Prior Studies on Female Headship and Its Impact on Child Welfare One of the opportunities through which economies can achieve long-run economic growth is through investment in human capital. Human capital, as easy as we can define it, corresponds to any stock of knowledge or characteristics a person has (either innate or acquired) that contributes to his or her ‘productivity’. As Doyle (2011) noted, governments and non-government organizations (NGOs) alike are well-aware of this, and many attempt to subsidize human capital investment by supplying welfare (health and education) services at little or no cost to individuals. However, Doyle added, “the level of human capital investment remains dependent on an individual’s demand for these services. Consequently, understanding the link between household characteristics and propensity to invest in children’s human capital can help improve targeting of government policy and increase the efficiency of international aid”. In 1993, Louat, Grosh and van der Gaag’s study about female headship implications on child welfare in Jamaica showed results that children in female-headed households have, by large, equal access to social services and equally good welfare outcomes as children in male-headed households. In addition, they found evidence of small differences in resource use between the two types of households (male vs. female headed). Their analyses of household expenditures showed that female-headed households spend no more on food than do male headed households. However when more detailed food expenditures are looked at, the differences are more pronounced. For instance, female headships appear to be associated with spending on higher quality food items such as meat, vegetables, mi... ... middle of paper ... ...see Figure 3). In particular, female heads that were heads of families in the upper 70 percent income group were more highly educated than their male counterpart. Of all female heads, 17 percent were college graduates. A higher proportion of college graduates (23 percent) were reported for female heads of families in the upper 70 percent income group. Those with some years in college made up 15 percent. On the other hand, 14 percent of male heads of families in the upper 70 percent income group were college graduates, while 15 percent were college undergraduates. In contrast, female heads of families in the bottom 30 percent income group had lower educational attainment than their male counterparts, although a slightly higher proportion of them were college graduates compared to male heads (2 percent for females compared to 1 percent for males) (see Table 4).
College degrees, jobs, and income stream are all quantifiable items, however, a gauge on work-life balance, parenting abilities, and dedication at home cannot be measured by a number. In the past, men have been viewed as the backbone of the family. The typical day consists of getting up the earliest, going to work, coming home late at night, maybe missing out on trivial matters, but ultimately paying the bills. As time progresses, roles in households have shifted significantly. Now more than ever women are extremely active in the workforce, local communities, and politics. The obstacles faced by men and women are inherently different, but men seem to fall under an intensified microscope when it comes to intertwining family life with a career. Richard Dorment dives deep into these issues in his piece, "Why Men Still Can't Have It All." Although the argument may seem bias in favoring the rigorous lifestyle of men, the
Modern feminists might gasp if I assert patriarchy once allowed efficient economic organization, but the tools of modern political economy unveil the mystery of why inegalitarian gender norms were once economically efficient. Evolving modes of production and material constraints necessitate an efficient division of labor guided by socialized gender norms that adapt to economic macroconditions. Gary Becker and Torben Iversen understand an economic division of labor differently given their different historical-material conditions. In his “Theory of the Allocation of Time,” Becker models an ideal economic division of labor with the household as a single entity seeking maximum utility. Men specialize in marketable skills due to a comparative advantage in hard labor; women specialize in general household skills and motherhood. Iversen’s concept of an efficient division of labor does not view the household as a single entity and instead views the individual as the basic economic unit—less gendered social norms result. Thus, as society evolves from agricultural to industrial and then to postindustrial modes of production, gender norms adapt to society’s needs and wants to yield efficient divisions of labor. When material macroconditions advance, households restructure gender norms and behavior out of demand for a more efficient division of labor. In this paper, I argue the evolution of the modes of production alters power dynamics in household bargaining, which force gender norms to conform to market demands for a revised division of labor.
