Mrs. Doubtfire: Gender's Role In Raising A Family

The emphasis on individualism has provoked a deeper inspection of one’s personal values and beliefs while feminism has opened the door for a new type of traditional family to emerge with new dynamics between parents, children and their roles within the home. These new dynamics merge right along with cultural values as the two merge. In America, life is varied from home to home with different culturally-influenced family values. While throughout other parts of the world, different countries have maintained a balance within a core value system that affects all families alike through religion and a national way of life. There is no doubt that the many varied factors of modern society, ethnic background and religion all play significant roles in forming family values that shape the life of an

In our society, we carry an ideological assumption that a “normal” family consists of the man working to provide for the family and the women takes on the role of stay-at-home mom (Dow 1992).

The relationship between a father and their child is tremendously salient, and will influence the life of both the parent and the adolescent in many ways. Often, it can be difficult for someone to share their personal relationships that they had with their father, as it can be a very delicate subject. Despite this, renowned authors Brad Manning and Sandra Cisneros are two people who chose to write about their unique experiences and childhoods that they shared with their fathers. Both Brad and Sandra felt their childhood relationships with their fathers were unorthodox. This was explicitly outlined in Brad's freshman composition paper titled Arm Wrestling With My Father and Sandra's magazine article titled Only Daughter. Through varying rhetorical strategies, the authors purpose and audience is clearly portrayed in both selections.

We have always learned about men. Throughout our years in the K-12 school systems we, as students, have learned about the contributions that men have made to the development of our country. We learn from a young age that we live in a patriarchal society, in which boys are stronger than girls and fathers should be the head of the household. The idea is pressed upon us that it is unusual for our mothers to make more money than our fathers and that women will always and should always be the secretary to a man’s CEO. In Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson, Twain reflects on the way of life in 1894. The way he speaks of women satirically and stereotypically gives us a clear outlook on what was thought of women of that time period as well as Twain’s own perspective. He makes the argument that they were only good for two things: raising babies and housekeeping.

The object of examining gender roles is to answer the question why should women and men be equal and "Are there populations in which men and women are absolutely equal? Are there societies in which women dominate men?" (Gender 238) By understanding the culture in which this piece of literature is written, the gender roles and the rules of behavior for a woman, then the relationships between genders can be realized. The general myth about women and their gender role in the American society is that the mother works in the home and supports her man in every way. For each relationship, the people in that relationship must decide the particular roles that they will play. In the literary work "Girl", Kincaid shows clearly that the woman's role in this work was to serve the family and to work mainly in the house. The mother writing this story tells her daughter that "this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease" (Kincaid 489). In this marriage, it is understood that the wife is to do the laundry for the husband. Today's society does not always provide these clear roles since many women work a full time job and the house chores are a responsibility for both to handle. Though the woman is still mainly held responsible for the home. There should be a constant search for equality in gender roles. Kincaid explains how the man is working to bring home the money and the wife supports

How not having a father figure affected their emotional and phycological well-being. Also, it taught the readers that sometimes having a father does not necessarily, mean they are a father figure, for example Mr. Clutter, he was there for his family and children, but he chose other things to be proud of instead of his children, he felt that his achievements were more important than his children’s

There is much debate on what constitutes as a family today. However, Ball (2002) states, “The concept of the traditional family…is not an immutable one. It is a social construct that varies from culture to culture and, over time, the definition changes within a culture” (pp. 68). There is a growing diversity of families today including the commonality of sole-parenting. In order to explore aspects of sole-parenthood objectively, I need to reflect and put aside my personal experience of growing up in sole-parent household. Furthermore, this essay will explore the historical origins, cultural aspects discussing the influences and implications of gender identity, and social structures of sole-parent families, as well as consider the

In the article “ A Mother's Day Kiss Off,” author Leslie Bennetts claims that even through all of the obstacles that women have had to go through to get to this point, they are still discriminated against when it comes to parenting. Bennetts explains how gender roles still exist. The author tries to give examples of how women should work to improve the roles of women with families. In the article “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was.” author Hope Edelman claims it was not her choice to be the commanding “parent” (55). Throughout the article the author talks about the struggles her and her husband have had. Edelman thought marriage was 50/50, but figured out that that is not always true. The author

In her article “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was”, author Hope Edelman claims that perhaps the ideal, balanced, and harmonious marriage that many couples yearn for is merely an unachievable myth. Edelman’s anger and frustration drives her essay as she recounts her childhood, analyzes societal gender roles, and narrates her own relationship in order to explore the concept of shared responsibility in a marriage.

