Assessment of the Claim that the Family Has Become Increasingly Symmetrical

There is a huge debate going on today about gender. Society believes you’re a boy if you like blue, and like to play sports and go hunting; and you’re a girl if you like pink and have long hair and pig tails and play with Barbie dolls. Society has forced us to choose between the two. I believe that both women and men can both have it all. As Dorment says, ‘competing work life balance and home as much as women’. (Dorment 697) I believe in this article Richard Dorment, has argued his opinion very well, I think both men and woman equally need to be involved in housework as well as taking care of the children. In today’s world were judging who were going to be even before were born. Throughout this article Dorment effectively convinces his audience that men and women should be equal by using statistics and emotional stories, Dorment uses personal stories and extensive research to make readers believe in his credibility, and lastly Dorment employs the rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos effectively.

Women feel more obligated to stay at home or work part time if they have children. Even if they share household chores with their spouses, many women still prefer to work less in order to sustain the home. However, women who are single mothers do not have the luxury to stay at home, and working part time may be the only option they have. For single mothers working is imperative in order to keep the family afloat financially, but with all of the commitments they have, they cannot balance everything. Childcare is essential, because while single mothers are working they need a reliable place to send their young children; the same with single fathers as well. Most women in the work force have children to take care of, and families to provide for, which many take as a decrease of masculinity, and the increase of femininity. On the contrary, many studies show that although the labor force is divided, the household is not and do a lot to maintain the household as well. According to Hertz and Marshall (2001), “Men who participate in more companionate activities with their children (such as play, leisure activities, and TV watching) are no more likely to take on other household chores than less-involved fathers. It is only men who participate in nurturing, are more nearly partners in family work. Men are also more likely to

Once women began working at the beginning of the twentieth century due to the war, gender roles drastically changed within households. The world was used to women spending time on housework versus men so it was an adjustment for everyone. In all actuality, when husbands take on a greater role in the house, it will result in lower divorce rates in the long run. Studies show that although this change

Within a household, women and men, mothers and fathers, have different roles and responsibilities, much of which are based on the person’s gender. Typically, women or mothers are “responsible for the emotional, social, and physical well-being of her family” (Lober 80), “most of the hands-on family work” (Lorber 81), and keep up of the house. The men or fathers are usually seen as the “bread winners” of the family. Due to this and the work they do outside of the house, men usually have little to no responsibilities to the family and within the home. It is not unusual for women to clean the house, make sure the children are well taken care of, and cook while the man, or father, is at work. When he gets back home, after work, it is expected for him to relax and unwind. Although they are a couple with similar obligations, the divide of them is not equally distributed among the two and offer either one different results.

As a result of the increase of pregnancy rates in the 1950s there was a decrease of employment. Instead of going to work, mothers cared for their children at homes. This reinforced the roles of women as wives and mothers. Today, women are now more liberated from these roles. That being the case Author Natalie Angier, of the article, “The Changing American Family, explains, 62 percent of the public, and 72 percent of adults under 30, view the ideal marriage as one in which husband and wife both work and share child care and household duties…” This quote demonstrates that majority of women are no longer the housemakers of the family. The twenty-first century women are through with stereo gender jobs and proved to be a family's breadwinner. In the 1950s, Author Brigid Schulte, of the article, “Unlike in the 1950s, there is no ‘typical’ U.S. family today,” points out, “....in the 1950s, 65 percent of all children under 15 were being raised in traditional breadwinner-homemaker families. Today, only 22 percent are.” This quote supports the belief that both husbands and wives should share the responsibilities of supporting their families with financial income and responsibilities in the

For years, society has encouraged women to engage in labor force participation and to create a career outside of the household. The feminist movement discouraged women to continue their roles as caregiver because it was considered a low status position in society. To be considered successful in life, one needed to achieve a high paying career and as everyone knows the job of mom is free of charge. The movement also portrayed the traditional family structure as a way to keep women confined to their homes, rather than a structure built with the main idea of women having complete focus on the most valuable job of their lives “Motherhood.” The feminist movement was to fight for women’s rights but at the same time the movement forced mothers to make a difficult decision of either entering the workforce and leaving children in daycare or continuing the homemaker’s lifestyle. After many years of liberation for women in the workforce there has been a decline in the number of women who continue a career after childbirth. Contrary to the feminist belief, mothers are finding a greater sense of fulfillment staying at home to raise children rather than focusing on a career. Data taken from the U.S Census Bureau in 2005 shows the amount of stay at home mothers is about 5.6 million (Zamora). More women are replacing the 1950s “housewife” stigmas and renouncing their roles in society with a new high status of “domestic engineers.” Although mothers who chose to stay at home might have a harder time reentering the workforce and many think it will make families struggle financially, more mothers of young children should stay at home instead of returning to the workforce. This will allow mothers to have more efficacious time to spend with children. Along with the unaffordable cost of quality child care causing