In his novel Our Kids, Robert Putnam speaks on about how the 1970’s brought a change in family structures. The family structure of two strong parents and stigma against wedlock births and pre-marital sex quickly began to fade. Birth control and the feminist revolution contributed to these rapid changes. Women began to work and were “in part, freed from patriarchal norms” (Putnam 62). Rather than conforming the female gender role and staying home, having children, and putting food on the table, women actually started to become a part of the economy. They were not as focused on the idea of marriage and finding an economically stable husband to provide for them. The decrease in family structure quickly began to affect opportunity inequality among individuals. Those children with “neo-traditional” marriages are more like to receive a college degree rather than those without. Having a lower-income family reduces educational opportunities children have. While a child from a two-income family may attend a private school with resources that assist them in getting into ivy league schools, a kid from a single parent family may have to attend a public school where there is not even access to a computer lab or extracurricular activities. The lack of education these kids have contributes to their lack of opportunity to receive a college degree. Normally, a college degree allows individuals to receive a higher income than those who just have a high-school diploma. They simply are not exposed to the resources to succeed. This contributes to the inequality of opportunity, and ultimately, the inequality of income. Not only does the structure of family affect the outcome of children, but also the style of
For instance the mortality rate is described as girls having better chance of surviving than boys; according to MacCormack (1988) “this unusual imbalance in mortality rates suggests that Jamaican mothers are investing more care in daughters than in sons” (Sargent, 204). Therefore, creating an environment where boys have a higher rate of obtaining a disease compared to girls, since it’s mention how “Jamaican mothers expect much from their daughters, she argues that the concern they express for the well-being and future success of their female children is reflected in infant and child mortality statistics in Jamaica” (Sargent, 203). Upon, Mothers expressing more care for their daughters, their sons will feel the neglection due to the fact that they don’t expect much from them. Additionally, Jamaican mothers raise their children according to their gender, it’s brought up that the mothers support their female children in order to have better future, compared to their male children, according to
Society has seen the male dynamic of superiority, designation as the “bread winner”, or head of household for centuries. Women were specifically assigned to the roles of wife, mother, and nurturer through the process of the sexual or gendered division of labor. However, that has not always been the case. Over centuries of change and shifts in economic development, the roles of women have changed to adapt to their specific roles in society. The status of the individuals in society was defined by sex, age, physical trai...
The upper class is separated by two different distinctions, the upper-upper or the “old money” and the lower-upper or the “new money.” The upper class represents about 5% of the total population. The populations tend to be somewhat older, mostly white, highly educated, with income significantly above the state average. People living within the upper class usually live in expensive neighborhoods, have high prestige and belong to the same clubs and organizations. Their children normally attend private school. The women within the upper class are usually in charge of hosting entertainments at home for guests and often do volunteer work. The men within the upper class are also more active in community service organizations. These families live in large houses on large p...
Being in the upper class does not qualified them as people who are most educated. They often have an attitude of being better than others and this carries over into their family relationships. Being in the higher class in America have nothing to do about your education. A percentage of the higher class might be educated because they have enough money to afford college and help their kids reach a better education but in my opinion most kids who grow up wealthy do not really take the time to get an education because they do not see the point of going to school and reach an higher education since they do not really looking for any pay job because they already the amount of money that they need. While the other half might seem the necessity of going to college not for the higher pay but more because they want to better educate
For example, males are identified as the head of the household and the provider for the family. This concept affects society because women are told that they should be nurtures and should be dedicated to their children. This shows that women were told that they shouldn’t work and should instead focus on being a housewife. This results in the mother and children being dependent on the father. Men are told that they should provide financial support for the family. Also, men are the authority in the household because they discipline their children. Ridgeway says” Gender beliefs are a continual referent for people’s own behavior and sense of identity in the home, and because household tasks themselves carry a gendered connotation, the performance or non-performance of those tasks can be a symbolic gender display for the person “(135).So, gender beliefs effect on how we view gender in the household because it is based on expectations of gender roles. Moreover, gender in household affects household division because women spend more time in the household. For example, since males are the providers they are rarely at home. They are not able to help with household duties. The mother does all the housework in the household. Also .the mother spends her whole time attending to the children and doing chores. Ridgeway says “One way to see the power of gender as an organizing force in the household division of is to examine that extent to which people sex category alone predicts the amount and nature of the household work they do in comparison to their other identities” (139) .Household division the results would show that the women do more household chores than
