Reproductive Labor

Men and women also have different opinions and reactions to leaving the house for work, Dorment says. Men today want to be better fathers than men in previous generations, men still feel like they have to provide for the family, even if they have wives that bring in forty-five percent of the family income (Dorment 709). This is why men feel as though they can work long hours away from home. They feel as though they are sacrificing time with their kids to provide for the family (even though they may still miss their kids). Women, Dorment points out, have a different reaction to leaving their kids to go to work. They feel guilty and experience

The differences between gender roles are not so apparent anymore. Men are not always the typical breadwinners and many women are not stay-at-home mothers. An article by Beaupré, Dryburgh, and Wendy (2010) described the transition that many men are going through. According to Beaupré, et al., (2010), fathers were once considered the forgotten parent. “Until recently studies on the family focused mainly on the mothers” (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Fortunately, both parents are now being focused on. Fathers today are much more involved in the pregnancy and birth of their child and their child’s life in general (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Beaupré, et al., (2010) explained that women’s involvement in the labour force could be a factor to this change. Women are more educated than they were in previous years. And while women want to work more, men want to be more involved in their children’s lives (Beaupré, et al., 2010). Fatherhood is occurring later in adulthood. Research stated that the majority of men are very satisfied with their involvement in their children’s lives. (Beaupré, et al., 2010).

Women have been a vital key to the shaping and progression of our society. Throughout time, women’s roles and opportunities in the family, workplace, and society have greatly evolved. They started from being housewives that don’t have many rights, even in the household, to being valued citizens in our

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

Women’s role within the household has changed considerably over a period of time. In the later days in the United States women were to attend to the children and to the house and not do much more than that. Children are now being raised by stay at home dads instead of the stereotypical stay at home moms. According to Gardner, "Real-life families have changed considerably since 'Mr. Mom ' appeared, with more men sharing child-rearing and household chores." (Gardner 2010) This is occurring because women’s jobs are no longer labeled as being just for women. Men have gotten a lot of criticism for being stay at

Large numbers of women have entered into the workforce as the commercial industry has taken over much of what used to be done within the household, such as the production of clothing, baking, food preparation, and the creation of candles and soaps. As women are entering into the workforce they are entering into a environment that discriminates strongly on the basis of gender, social class, race, and ethnicity (Treacy, 2015,). Jobs available to women consist of being a teacher, nurse, medical/business professional, office worker, clerk, factory worker, waitress, or a domestic worker. Despite the variety of jobs available to women, many typically still work within a factory. There is a distinct hierarchy even amongst women within the workforce, the farer your skin and the identity of being an American, the better opportunity for a better job (Treacy,

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.

Chapter 6 dives into the insufficient child care system of the United States. In addition to the challege of obtaining paid leave from work, women also bear the burden of finding affordable and safe child care. The dramatic waiting list for most child care services and the lack of financial resources leaves women no choice but to exit the workforce or to settle below the poverty line in order to recieve assistance. Access to quality child care is much more difficult for low wage workers that have to work all hours of the day and that do not receive any paid vacation or sick leave. With minimal government interference, women are left with no option but to leave their children at home to raise themselves. The Lanham Act that provided government

Women in the work force suffer a great deal with multiple consequences for not only being a woman, but for being a mother as well, either married or unmarried. Research shows that mothers pay substantial wage penalties for having children. The average penalty one study found is 5% to 10% per child among women in their 20s and 30s (Anderson et al., 2003; Budig & England, 2001; Waldfogel, 1997). The motherhood penalty differs with race and ethnicity. Studies show that white women pay larger motherhood wage penalties than African Americans (Neumark & Korenman 1994; Waldfogel 1997). For African American mothers, only married mothers with more than two children will pay the wage penalty. African American mothers who have never been married do not pay a wage penalty. For White women, all mothers pay the wage penalty, married, never-married, and divorced, as long as they have at least one or two children (Glauber

