.
Ranson (2010) had ten dual earner couples that had no problem splitting the work equally with four of the ten couples being "shift-worker" and the remaining six couples being "dual-dividers". The "shift-worker" couples were ones that had to shift around their schedule in order to have a schedule that allowed them to take care of their children (Ranson, 2010).The "dual-divider" couples were ones that used outside childcare and splitting housework equally (Ranson, 2010). One of the "shift-worker" pairs, Denise and Gary are a clear example of how maternal gatekeeping comes into play. Gary is a pilot and Denise is a teacher. Denise describe how she wants to be more of a traditional mother and able to have a better relationship with her son, Daniel, but also really loves being a teacher (Ranson, 2010). This conflict between working and spending more time with Daniel causes Denise to resort to maternal gatekeeping (Ranson, 2010). Evidence can be seen where Gary mentions how Denise would leave behind a list of instructions of how to care for Daniel that day (Ranson, 2010). Ranson (2010) states that Gary's caregiving was constrained by Denise's intense need to be the primary parent. Therefore it can be seen that Denise has a strong maternal identity and therefore resorts to maternal gatekeeping to maintain it.
Some of the mothers have been thankful for having a husband that can do the caregiver work just as well as her (Ranson, 2010). This is a situation when the husband is of actual help and therefore do not incur maternal gatekeeping. An example of this can be seen in one of the "dual-divider" couple, Marie and Stephen. Marie had a lot of trouble and might have had a mild form of postpartum depression after the birth of her first child, Kimberly (Ranson, 2010). Luckily, she had Stephen who was good at being a caregiver for their children.