The Role of Women in the Family
INTRODUCTION
I have taken some extracts from the following authors and their books,
to bring you my version of the roles of women in the last fifty years
and how it's changed.
A Oakley Sex, gender and sexuality.
N Dennis and co Coal is our life
P Wilmott and M Young Family and class in London suburbs
Also The Symmetrical family
C Turbull The forest people
And last but not least an article from the guardian paper based on
inequality at home.
THE MAIN LAYOUT
We look at women and their roles in the last fifty years and realise
that depending
On our culture or how we were moulded as children, women can have many
different roles. The most common for women is attending to men, the
house and bearing their children, this role is called the housewife.
We have always been expected to be weaker and maternal, some women
have shown that they can be stronger than men by taking on their roles
as well as their own but sometimes not by choice for example: single
parenting, poverty (where no work for men and women work the streets
etc), illness and even maybe religion.
Since equal rights and opportunities came into force, more couples are
both working, more mums have help to go back to work, men are doing
their fair share of the house work and also couples are making equal
decisions. Women by now were also able to use contraception to prevent
having a high quantity of children, which gave them a bit more
freedom.
Since 1970 families have become more equal and privatised, it wasn't a
big change for men as from 1950 families started to slowly progress
towards being symmetrical.
There are many benefits when families become more equal, it can take
pressure off one another due to sharing roles and even if the wife
takes up a part time or full time work this can help them financially
During the 1960’s there was a lot of major events that happened in the United States. The 1960’s was known as a decade of “culture and change”, there were lots of political and cultural changes. (Anastakis, 22) One particular movement that was important to society and the country was the Women’s Movement also called the “Feminism Movement”. The first women movement which happened a few decades before focused on gender equality and overcoming different legal problems. The 1960’s women’s movement focused more on different issues such as family, sexuality, workplace issues, and also rights of reproductively. (MacLean, 45) I chose to cover this topic because women have always been influential throughout history, and I being a woman it is important to know about our rights and who paved the way for us.
an image of the role of woman in the past, and how she contributed to
Modernism is the term of deviating from the norm. In the early 1900s, modernism influenced women’s role in society by providing more opportunities, jobs, and role models for girls today, in society.
Gender roles has always played an essential part of an individual 's life, and it can affect what we think the meaning of family is. As a child, I was taught that men and women had different roles in the household. It is unacceptable for the opposite genders to participate in activities that were not meant for them. For example, a man should not cook and a woman should not work on the yard. I want to note that gender is not black and white. Gender and sex are very different but when discussing gender roles, I am focusing on men and women.
In her essay, “Housewives and Homework: The Lacemakers of Narsapur,” Chandra Talpade Mohanty focused on how men sold products that women produced and profited from women’s work. The essay basically pointed out how work can be defined according to sexual identity. It made me wonder if American women are still perceived by men in society as being housewives even though some of us are doctors, lawyers, teachers etc. Is the work that women do seen as what Mohanty pointed out in her essay as “leisure time activities”? I think that to some extent men believe that women’s sole purpose on Earth is to be their wives/partners and to be good mothers to their children. Even though we “leisurely,” as Mohanty so plainly categorized our work according to men in India, go out to our different careers or occupations everyday, we are not truly seen as providers or given credit for being part providers for the family. Some men may feel that we put forth more of an effort in being a woman who cleans the house, cooks, and takes care of the children. Maybe our “le...
might be considered as a critique of a position of women in the postwar America, and
Women and men are nestled into predetermined cultural molds when it comes to gender in American society. Women play the roles of mothers, housekeepers, and servants to their husbands and children, and men act as providers, protectors, and heads of the household. These gender roles stem from the many culture myths that exist pertaining to America, including those of the model family, education, liberty, and of gender. The majority of these myths are misconceptions, but linger because we, as Americans, do not analyze or question them. The misconception of gender suggests that biological truths no longer dictate our gender roles as men and women; they derive from cultural myths. We, as a nation, need to do severe critical thinking about this delusion of gender, how has limited us in the home, media, and education, how it currently limits us, and what the results of the current and future changes in gender roles will be.
In 2009, American Broadcast Channel changed the way America viewed families with the premiere of the hit television show Modern Family. The show follows three families, Jay Pritchett’s and his two children, from his first marriage, Mitchell and Claire. Jay is married to a much younger woman, Gloria, who has a child from a previous marriage, named Manny. Mitchell lives with his partner Cameron and they have an adopted Vietnamese daughter, Lily. Claire’s family is the most like the traditional family. She is married to her husband Phil Dunphy and together they have three kids, Haley, Alex, and Luke (Modern Family). The show exposes the families’ struggles to get along and survive with such a different way of living. With that said, their family picture demonstrates very well all of the strong personalities and roles of each family member.
During the 1950’s and 1970’s the greatest change for women was politically due to the fact that women were given more privileges. Women had wanted to become equal to men for so long and now they had their chance to become the same.
There are only two genders in the whole world, one is male and the other is female. There are lots of advocates and sociologist who has spoken for the equality between men and women but till now the goal of equality has not been achieved yet. Women have always been dominated by the men in the Patriarchal society where men are the head of the household and the rule makers. Men are the supreme authority and women are the followers. When we hear these things, even in the 21 century it is not the new or surprising things because it is still being practiced in our society and there aren’t any women in the world that had not been through this discrimination at least once in their life time. It is not that, women have not fight for their right but the fact is that nobody is there to hear their voices. Women have always wanted to gain their rights and they have also fought for it too but it is their misfortune that their privileges and opportunities are always taken away from them by the men. The question might arise whether all human beings are equal? If so why male and female are not equal? Being a woman brought up in a developing country, I have experienced the effects of this societal dichotomy. Thus, I would like to delineate this aspect of the division in the society by using the Feminist Theory to analyze women’s position in the Patriarchal society and I am choosing Simone de Beauvoir as my theorist.
A women's role has changed tremendously and is making its greatest impact in our society today. Many years ago, women's contribution to society was limited and controlled by men. Women are standing tall and are playing a major role in many important areas. Women's role has changed at an accelerating rate and have part in areas such as Politics, Professional Training Jobs, Medicine,Business and Law. Formerly they were not part of any political matter, but they have advanced in many aspects. For example, women have attained power and have been growing in political office.
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.
Family is the basis of life and is a basis for what a person learns as they grow into adulthood. Family Values are what your family teaches you. Family is similar to school in the fact that your family teaches you about the world and how every human interacts with others. Gender Roles are the hierarchical basis of a family; the father is the bread winner, mother makes sure dinner is on the table at eight p.m., and the children are straight A students and incredibly popular. I believe that gender roles are not influenced by family values; I believe gender roles are nothing but prejudices under a different name.
The role women play in today’s society is a drastic change from the previous role. Women used to be confined to the superiority of the man. Physically, mentally, and emotionally abused, belittled, embarrassed, and silenced. These are just a few examples of the emotion from the isolated treatment of the past. A woman’s role in today’s society is more valued than ever before.
One of the most interesting concepts in the opening chapter The Nuclear Family is the insistence of society to continue to hold the traditional family structure in highest regard. It’s like the saying ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’. Even though most families are non- traditional we haven’t accepted it. It was a good point by Coontz(1997) to say that “holding on to these nostalgic ideas creates problems for contemporary families.” By hanging on to this notion that families aren’t good enough with a mommy and a daddy and three kids, I think really does delay the development of solid, clear, moral foundations for modern families. If these families are considered secondary and not as good in the first place then there’s going to be hesitance to even bother improving them. The children of these families would benefit most from the relinquishment of the traditional ideal. They need to be secure in the fact that their family is as good as anyone else’s.