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My Gendered family
Introduction
Let’s start by asking ourselves a few questions. How do we identify a stable and perfect family? Who is usually the breadwinner of this family? Families are different, so if one asks themselves this question, it may be hard for them to answer the questions. Previously the men were the main providers in families; this has changed as the world continues to evolve day by day. Women have been seen to take up the roles previously belonging to men; nowadays many families have begun depending on two-income providers. Conversely, the household chores have been shared among men and women as opposed to a long time ago (Williams).
Gender roles have been seen to play a significant role in shaping the lives of individuals. Families have set roles that define how the men and women in the family are supposed to relate or do. In my family, the responsibility of providing is left to my father as my mother tries to chip in where possible. The expectation that our father is the provider for the family dates back from the early society where the role of the men was to provide for their wives and children. Back then, women were not supposed to go to work to look for finances to provide for the family as they were required to stay home and tend for the children and do household chores (Morin,2010).
Expectations of Men being the providers have been witnessed in various families around the world. Due to the changes in the world, the notion has been overlooked as nowadays; women too can act as providers. For instance, in families with single mothers, it takes the women to step up and act like the men and provide for their families. Many women have joined the workforce and decided to help their male counterparts in the role of providing for the family.
According to a recent study by Morin (2010), the family has come to be referred to as dynamic. The reason for this view is because of the new gender roles which have seen men and women share responsibilities of earning and tending for children and loved ones. The society has contributed to these changes as the attitudes towards the gender roles have been seen to change gradually. Women are now seen as equal to men in workplaces and schools.
Women empowerment through access to equal educational opportunities has seen an increase in working mothers. A recent survey by Donelly et al. (41) working mothers has increased in the American workforce. Most people in the study were for the idea that women should be empowered for them to assist their spouses in the provision of basic needs for the family. The respondents to the study insisted that the fathers should remain as the key decision-makers in the family despite being assisted by their wives in the provision of necessary needs.
Women have beaten all odds that society had set; working women are seen as role models in the community to many children. A recent study by Donelly (45) established that children with working mothers felt challenged to work hard to provide for their families (both girls and boys). The study explained that attitudes to gender roles might portray vital results for men and women. For instance, young women that have a positive attitude toward the new gender roles have a high chance of enrolling in school and getting employment and later live as independent women.
In recent research by Morin (2010), it was established that men had become caregivers to their children, for example, infants. The study found out that fathers nowadays spent more time with their children and doing house chores. Despite this increase, women still dominate these two roles. Men and women who spent a lot of time tending for their children may get stigmatized and told that they were more focused on their families and not their careers.
Functionalism Theory
The gender role of providing, mostly left to men, is from the industrial era where women were supposed to stay home and do the household chores while men went to look for food for their families. The functionalism theory can be used to explain the new changes in gender roles. Back then, women were restrained to staying home for long periods and weren’t allowed to leave their homes (Oakley). They were supposed to tend for their newborns and carry a pregnancy. These roles were passed on to other generations and made the families remain stable and functioning properly.
The new gender roles came to be due to the social and economic situations in America when the war was still going on. The family patterns got restructured, and women now had to do their domestic roles as well as act as sole providers. Women who had started earning were reluctant to leave their jobs for men after the war, so this made the two genders work as one to provide for their families (Oakley).
Conflict theory
A recent study established that society has brought about the struggle in society between women and men. The two groups are seen to be competing for scarce resources. Men are dominant among the two groups; this makes them act as superior over women. Despite women being focused on lending a helping hand to their spouses, they may not be doing much. Women’s efforts may be disregarded and seen as inferior to those of men. Providing for the family may be seen as a man’s job, but women have stepped up to provide for their families and choosing to be independent (Williams). This theory tries to show that there is a societal conflict in a place that is brought about by gender expectations.
The Gender roles regarding the provision of basic needs have been seen as a man’s job for a long time such that men have felt threatened by the women who have stepped up and taken this responsibility. In households where women provide the basic needs, the men may feel demeaned and end up depressed because of their duties being taken up by the women. Men shouldn’t feel this way as the women are not there to humiliate anyone, but rather, they try to assist where possible (Shimanoff 436).
Most families in the United States have been seen to have set gender roles to their members; some families have different expectations regarding the education of their children, either boys or girls (Shimanoff 433). Some families have specified the roles of women and men in the family regarding household chores. My father engages in household chores when my mother is feeling unwell or tired. The abolition of gender roles can be an excellent way to ensure that toxic gender roles are ignored and forgotten.
Women in most families have been seen trying their best to get means to provide for their families. Many divorced and single women other have to work hard as they are the role models and breadwinners of their families’ absence of the parents at home to tend for their children is very serious as the children don’t have anyone to tend for them.
Conclusion
To conclude this paper, i have to say the gendered family event has made me be a better person. The event of the provision of basic needs to the family by the father has made me know that as a parent in the future, i have an obligation to do. We need to work hard and look for employment for us to assist or provide for our families. The events that have been witnessed in my family about gender roles have shaped my understanding that even women can be able to provide for their families.
Women are seen to be weak, but this ideology by men is very wrong as recently, the number of women i the workforce has been rising. This means that the women have decided to ensure they can assist their spouses during hard times. I will work more to ensure i pass my studies and get employed. After employment, i will ensure that their gender issue is not visible as the household roles are both for male and female genders as no one is superior to the other. Finally, families have indeed been restructured, which has led to an increase in working women and, conversely, the change in gender roles as now anyone can tend to children and do other domestic chores.
Works cited list
Donnelly, Kristin, et al. “Attitudes toward women’s work and family roles in the United States,
1976–2013.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 40.1 (2016): 41-54.
Morin, Rich, and D. Cohn. “Women call the shots at home; public mixed on gender roles in
jobs.” Pew Research Center. [Online] Available from: http://pewresearch.
org/pubs/967/gender-powertAccessed March 10 (2008): 2010.
Oakley, Ann. Sex, gender and society. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2015.
Shimanoff, Susan B. “Gender role theory.” Encyclopedia of communication theory 1 (2009):
433-436.
Williams, Joan. Unbending gender: Why family and work conflict and what to do about it.
Oxford University Press, 2001.