In the essay “Motherhood: Who Needs It?”, it is debated whether motherhood is an instinctual, hereditary quality all mothers are born with or if it is an idea that society imposes on women that being a mother is the standard path to take. Betty Rollins, the author of the essay, argues that motherhood is a learned trait, not one that is innate. She states that “Motherhood Myth” came to be, because children came with sex so it was thought to be instinctual consequence of an act. She proves that women not only are disappointed in their decision to have kids, but are also choosing to have fewer or have none at all. I agree with her argument that having children is a learned behavior that is pushed on us by the views of women’s roles in our society. To support the claim that motherhood is imposed on …show more content…
This can be seen as the starting point of the difference of gender roles in our society. Rollins points out how that those who see girls playing with dolls as an innate role, forget that “little girls are given dolls”. The dolls encourage and teach young girls to take care of and create a life for a person, which is an example of how women are raised to be caretakers. Boys are given trucks and tools which pushes them to take a more industrial lifestyle in the workforce. This role is given to us so early that we think these to be our roles throughout life. As we grow, girls are taught how to cook and clean by their mothers, and boys were taught to work on farms or in the fields with their fathers. This continues into adulthood when females are expected to have children and become stay at home moms; whereas males are supposed to go into the workforce and provide for their families. As you can see these distinct differences make an obvious impact in the way society functions and feels opposing genders should act, in the instance of taking care of a
Reading about the inequality and discrimination against mothers, especially unmarried mothers, in the Motherhood Manifesto made we flip from cover to cover of the book to see when this book was last updated. I was horrified to see it was 2006. Kiki, the single mother of two who was looking for a job in Pennsylvania in 1989 and asked repeatedly the same two questions during her interviews literally made me angry. How could an interviewer be allowed to ask personal questions such as are you married and do you have kids? I was appalled just as I would have been if he had asked her what her race, religion, and sexual orientation was. It’s all in the realm of not appropriate and discriminatory. Laws are changing constantly; I know that when being
Women throughout time have been compelled to cope with the remonstrances of motherhood along with society’s anticipations
In Katha Pollitt’s essay “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls,” she explains the differences between the genders and she argues how feminist movements are hardly appreciated. Pollitt further demonstrates that women’s have the same power as any men have, but society doesn’t let women get higher than men. Pollitt explains that, “It’s twenty-eight years since the founding of NOW, and boys still like trucks and girls still like dolls” (544). From here, we can infer that the author is comparing the activities of boys and girls, and their choices of toys. Since, I am able to read and see the World, I saw that all the time that boys are more rivalry. There have always been presumptions in society that boys are very outgoing and bold, on the other hand, whereas girls are a little laid back sometimes. Girls play quietly and with non-hunting objects. However, boys always make noises. In addition, Pollitt keeps using the word “feminism” throughout her essay, and talks about how women and men should have equal rights. For example girls can do the same things as boys can do or vice versa. I can relate to this story as I grew up with two brothers who always played with cars, trucks, and other toys like dragons, but I was expected to stay away from their things and go play with my, so called, girly stuff.
Alison Bechdel isn’t a normal author. She uses graphics, and wordplay to tell a very engaging, and interesting story. One of these stories titled “The Ordinary Devoted Mother”, Bechdel tells the story of her trying to write a memoir about her mom. One of the major themes in this story is reading, and writing. Bechdel explores what writing is, how it is important, and how she perceives writing herself.
Girls are supposed to play with dolls, wear pink, and grow up to become princesses. Boys are suppose to play with cars, wear blue, and become firefighters and policemen. These are just some of the common gender stereotypes that children grow up to hear. Interactions with toys are one of the entryway to different aspects of cognitive development and socialism in early childhood. As children move through development they begin to develop different gender roles and gender stereotypes that are influenced by their peers and caregivers. (Chick, Heilman-Houser, & Hunter, 2002; Freeman, 2007; Leaper, 2000)
In Of Woman Born, Adrienne Rich effectively weaves her own story into a convincing account of what it means to become a mother within the bonds of patriarchal culture. Her conclusion that the institution of motherhood, which she distinguishes from motherhood, must be destroyed in order to release the creation and sustenance of life into the same realm of decision, struggle, surprise, imagination, and conscious intelligence, as any other difficult, but freely chosen work is substantiated by her courageous confession that contradicts culturally normative notions of motherhood.
According to the article “Rather than confirming the home as a haven from the heartless world, this study has revealed the heartlessness of the system in which mothers and nannies are caught,” the researcher wants people to know, instead of that the child becoming a well respectful adult in society, there is a possibility that the child will experience some trouble in becoming that person in his/her later life, because of the constant conflict between mothers and nannies; puppeteer is the main reason for these conflict.
In her essay, “Motherhood: Who Needs It?”, Betty Rollin emphasizes the pressures of motherhood that society puts on women and highlights the fact that becoming a mother is not a natural instinct.
She seems to value motherhood but still has chosen to end her pregnancies and does not seem to feel comfortable, at least presently, with the choices she has made in the past. She also seems to know what being a mother entails as she says in lines 7-8 “You will never wind up the sucking-thumb / Or scuttle off ghosts that come.” The speaker wonders
Motherhood is a term used and displayed in everyday life. It has several aspects that require many talents and hard work. However, sometimes motherhood needs little to no talent or dedication, as well. Motherhood is an opportunity to serve others and have a big impact on other’s life.
Relevant to the discussion of masculinity and femininity. Males treat infants much different than females do, women treat the baby with fragile care and not rough.fathers usually teach the boys to build and fix things: mothers teach girls to cook, sew and keep house. Gender roles adopted during childhood normally continue to adulthood. Learning the roles of their gender occur within a social context; the values of the parents and society being passed along to along to the children of successive
In our society, gender roles are instigated at a very young age. Society develops a standard or a norm of what role a women or man should play (Griffiths et al., 2015). For example, young girls are taught to play with dolls and learn
Gender roles exist in all cultures, serving to define who we are and what we should become throughout our lives. This characteristic of different roles for different genders restricts the basic human right to self-fulfillment. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House brings these issues into light, forcing the reader to question the restrictions and stereotypes that were forced upon men and women in their culture. While much progress has been made, these issues still plague our culture and have been very difficult to even approach, let alone implement solutions.
In this era, males and females both uphold household duties. Children watch and learn from their environment. A boy watching his father care for an infant is going to want to imitate his father. Playing with a doll is simply following what he has seen his father do. Taking away the doll is taking away that child’s future as a nurturing father (Gioia, 2010). Many men feel that their male child playing with a doll is not teaching him to be tough and will negatively impact their future, when in fact the boy will learn how to care and use their imagination by playing with dolls (Epand). Females are often praised when they are gentle and nurturing, while boys are not- causing boys to r...
Nowadays, women perform stunningly in any field. Never before they had as many opportunities to pursue careers and passions in any form they desire as they have today. However, the more demanding and successful the women become when raising their opinion on gender equality, the more irresponsible they turn out to be regarding their motherhood duties. The feminist movement has negatively affected the women’s perception of motherhood.