplace, nurturing mothers, ideal romantic partners, and physically attractive, all at the same time. According to the United Nations, women perform nearly three times as much unpaid domestic and care work as men globally, yet this work—dubbed the “second shift” by feminist theorist Arlie Hochschild—often goes unacknowledged and underappreciated, seen as just part of being a woman (“Unpaid Care and Domestic Work.” ActionAid, 23 July 2024). Women also face disproportionate domestic and sexual violence; one in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence (“Violence Against Women.” World Health Organization, 25 Mar. 2024), emphasizing the pervasive reality of patriarchy.

While social acceptance of sexual orientation and gender expression as a spectrum has increased, many women still face judgment and/or danger when asserting sexual agency. Cultural pressures to conform to idealized standards, such as through body image, beauty, marriage, and motherhood, continue to restrict women’s autonomy in terms of gender and sexuality.