The Brady Bunch: An Analysis Of Gender Roles

Referring to the late 1920s and early 1930s, women were seen as the common housewife. This image was depicted across many media platforms. The customary role of women, was to be in charge of running the household. This included polishing, vacuuming, dusting, dishes, laundry and other tasks which needed to be maintained on a weekly or daily basis. It became a full day workload, keeping her constantly busy as if she were employed. It was required for the women of the household to be prepared for anything her husband or family desired. Housework was typically expected to only include maintenance, however, this was not the case. Cooking, cleaning, and overall upkeep was all to be completed by the wife, while the man of the house brought in the money.

Eventually if the family was wealth enough nannies were brought in to take care of the house with the money makers were gone. Eventually leading to where the mothers weren’t necessarily doing their duties according to the men. Most men had trouble getting use to the idea of the women not being home having dinner already served. Then the 1980s to the 1990s you started to see the men cooking and cleaning helping the women out while they were out working, but their job was still to respect the men. Even though this was happening some men were still in though it was demeaning. The work force was a man’s

In today’s society, most families consist of both parents working and with that comes the conflict of shared childcare, nurturing and shared household responsibility. Since the day of old, it was and always has been the mothers’ responsibility to care for the child and the home. To cook, clean, feed the children and attend to the husband's needs. Of course, this concept also depending on the culture of which the couple was brought up on (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Harmon Hanson, 2015).

During the time of the 80s, there were many television shows that portrayed traditional families. A traditional family, which is two married parents of the opposite gender and their child or children. Even though, Full house doesn’t necessary mirror the traditional family values that all society knows, it’s one of the shows that helped break gender stereotypes. For example, the whole family tradition “norm” was that women would be the caregivers and men would provide for their family. In Bittney Davis article, “Recognizing Gender Roles in Nostalgic TV Series Full House” she mentions, “The expectation of a male’s purpose in the household is to provide for and

After analyzing the hit TV show “Leave it To Beaver,” I noticed how different the gender roles, both male and female, are portrayed much differently than our modern-day gender roles. For example, in the YouTube clip: “Beavers Big Contest,” it seemed that the mother was staying home, cleaning the house, folding the laundry, etc. while the father was working all day. As mentioned in chapter 3, the husband was most definitely responsible for the families’ economic survival. We still have these kinds of situations today, but there are also many more families where the roles are reversed and the family is depending on the woman for their economic survival. Aside from that, the family relationships that were observed also seemed slightly different than the relationship I have with my family. For example, everybody in the family was present. Moreover, there wasn’t any separation or divorce. Today, divorce in families is much more common and often expected. Also, Beaver would always refer to his father as sir. I know that my family does not use the terms ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ while addressing each other. I also haven’t seen

The stereotyping of women is quite common in today 's society and throughout history. In the past, women have taken the full time job of being a mother and a housewife. The 1930s initially started the ideal image of a woman. A woman was often represented as a maid-like being who would serve to their husband and children. In Richard Alleyne’s article, “Advice for women in the 1930s: Nothing Destroys the Happiness of Married Life More than the Lazy, Slovenly Wife,” he discusses the frequent expectations of a housewife. Common assumptions included; “Don’t argue with your husband; do whatever he tells you and obey all his orders” (1) and “Nothing destroys the happiness of married life more than the lazy, slovenly wife” (1). These rules have often been published into past newspapers that were

Edelman makes some great points throughout her essay and while I do agree with most of them, I disagree with her stance on gender roles. Edelman says that she wanted to achieve a “shared responsibility” in her household, that way the husband and wife would do the same amount of household duties while keeping their full time jobs. I disagree with her view of this; I believe that if the husband is the one working extended hours during a week, trying to provide for his family, then the wife shouldn’t feel angered or annoyed at having to pick up the extra slack around the house. The wife is generally the one in the household who is known for being the care-taker, the cleaner, the cook, etc. The husband is generally looked at as the provider for the family, the head of the household, the authority figure, and it has always been that way. I understand there are circumstances where the husband can’t find work, or they get let go and

The treatment of the male gender role is altogether different from that of the female gender role, and this issue has turned out to be important. Gender roles were extraordinarily changed in the 1950s, with the men returning from war and taking their occupations back. Females had, throughout World War II, taken men’s occupations while they had been away at war. After the war, numerous women needed to keep their occupations. Instead, a considerable amount of them got to be spouses and moms as the men returned from the war. For example, the male spouses were away at work for most the day while the wives would need to do a decent measure of the manual work around the house. The type of chores could have been cleaning, cooking, or other tasks the female spouses handled. These adjustments in the home might not have been viewed as positive but rather they were for women. Ladies truly advanced in the fifties with finding new openings for work and discovering their place in the world. Therefore, two articles explain further in detail about the

Women for years have been automatically given the role of the domestic housewife, where their only job is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Men have usually taken the primary responsibility for economic support and contact with the rest of society, while women have traditionally taken the role of providing love, nurturing, emotional support, and maintenance of the home. However, in today’s society women over the age of sixteen work outside of the home, and there are more single parent households that are headed by women than at any other time in the history of the United States (Thompson 301.)

Whether it is the past or the present, there have always been gender roles in society. In most homes, it is the woman’s responsibility to take care of the house. This includes cleaning, meal preparations, raising and taking care of the children as well as the husband. Compared to the men who take care of the more physical activities, such as yard work. It was known throughout many years that it was a woman’s responsibility to stay in the house while the man would go out and look for work to provide money for his family. Although the intensity of gender roles has changed, it still exists.

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

Sociology considers family as a major agent of socialization in society especially when it pertains to teaching gender roles. Within this institution, the recurring social practices and behaviors cause individuals to internalize learned rules. Gender is very frequently policed, and society designates different behaviors for masculine and feminine individuals. To be viewed as a competent member of society, one must correctly display their gender to fit into preestablished roles. A large part of these roles in a family setting ties to expectations of housework for men and women. Specifically, women and the phenomena known as the second shift where they find themselves essentially working two jobs, both in their workplace and then housework. (Class

“Here’s the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls. Here’s the story of a man named Brady who was busy with three boys of his own. They were four men, living all together, but they were all alone. Till the one day when the lady met this fellow. And they knew that it was much more than a hunch. That this group must somehow form a family. That’s the way we became the Brady Bunch” (The Brady Bunch). Everyone knows the Brady Bunch. This hit TV show portrayed the seemingly perfect family with previous lives before their parents became separated. But that is an unrealistic reality that Hollywood puts into the minds of many. In the case of the Bradys,

8). The traditional views of gender roles are indeed quite different from the modern views. The men in society are the bread-winners where as the women take care of the children and home. There are basic and common work roles, however in terms of behaviour and involvement there are gender role distinctions. The sex roles generally play out in modern society as well, some sex roles and stereotypes for girls are that they are “nonaggressive, nonathletic, emotionally expressive, tender, domestic, and nurturing. Boys on the other hand are “aggressive, value achievement, attain goals through conflict, and work towards monetary success” (Whicker and Kronenfeld, 1986; pp. 8). The males in the society are “emotionally anesthetised, aggressive, physically tough and daring, unwilling or unable to give nurturance to a child” (Lewis and Sussman, 1986; pp. 1). These traits are carried out by this particular gender mostly outside the society to demonstrate their strength. Those individuals who ignore to carry out these personality traits are seen as weak and unmanly. The women on the other hand are given the responsibility of looking after the family and are supposed to have the opposite personality traits. For instance a woman can show emotions but not outside of the family because of the shame that would bring to the

Typically female role is taking care of house works, and Male’s role is to taking care of outdoor works. Female of the family cook, clean,