Women's second shift refers to women working nights while their husbands work days, so that someone is always at home women coming home after work to do housework and child care women holding two jobs to make ends meet the mid-life crisis faced by many women when their children grow up

This is based on the book "The Second Shift" and in this book, this refers to the woman's responsibilities at home as a mother and a wife aside from the paid job that she takes and in total, would amount to 40 hours per week of work. So, women's second shift refers to women coming home after work to attend household chores and child care.