Historically, the model family involved couples marrying and starting a family young and absolutely no divorces. However, as time has progressed, the family structure has become increasingly complex, and less “traditional.” The typical and “traditional” family of the 1950s included the breadwinner father, housewife/mother and 2.5 happy and well-adjusted children (Kimmel and Aronson 181). Gender roles have always played a significant role in the root of the “traditional” family and marriage. Some individuals believe that we are born with these innate instincts to assume these gender-specific roles, while others believe these roles have been socially constructed over time. Gender roles allow men to assume superiority over women and unfortunately,
Inequality was now present more in the schools and workplace. Teachers expected boys to be better at math and girls better at reading. In school stories, boys were shown to have more adventures and activity than girls. On the contrary, girls were show as passive, dependent, and bored. College enrollment study by the U.S. bureau showed about 20 percent more men than women went to college in 1960 through 1970s. Then by 2010, men enrollment was around 43 percent, while women’s was 55 percent (Conley 2013). In the workplace, 31.5 million women entering the labor force in compared to 70 million in 2008. Now there is about an equal number of men and women in the workforce. However, there is inequality in wages based on gender. Women earnings are about 81 cents to every dollars that men makes. Feminized and male-dominated jobs started become prominent by the 1970s. Feminized jobs included low-paid secretarial or service industrial jobs” (2013). Some jobs were reserved for women, such as, real estates clerical work, pharmacy, public relations, and bank telling. In contemporary magazines women were portrayed subordinate to men in advertisements,such as, kissing a man’s shoe. From a content analysis, women are portrayed as sexual objects 70 percent of the time in fashion magazines. In home goods magazines women are portrayed to have domestic roles such as cooking and baking(Conley
• Education. Although the number of women attaining baccalaureate and advanced degrees now surpasses the number of men, in 1999 the median wages of female college graduates were $14,665 less than those of male graduates. College-educated African American women earn only $1,500 more than white male high school graduates.
The results make sense because in traditional families, the mother or father will teach the child about responsibility and force them to develop skills that will benefit the household as they become older. The next question asked ‘’Who works the most in your family” and 11 participants answered fathers while 8 participants answered mothers. This question is one of the examples that displays that gender roles are slowing progressing into change. If I had to ask this question again 50 years ago, I would probably get more fathers as answers and none for mothers. The next two questions discuss what is expected of men and women in the household.
Gender roles are extremely important to the functioning of families. The family is one of the most important institutions. It can be nurturing, empowering, and strong. Some families are still very traditional. The woman or mother of the family stays at home to take care of the children and household duties. The man or father figure goes to work so that he can provide for his family. Many people believe that this is the way that things should be. Gender determines the expectations for the family. This review will explain those expectations and how it affects the family.
Women have had quite a few hurdles to get over since the 1950's. In 1958 the proportion of women attending college in comparison with men was 35 percent. (Friedan,
Gender is defined as the scopes of genetic, physical, mental and behaviour characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and feminity, meanwhile inequality is defined as in a situation where there is an unfair situation or treatment in which certain people have more privileges or better opportunities or chances than other people. Thus, from the definition stated gender inequality refers to unequal or unfair management, treatment, or perceptions of persons or individuals are based on their gender. In a parallel sense, gender inequality can be said as the world in which there was discrimination against anyone based on gender. In this introductory, the general understanding of gender inequalities will be discussed further into three significant factors that influence the allocation of housework between men and women. Household chores can be classified as cleaning, cooking and paying bills. Division of housework serves as an important element in the continuation of the function of a family and it requires contribution from both spouses (Tang, 2012). However, current society’s perception on housework is based on gender, so the three major factors that influence the division of household chores within the couples are education level, economic resources, and time availability (refer to Figure1 in Appendix 1).