We live in a society where the similarities between female and males are seen at birth. It begins innocently with the toddlers; girls get pink while boys get blue. The gap between boys and girls develops with time and becomes increasingly apparent. There are still gender stereotypes today, but it is not as bad as it was in the past. Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” perfectly portrays gender stereotypes. It represents gender concepts as cultural constructs in the period it was written. These conceptions are comparable to current stereotypes about gender. The book gives us a list of commands from a mother to a daughter. Men in the society are dominant to the women, and the set of rules is a product of patriarchy whereby the mother and daughter appear as subordinates to the men in their lives. The article makes one aware of the prevailing masculine hierarchy that exists in a family, and how it creates firm gender roles for females in the society.

Throughout literary history, authors have categorized mothers as nurturing, critical, and caring; works of literature characterize fathers, however, as providers who must examples for their children and embrace their protective, “fatherly” instincts. However, many works’ fathers fall short when it comes to acting the role of the ideal dad. Instead of being there for their children, they are away and play very miniscule roles in their children’s lives; instead of protecting he actually ends up hurting their kids. Thus, the paternal literary lens tries to determine whether or not the work’s father figure fits the “perfect father” archetype. This lens questions whether or not the father figure is his children’s active example, provider, and

As we all know the term nuclear family is defined as a husband, wife and their two children. However in recent decades we see through many television shows such as Modern Family breaking this ideal hegemonic family structure. The show Modern Family presents its audience a very live action of dysfunctional families, that contains gay parents as promoting a new sense of family value. Although this show attempts to portray a contemporary view of American families, it still emphasizes stereotype of gender roles, patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity. Throughout this essay I will analyze mainly on gender criticism of the Show Modern Family, while touching base of some stereotypes I noticed on race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

Gender roles, the public image of being a particular gender that a person presents to others (gender roles, n.d.), have seen many changes through the years, especially in families. The changes can be seen in many aspects, including television shows, from the traditional family in the I Love Lucy sitcom of the 1950s to the plethora of shows about women and men who balance working and family life of the 2000s. A traditional family can be defined as “… the ‘natural reproductive unit’ of mom, pop, and the children all living under one roof… (Ball, 2002).” The 1940s, a period dominated by this type of family, were primarily a time of single-income families where the father was the ‘breadwinner’ and the mother the ‘homemaker (Hayghe, H.V., 1990).’

Parenting styles have had many controversial issues over the decades. The way people raised their children back in the 50’s and 60’s are completely different from today society. Back then they believe in the nuclear family, which is a family with a mom, dad, and children. They believe staying together at all cost. If something was breaking or broken you fixed it. At times you wonder if they stayed for love, money, or just for the sake of the children. Now and days it is not the same. Families are broken up for many reasons. Rather it be by death, the other parent wanting out (such as divorce). But in the end there is always a single parent left to take care of the kids in most situations. When something like this happens a negative connotation is brought to the single parent. This paper would show the effects of being raised by a single parent. Just like everything in life there is a good and bad side to everything. So in this paper you should learn the negative and positive effect of being raised by a single parent. The problem of the matter is that society tends to write off the child of single parents. Stating that they are lead down this road of destruction and grouping the entire single parent raised children without seeing the other side. Not saying that being raised by a single parent does not come with it hardships, but the fact is that there is still hope for those children and they can do very well. By always stating the negative it leaves the

It is commonly believed that for normal development a child needs two opposite sex parents. Mother provides nurturance and caretaking and father ‘‘is the grinding stone on which his son sharpens his emerging masculinity and the appreciative audience to which his daughter plays out her femininity (Pruett, 2000, p. 87).” Not all the children are raised in two parent family, single parent is a common part of our society. Single mothers and less common single farthers raise their children and nobody doubts there parenting skills, because not only their parent but also other relatives and media influence on children.