Erickson Gender Roles

In “The End of Men?,” an article featured in The Atlantic in summer 2010, author Hanna Rosin illustrates the drastic, ascending shifts perceived in modern society. Rosin poises the theory of how men were traditionally seen as the superior gender. The author believes there is a contractionary shift in gender roles and that the new era is “[B]etter suited to women” (Rosin 304). Recent studies show that women are becoming prominent in the workforce, education, and family. Accordingly, she explains how women are miraculously able to balance work while nurturing their children. Rosin believes that this occurs because men are not biologically made to tend children. Additionally, Rosin analyses how men lost “8 million jobs” during the Great Recession (Rosin 306). During that time, women were becoming what made a majority of the workforce. There were increases in women’s presence in what used to be male-dominated fields: school, politics, and business. Rosin questions this drastic shift concerning women and men’s roles in society, stating how they are now equally competing for jobs. Moreover, the way women behave now show their commendable abilities in the workforce and how society is changing as they establish their dominance and authority everyday. Once, women were frowned upon, but nowadays, more people favor having girls than boys. Today’s era is commending women with their admirable work ethic and self-worth. Throughout most of history, men dominated the

"The girls get the message; the boys don’t. That is the boy crisis in education” (Mortenson, 139). It seems that America is eager to readily teach and educate the women, but are not so quick to respond to the unemployed and uneducated man. It is only a few men who actually obtain a higher education like a bachelors or associates degree. Most of the boys today settle with just accomplishing a high school degree, and are never able to become qualified to master the technological demands of employers today due to a lack of education. "They are the boys whom we are not reaching through education - but who must be reached with higher education and training in order to prepare them for the jobs that will be there when they enter the labor market” (Mortenson, 139). Fifty percent of men in America never obtain a higher education according to Mortenson

According to the author, 60 percent of both bachelor’s and graduate degrees go to women and “unmarried and childless women who are under thirty and with full-time jobs earn 8 percent more than their male peers in 147 out of 150 of the largest U.S. cities” (698). It is obviously seen that more women than men are getting degrees and if women do not have a family, they earn more than men at their age. This trend seems very dangerous to men; it makes us concern about men’s future in this country and also the educational gap will increase or

Changes in the economy contributed to changed ideas about class, gender, and family. The ideas of “republican motherhood” that had been prevalent following the American Revolution, gave way to the “cult of domesticity”. Women were expected to remain in the household and were relegated to second-class citizens. Additionally, children in urban households were much more likely to leave the family in search of work than they had been in the rural world. This was because of the shift of income-earning work out of the home.

Additionally, the feminist movement and the gay liberation movements trigger to the changes of family values. During the 1960s, women sought equal rights and opportunities in their economic activities. In his essay “Family Values,” Richard Rodriguez states, “the women’s movement was ultimately more concerned about getting out of the house and into the workplace” (224). Women are less likely to stay home to take care of their children and do the housework. By contrast, they are more likely to share the responsibilities of finance for their families because of their capabilities to work.

Analysis of “Boys Left Behind” “ Boys Left Behind” is written by Kevin Hassett describing the situation of what boys are facing in current society. Hassett claims that America’s society worries too much about how females are being treated unfairly and forgets about the struggles of boys. He describes the academic performance of boys and girls, where which, girls outperformed boys at every academic levels.

The first section of the WSCADV (n.d.) training discussed the background and history of the DV movement. This section began with an audio interview (Bell & Coontz, n.d.) with Stephanie Coontz, a professor of history at Evergreen State College. Coontz discussed the effect that women entering the workforce over the past century has had on the stability of marriages and families. In the fifties, the middle-class family in the United States was structured around women’s economic dependence on men. Women’s entrance into the workforce destabilized marriage for a time, but in the 1980’s, increasing divorce rates leveled off and began to decrease, and women in the workforce became (and continue to be) a marriage stabilizer. This finding, however, does not necessarily apply to low-income couples who experience more

It was a common understanding prior to this time period, that a family was only successful if each member fulfilled their independent and significant role. Men were expected to work outside of the home, their support for their family came from their labor and toil. Women were expected to work inside of the home, and their support for their family came from doing things such as housework, raising children, and fulfilling their wifely duties. Women’s work was often considered less valuable than a man’s, but it would not be until now, that women and men’s work and their skills both become trivial. The traditional customs that have been followed and practiced for so long have abruptly come to a halt since capitalism has been incorporated into American