In the fall of 2009, Alison Jaggar wrote a paper detailing the struggles that females face in society titled “Transitional Cycles of Gendered Vulnerability; A Prologue to a Theory of Gendered Global Justice.” After reading and analyzing her work, I would like to counter-argue against her denial that the effects that typical family roles play in society, specifically in regards to the upper and middle class; that men should be the breadwinners and women should be the caregivers. We live in a world where all different types of people face injustice and receive less opportunity in the workforce because of the way that society is set up. Since before we even immigrated to the New World, men have been the workers, whereas women have been domesticated. Today, if a wife were to be divorced from her spouse, she would not have as much working experience as her husband, because she had played the domestic role at home; taking care of children, cleaning, keeping bills on track, etc. It’s due to this that women rarely get a taste of what it’s like to work in some of the higher paying jobs. Furthermore, in a typical family role, men go on to make the money of the house, the children are educated and told to pursue their careers. However, when discussing children’s family roles, the son typically goes on to be the scholar and to seek the higher paying job that could be offered to him, whereas the woman is encouraged to pursue

Gender roles is a very controversial topic in today’s society, especially when it comes to working. 100 years ago, in Europe, women were working long hours in factories. Women also worked as nurses, cleaned wealthy people 's homes, and were craftswomen. Meanwhile, 100 years ago in the United States women were expected to stay home and take care of the family/home, while the men went out and worked an average of ten hours a day for six days a week, compared to the traditional five day weeks and 8 hour days.

The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. Women are often discriminated in the workplace and are usually not promoted as quickly as men are and they also receive less pay. History shows that women have not always been defined as property and thought of as second class citizens. But in the 21st century many have seen a drastic change in the so called “traditional” family ways where women are suppose to stay home and take care of the household chores, food, and children and men are suppose to work to support their family and provide financial stability. Many assume that in the workplace women are more vulnerable and less competent than men because women 's instincts are to put their family before work or anything else. Whereas men are the ones who will usually stay the late hours to work. People on both sides of the political spectrum and everywhere in between seem to be fearful of what is to come and more fearful of others than they are often willing to admit.

Women have experienced a historic situation of inequality in the social as well as professional aspects. Women were normally the ones that would take care of children, do the chores in the house, and in rural areas; they would work in the field with the rest of the family. However, today’s women have become more self-sufficient and independent from the predominant male figure within every historical family. Gender inequality in the workplace is becoming less common; yet, gender is a factor that affects men and women. Especially women have been subjected to a historical discrimination that has influenced society to decide which job is more suitable for women than men. However women have confronted and tried to break down the barriers that

As apparent from the data collected, fathers have become substantially involved with their children, even engaging in supposedly and historically feminine and private tasks such as cleaning and feeding. There could be multiple reasons resulting in this outcome for example, Floyd & Morman (2006) shows that fathers that display interest in home and are reserved with the quality of childcare are often married to high-earning wives, making a brilliant point by emphasizing that couples decisions, stay and home fathers and breadwinners mothers experiences, sense of self and interaction are interconnected to construction of the gender roles (Floyd & Morman 2006, p.120). However, it is also present through the comparison of fathers on weekdays and weekends that the private sphere of women fulfilling the domestic labour, whilst fathers are expected to undertake paid work in order to secure their masculinity still remains. The breadwinner myth therefore continues to be attached to men’s relationship to masculinity, as surveys demonstrates that ninety percept of mothers expected the fathers to become the primary earners, even if they are also earning. Full time employment results in 47 hours of dedication per week committed to making money, and studies show that this is likely to increase after children are born (Cunningham-Parmeter, 2013). Furthermore, the pattern of family roles is in opposition to the pattern of wage work, as reinforced in the 2008 Bureau labour statistics, which

Women are typically the nurturers in the home. Mother`s have been responsible for childcare, PTA, grade-mothers, and sports moms for many generations before males began filling the roles because females were working outside the homes. Although it is not uncommon in todays society to see dad`s stay at home and fill the roles typically filled by women; it is a relatively new role for males in the last 25 years. The National Organization for Women, 2012, reports that, “Different societal expectations for wives compared to husbands and mothers compared to fathers”. Taylor, 2000, quotes Rita Donaghy, president of the Trades Union Congress, stating, “We want to see a labor market which does not penalize mothers but rather uses their skills in a modern and dynamic economy”. Women with children face issues such as childcare, adequate after school programs, leaving children unattended, and the cost for such care. While