Basic Trope: Caretaking jobs such as nannying and nursing are seen as the domain of women and/or feminine characters.
- Straight:
- When the cast is tasked with watching a child, everyone correctly assumes Kendra, the sole female character, will handle it.
- The work's female characters are Ella (a nurse), Joanne (a nanny), and Kendra (a daycare employee).
- Larry tries to get a job as a nanny, but no parents trust him to look after their children because of his gender.
- Exaggerated: ???
- Downplayed: ???
- Justified: The characters live in a society where job assignments are enforced along gender roles.
- Inverted: Caretaking is seen as a masculine duty, and the male characters are portrayed as or assumed to be more competent at it.
- Subverted: Everyone assumed Kendra could best handle the child because she's a woman, but she's actually terrible with children. The male Peter turns out to be great with kids and takes charge.
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: Ella gives birth and turns into a paragon of femininity.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: Caretakers are male and female in equal proportion.
- Enforced: The editor doesn't think Joanne is feminine enough, so the writer changes her job from "soccer player" to "nanny".
- Lampshaded:
- "Oh, so just because I'm a girl, I'm going to be great with children?"
- "I just don't know if I can trust a male nanny, you know?"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Ella has difficulty finding a babysitting job because the parents think that she'll be rebellious due to her tomboyishness. When she makes herself look very sweet and feminine for an interview, she is hired on the spot.
- Defied: Ella refuses to be seen as a sweet, feminine nurse for the patients to hit on, and tries to show her tomboyishness where she can.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Caretaking is Feminine
