Switched at Birth

TV's Single Mothers and the Dudes Who Think They Know What's Best For Them

Women's Work post by Grace Bello on March 5, 2013 - 5:04pm; tagged male privilege, single mothers, Switched at Birth, The New Normal, Woman's Work, working class.

Still from Switched At Birth featuring mom Regina

In prime-time TV and in real life, America's working-class mothers find it tough to keep their heads above water while juggling their professional and personal lives.

Two current shows—Switched at Birth and The New Normal—show the paternalistic attitudes working mothers often face. 

For Switched at Birth's working class single mom Regina Vasquez (Constance Marie), money is a particularly fraught issue. As the show's title suggests, her daughter was switched at birth with another. So though she has been raising teenage Daphne (who is deaf), her biological daughter Bay is being raised by the much wealthier Kathryn and John Kennish. Regina and Daphne had been scraping by for years, but once they accept help from the upper middle class Kennishes (including their guest home and a job opportunity for Daphne), they both start to bristle.

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