Family is one of the oldest institutions in human history with a universal and basic role in all societies, and studying the structure of family in different cultures will help us further understand its functions and effects on society. During the 20th century, the common family type in America was the “nuclear family”, two married heterosexual people living with their children (Coontz, 2006). Due to many influential changes, the concept of family has been redefined and it now includes a variety of living arrangements. Feminism has been one of the successful social movements, and has promoted alternative types of the American family. The movement has different priorities in each society, and in the United States one of the issues is the “gender pay gap”. Gender pay gap is defined as the average difference between men’s and women’s aggregate hourly earnings (European Commission, 2014). According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2014 the median weekly earnings for workers with at least a bachelor’s degree was $336 lower in women than men, and for workers with advanced degrees was $445 lower in women than men (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). This average difference of $17,000 to $24,000 a year is one of the contributors to the “gender pay gap” issue. The importance of financial security is a well-known fact that women in America began embracing it after World War II; many women decided to postpone marriage in order to focus on their education and career

The modern day woman works outside of the home, but then returns and continues to take care of housework and the children. Sociologists refer to this part of the woman’s day as the, “Second shift.” Two studies conducted found that if a man is more economically dependent on his wife, he is less likely to do housework. However, no evidence suggests that becoming economically independent makes marriage any less desirable for a woman. The family is the initial agent of socialization in their child’s life, however, even though the mother of the family may have the job with longer hours and better pay, the parents will still reinforce traditional gender roles in their household (Thompson 301-302.) This behavior can cause a child to embrace the stereotype that the woman’s only role is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Even if a woman is the primary

It was proven that Presidential votes among men have fallen from 72% to 53%, which is twice the rate of decline among women. Even as girls are eagerly working their way to the honor roll at graduation, boys are more likely to be bulking up in weight rooms, playing games such as Playstation, or downloading music. All the while he is 30% more likely to commit murder and six times likely to kill himself. Universities and research centers sponsored scores of teacher symposiums centered on girls. “All of the focus was on girls, all grant money and university programs were to get girls interested in science and math,” says Steve Hanson, principal of Ottumwa High School. “There was no similar actions for reading and writing for boys.” When boys were asked, some said that schools have become boy-bashing laboratories. The gender gap also has a history of expectations for boys. In 1970 boys were more likely to receive a college degree. Today that anticipation has decreased dramatically. There is even a sense, included among the privileged families, that today’s boys are a sort of payback generation. The one that has to compensate for the advantages given to males in the past. Over all a new world has opened up to girls and an effort must be made to boost boys to raise their interest and expectations.

In the 1960s to 1970s, a feminist movement began and sparked a change in attitudes towards women in familial roles and pushed against gender inequality. This movement’s effects trickled down to the opinions and actions of people in the later 1970s to mid-1980s. The period saw a decline in the backing of the traditional family wife role for women and greater acceptance for women finding employment (Mason, K.O., Lu, Y., 1988). However, the change also encountered backlash, with the growth of employed mothers came concerns of the negative effects on the children and their relationship with the mother (Mason, K.O., Lu, Y., 1988). This triggered an inconsistent time for family structure. The nineties saw

If one were to look in to the trend of working women in America, it would be flabbergasting to see how far they have come since the 19th century. Working women have become a dominant force in the workplace. According to recent analysts, women now control 50 percent of the paid workforce (Pollitt). It is no surprise then that divorce rates have been steadily increasing directly proportional to the divorce rate. There is a clear relationship between the success of women in America and their ability to live independently. Due to this newfound independence, many women no longer feel trapped in marriages that they are not happy in or that they are being either physically or verbally abused. With nearly “80 percent [of women] contributing a major chunk of family income” (Pollitt), it is clear that women have now set the benchmark in equality. They are no longer

Not only are woman subjected to society norms based on their personality characteristics, but also on their life choices and “domestic responsibilities” questions arise for woman like “who will care for you children and husband”. Montague Kern and Paige P. Edley state that women will continue to be “criticized for abandoning their traditional family roles” (1). This topic is not something that is brought up to their male counterparts. I don’t believe I have ever heard a man be questioned on who was going to assume the responsibility of raising their children. So until society genuinely accepts that raising children and other domestic issues are shared endeavors, then women will continue to face this barrier. (Robson, 208)

Gender equity in terms of education is about the socialization of men and women and the results of this process on the life outcomes of the two genders (Husen & Postlethwaite, 1994). In the United States, the education system is required to treat males and females equally. There has been much research done to compare the genders in all areas. In the past, research has found that women fall far behind men in many areas such as math, and science, but men lag behind women in certain areas as well. Over the years, many provisions have been made with the goal of equalizing the treatment of girls and boys in public education. These improvements are proven successful as women, as well as men, are advancing in areas where they tend to lag