Functionalism: Gender Roles In The United States

A few roles of women prior to the World War I consisted of cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. These were the basic fundamental jobs that women were expected of women to do,” (Campbell 1) .During this time men were the sole base of the household income, and the head

Throughout history, women have been regarded as of lesser value than men particularly in the public sphere. This is the result of gender stratification. Gender stratification refers to the issue of sexism, “or the belief that one sex is superior to the other” (Carl et al., 2012, p. 78). The theory that men are superior to women is essential to sexism. Sexism has always had negative consequences for women. It has caused some women to avoid pursuing successful careers typically described as “masculine”—perhaps to avoid the social impression that they are less desirable as spouses or mothers, or even less “feminine.”

Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex. Gender roles are never comprehensive, even within a single country, and they are always historically and culturally unpredictable. Gender roles in the United States for one cultural group likely is not true for another cultural group. Similarly, gender roles in the United States have changed drastically over the time period. Gender roles has been the historical evolution from a single family income in which only the male spouse works and generates income, to dual family income or a family in which both spouses generate family income. The shifting gender roles in the past years has been huge. It happened so quickly

A Functionalist approach looks at how society works as a whole and has been a dominant sociological theory in the past, in America.(1940s and 1950s). This impacts on children in relation to gender as society is seen as divided into social class, and this therefore provides a structure to society. It focusses on demands and opportunities in daily life. In relation to Education and gender, children have opportunities to gain knowledge and to achieve qualifications that will provide them a way to a career in the future. Functionalist theorist Durkheim, developed the theories of Compte and Spencer, Durkheim believed that society ’has a reality of its own, over individuals who compromise it’. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2013, p.955) This theory’s suggestion of the existence of gender inequalities which came from Parson’s development of the nuclear family and because it suggests predefined roles for example the mother takes care of housework and cooking while the father is seen as the ‘breadwinner’ the one who provides for the family and this is for the division of labour. This influences children on the way they think of different genders and will impact on how they view their roles and future self. So as a result of social construction and functionalism in society, boys may see themselves as having to provide for their family and girls may think they have to take on a more caring role, looking after children, doing housework

Prior to World War II, many women were unemployed, due to the Great Depression which had started a decade before. With men always getting preference for jobs, there were very few jobs left for women. Consequently, not only were many occupations were reserved for men, but men were also paid wages up to five times higher for the same task as women. Some states also barred married women from holding jobs. However during World War II, America produced at an efficiency which was higher than ever. This meant that the women had an increasing number of jobs. Jobs in the public sector opened up. Since 1939, women progressively changed the idea of patriarchy and the cliché thinking of an average woman in the United States to be a wife and mother.

Before World War I and World War II, women at home had the roles of maintaining duties for their family and children, such as cleaning, caring for the house, and cooking for the family. They were more likely judged by their exquisiteness rather than their ability. Just before World War I began, women were beginning to break away from the traditional roles they had played at home. Throughout both World Wars, women in the United States faced similar challenges, however, during the Second World War; women were trusted with much more freedom and responsibility than they had in the First World War.

Prior to World War II women were seen as house wives, taking care of children and tending the gardens. Women generally accepted these roles because family was a prior economic unit. Even during World War I the contributions were housewife like, washing clothing, cooking, helping the wounded, sewing, knitting clothing, and etc. The images of women taking care of the home while men were off working were so nailed into the head that some states banned women from jobs. Once the war started to take place the war effort was so great men and women had to set aside gender roles for the sake of their countries being. Women left families, education, and other jobs to work the jobs men took on while they were off serving the country in combat, etc.

During WWII, the two-breadwinner vision of the family suffered further setbacks. As May puts it, women entered war production, but they did not give up on reproduction..Economic hardship was no longer a barrier to marriage, as it had been in the 1930s, and dependents' allowances eased the burdens of families if the breadwinners were drafted. But perhaps most important was the desire to solidify relationships and establish connections to the future when war made life so uncertain. (May p.59-60) While the culture venerated female workers, it also promoted a return to domesticity after the war, a return encouraged by the gender bias of the GI Bill. Meanwhile, men were encouraged through pin-ups and propaganda to believe they were fighting for their own slice of the domestic, consumerist good life.