Men in the early years has been an issue which has been growing over many years for various reasons. For example some men are dissuaded from the career choice, and as it is a predominantly female occupation, some men feel they do not wish to work in that environment. As much as we have attempted to overcome this issue, the percentage of men working in childcare decreased rapidly over the years. Also, the cost of childcare for parents has increased over the years, with the average parent now paying £115.45 in Britain for their child to attend a nursery part-time. If the adult is 25 or over, working 40 hours per week at a rate of £7.20 an hour, this would be just under half their weekly earnings.

In the essays “I Want A Wife” and “Not All Men Are Sly Foxes,” both Brott and Brady talk about how women are seen as the primary caregivers at home. The authors show similarities through stereotypes and also through the role each gender plays. In the two articles, men are portrayed as a negative and unseen influence in the home life. While both authors achieved their intended aims, they did so in very diverse ways. Although there are many similarities in the two essays, each author has many differences as well.

Bennetts includes that most husbands still view childcare as their wives’ responsibility even if their wife is working. With this pressure, she thinks that mothers have resentment

Men in the American society are considered to be responsible for taking care of their family financially. They take their jobs as sole providers very earnestly. They also have the responsibility for guiding their family. Although they may listen what their wives have to say, they make the final decisions. In addition, men did not do chores and household duties. Women were expected to be in charge of running the household. Mothers did the laundry, cooked the meals, and cleaned the rooms. They also took care of the children, giving them the care and attention that was required (“Gender Roles in Society: Definition & Overview”). The biological and social evidence so far suggests that even when there is no external pressure, women and men tend to liberally choose varying roles in marriage and in society. And even when doing the identical jobs, men and women tend to approach things in a different manner than men. These different approaches often do follow the orthodox view of men taking a more intellectual and authoritative approach while women take a more emotional and relationship-oriented approach (“What are the Roles of Men and Women toward Each Other and in Society?”). In conclusion, the labor intensive and more prominent occupations that men hold, in comparison to the caring and maternal roles that women hold is what distinguishes men and women in the

Women have constantly been told that their worlds should revolve around their femininity which is in direct relation to how they handle their responsibilities. Although their roles should not be seen as responsibilities but rather privileges that they should accept with open arms. Those who were thinking that they wanted more than their simple mundane left were left feeling ashamed as they felt that they should be grateful for having the stability that comes with having a husband and a home. As more mothers began to slowly open up about their pressures they began to realize that they were not completely alone. However, despite finding someone who could relate to their pain, the suppression continued as many husbands would add salt to the wound by exclaiming that their wives should feel blessed that she has the ideal job. Obviously, this constant reminder from husbands did not make the situations any easier and would often lead housewives to resent their partners, children, and even their lives. By playing the roles of mother, wife, and upstanding female, women were not given an opportunity to discover who they truly were. Without a proper knowledge of their identities, there was no way that these homemakers would not feel isolated as they were simply a shadow of their former selves. By constantly

The news marginalises the idea that men can be attracted to a full-time parenting role through drawing overt attention to the centrality of employment in father’s lives. This is achieved by recurring expert opinions, as well as stories that allow fathers to comment on their involvement in childcare, which reproduce the idea that men are only expected to ‘help out’ in the domestic

I hardly recall any arguments at home regarding the gender role confusion. It was kind of already structured and understood. My mother being an ideal home maker never really complained about the amount of house work she had to do. Brought up in a traditional relationship family, I feel I would be most comfortable with a transitional relationship. I would be contributing towards the household income, however I would be the one taking charge of the household and the parenting tasks with my partner helping out. When women spent more time outside of household, they feel guilty; the feeling of guilt I believe holds women back from breaking out of the nutshell. The culturally defined gender role within household is embedded in more than a feeling of obligation.

Todays society families are not as they where many years ago. Overtime the evolution of norms and social expectations has changed from what families consist of. The way society is today there are new normal and society as a whole has evolved into something rather fascinating. Families have changed over time by using the major theories, functionalist, conflict and symbolic interactions.

Thirdly stands the gender-role and provider-role model. Hood (1983) claims that each partner subscribes to regarding a certain deviation in respect of their roles in a family, which in consequence affects the process of decision-making. Undoubtedly, this model has experienced great shifts during the last 20 years from a traditional male dominance as breadwinners to increasing numbers of primary earning women (Richardson et al,