Maria is married and has two children who live at home. Her aging parents have serious health problems and demand a considerable amount of time and money from Maria. This situation describes

This situation describes the sandwich generation.

Explanation:

The sandwich generation refers to people who have to take care of their parents and their children. This generation is sandwiched between elderly parents who need help to perform daily activities or need to be taken care of and children who also need to be taken care of and give psychological support. The sandwich generation is more common nowadays than in the past since people started to have children at older ages and the average life has increased, resulting in people who have to take care of two generations at the same time.

this is a pretty broad question and can be a pretty lengthy answer. since 1900, women have gained a lot more rights and have become active in the workforce. with women being in the workforce, men play a larger role in family life. many family tasks are shared between men and women, whereas, women used to be the sole family caretakers.

that should get you started at least.