Functionalism looks at society in aspects of how it contributes to the steadiness/cohesion of the whole society (Anderson, Taylor, & Logio, P. 18). There are many institutions that are looked at that include the economic system, government, education, religion, health care, and family. All of which have different roles and perform different functions to ensure that society operates in a well-ordered manner. An example of this would be how family reproduces, takes care of children, exposes children to culture and heritage, supports other family members, and shares life experiences. Shared values and social stability are keys to this perspective. When this system breaks down it is because people’s needs are not being covered and shared values are deteriorating. When this occurs, it affects all parts of functionalism and the society must achieve

Women had their own jobs and some of them made equal or even more contributions to the family than men. Men’s and women’s roles were largely decided by their economic status within the family. As women gained economic independence from men, they posed a great challenge to men’s absolute authority within the family. If a woman had work, her husband would be more likely to take her advice and she could have more freedom to express their ideas. Without the war, it would be impossible for women to find new opportunities in the job market and then change their roles within the family. World War II led to a revolution in American families and women’s and men’s roles within the family were rearranged after women also became bread winners.

The Functionalist Perspective in sociology states that everyone in the society holds a position and in this position their status has a set of roles or certain behaviors that are required to perform the tasks at hand (Kornblum and Julian, 2004.) The roles consist of nurses at the medical institutions, lawyer's at international firms or just a blue collar worker at any type of factory. For the most part, each status' role is involved in an institution of some kind and is needed for the economy and society to function as a whole. "The Functionalist Perspective looks at the way major social instructions like the family, military, the health-care system, and the police and courts actually operate (Kornblum and Julian, 2004, 6.)" This basically means that for these institutions that are needed to fulfill these roles and duties for the economy, the roles and behaviors of employees need to evolve as a whole so that the institution can function (Kornblum and Julian, 2004.) For example, a nurse needs to know certain things about her job like what medicine can treat a certain

With a great amount of women in the workforce, the second World War was sure to change society’s perspective of women and women’s perspective of themselves. WWII changed the United States for women, and at the same time women changed their nation. Over 350,000 women volunteered for military service while 20 times as many stepped into civilian jobs, that were previously male-owned. More than 7,000,000 women who hadn’t earned a signal wage before the war, like me, joined the already 11,000,000 women who were already in the American work force. Between 1941 and 1945, several women moved away from their homes to take advantage of the wartime opportunities and enter the workforce, while many stayed at home to organize initiatives to conserve resources,

Before the conflict erupted, females were considered housewives, dutiful to husbands and the upkeep of the house, like cleaning, cooking, and taking care of children. However, the factories and assembly lines needed a workforce, and with most able men departing for Europe and the Pacific, women received the chance to contribute to their nation’s cause. After men returned from abroad, the ladies found it difficult to relinquish their newfound freedom—earning their own paychecks, spending money as they like, calling their own hours—and the reformations following World War II spanned decades, debatably continuing on to this day. Now women’s niches have changed considerably since the 1940’s: women make up half of the workforce, receive salaries, hold office positions, and are independent of the kitchen and house. Their influence on society has expanded

As a functionalist view, they believed that the family had to teach the norms and values so they believed that the ‘Traditional Nuclear Family’ was the best type of family. Functionalists believed that the husband and wife have segregated

Functionalist theory is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. It can be argued that the functionalist theory has made a significant contribution to the study of society. It originates from the work of Emile Durkheim who suggests that social order is possible and society remains stable due to the functioning of several institutions. Everything has a specific function in society and society will always function in harmony. The main institutions studied by functionalism are the family, the education system, religion and crime and deviance.