Why the viral clip of 'multitasking mom' at a baseball game has enraged people online
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clip → multitaske → people
Video of woman carrying baby, diaper bag, trays of food toward waiting man draws disbelief and scorn
A woman with a baby strapped to her chest, a diaper bag on her back, and her arms full of food at a Major League Baseball game has inadvertently become a metaphor for the disproportionate load mothers carry — in this case, literally.
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mothers → carry → case
The woman was singled out by two legendary broadcasters at Tuesday's game between the Giants and the Twins at Oracle Park in San Francisco as she sidestepped back toward her seat balancing three trays of food.
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she → single → food
Look at this," Duane Kuiper says as the woman makes her way across the aisle.
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woman → look → aisle
"If there's ever a true definition of a multitasking mother, that is the deal right there," Mike Krukow responds in the broadcast.
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Krukow → be → broadcast
The clip, which has since gone viral, shows the man in the seat next to the "multitasking mother" staring at his phone until the woman is nearly beside him, standing up to move a coat out of her seat, then digging into his food while the woman shrugs the diaper bag off her back, still holding the grinning baby and two full trays.
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woman → go → baby
"Did I just hear that guy say, 'Did you forget something?'" Kuiper asks, as the two broadcasters joke that maybe he she didn't bring any ketchup.
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she → hear → ketchup
The broadcast returned to her a few more times between pitches while Kuiper and Krukow expressed disbelief at the scene, exclaiming, "are you kidding me?" and "bless her heart" as the man popped some fried food in his mouth.
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man → return → mouth
"Well, that’s mom of the year right there!" Krukow said.
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Krukow → ’ → year
"She’ll be the last one to eat, too," added Kuiper.
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Kuiper → eat → ?
Neither the woman nor the man sitting beside her have been identified.
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woman → sit → her
CBC News has contacted the San Francisco Giants and NBC for comment, but has yet to hear back.
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News → contact → comment
Without hearing from the people involved, observers can't know the context of the situation — like whether the man is her partner, or whether or not help was offered.
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help → hear → situation
But while some have argued you can't judge a situation based on a short clip, for many others, "multitasking mom" represents invisible labour, the mental load of motherhood, and weaponized incompetence.
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multitasking → argue → motherhood
"How do I divorce someone else’s husband?" one person asked in the comments of an ESPNW Instagram reel of the clip viewed 40 million times by Friday.
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person → divorce → Friday
The comment was "liked" nearly 115,000 times.
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comment → like → ?
"Let us stop normalizing this," someone else commented.
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someone → let → this
Despite gains, women still do most of the housework.
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women → do → housework
Will this gender gap ever narrow?
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gap → narrow → ?
Did 'Marathon Mom' ignore her kids?
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Mom → ignore → kids
Why a viral video is enraging runners and mothers
The clip is resonating because it gave a visual to a familiar sentiment — that women do more household labour and family management, explained Shana MacDonald, the O'Donovan Chair in communication at the University of Waterloo, who researches social and digital media.
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who → enrage → media
"This showed that in a very direct but almost comical way," she told CBC News.
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she → show → News
On a broader scale, the past year has seen a significant increase in conversations around motherhood, MacDonald added.
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MacDonald → see → motherhood
Some parts of society are emphasizing motherhood as "womens' central calling," she noted, while in other spheres, we're hearing more concerns about burnout and lack of support.
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we → emphasize → support
That includes some of the recent conversations about Lindsay Clancy, the U.S. mom who was on trial for the deaths of her three children, MacDonald said.
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MacDonald → include → children
Clip is triggering for many: sociology prof
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Clip → trigger → many
The clip from the Giants game offers people a chance to voice their frustrations, Lisa Strohschein, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta and editor-in-chief of the journal Canadian Studies in Population, told CBC News.
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Strohschein → offer → News
She cautioned people against rendering judgments without knowing any of the context, while adding that the clip has tapped into the anger about structural inequalities in our society.
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clip → caution → society
In the U.S., for instance, reproductive rights are being rolled back, she noted, and so-called "trad wives" that glamourize domestic life are on the rise.
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that → roll → rise
In Canada, while some studies have found that fathers are taking on more parenting than they have in the past, others have found mothers are still generally the managers of the household.
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mothers → find → household
Women also still consistently take on a larger share of unpaid household work, including chores and child care, according to a 2022 Statistics Canada report.
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Women → take → report
All that to say, a woman balancing trays of dinner and a baby while a man next to her eats seems to be triggering for a lot of people, Strohschein said.
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Strohschein → say → people
"Women, when they see this — I think it's kind of like the last straw."
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it → see → straw
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