The Importance Of Domestic Labor

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 feel more obligated to stay at home or work part time if they have children. Even if they share household chores with their spouses, many women still prefer to work less in order to sustain the home. However, women who are single mothers do not have the luxury to stay at home, and working part time may be the only option they have. For single mothers working is imperative in order to keep the family afloat financially, but with all of the commitments they have, they cannot balance everything. Childcare is essential, because while single mothers are working they need a reliable place to send their young children; the same with single fathers as well. Most women in the work force have children to take care of, and families to provide for, which many take as a decrease of masculinity, and the increase of femininity. On the contrary, many studies show that although the labor force is divided, the household is not and do a lot to maintain the household as well. According to Hertz and Marshall (2001), “Men who participate in more companionate activities with their children (such as play, leisure activities, and TV watching) are no more likely to take on other household chores than less-involved fathers. It is only men who participate in nurturing, are more nearly partners in family work. Men are also more likely to

Fathers today spend more time taking care of their children compared to previous generations. Even with these gains, today's mothers devote almost double the time that fathers do for child care.[2] While every situation is different, in most families there

If the women have children they need to review their children’s homework, chores and make sure they are washed before putting them to sleep for the night. The majority of taking care of children does fall on women. Media portrays men taking care of household chores and children as a comedy. Parenting advice books and magazine advertise toward women. Housework and child care is viewed as a feminine labor.

The first reason stay at home fathers are becoming more common is due to the transformation of gender roles and more specifically breaking the breadwinner norm that men have traditionally been known for. The breadwinner notion defines a man’s identity, with a man’s work wage used to determine if they are deemed a successful father or a failing father

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.

Grose proceeds with numerous insights: [A]bout 55 percent of American moms utilized full time do some housework on a normal day, while just 18 percent of utilized fathers do. ... [W]orking ladies with kids are as yet doing a week and a half a greater amount of "second move" work every year than their male accomplices. ... Indeed, even in the broadly sexually impartial Sweden, ladies do 45 minutes more housework a day than their male

As women continue to struggle for equality in today's society, there is an ever growing notion born out of patriarchal ideology, that a mother has the sole responsibility of caring for and nurturing her children. In the somewhat jocular but pragmatic story “Bad Mother” by Ayelet Waldman (2010) she points to the imbalance between societal expectations of mothers and fathers when she comments:

The survey found that it was still very rare for fathers to take primary responsibility for childcare in dual-earner families, no-earner families or families where only the woman worked, showing again inequality in conjugal roles. Therefore Ferri and Smiths findings disagree with the statement, showing inequality in conjugal roles. Many women agree with Ferri and Smith that it is they rather than their

Many fathers can very well balance their work life and life at home. Fathers see that they are not supposed to be able to handle both work and home but with many more women working they have to pick up the extra task in the house to make things work. Many fathers are fighting the stereotype when it is shown in commercials and various television shows. Saying that the times are different than in the 1950’s and 1960’s when the stereotype was maybe more true than it is today.

While fathers tend to have an increased pressure to provide for their family, mothers often times are seen as homebuilders. That stereotype has poorly affected many families, including my own. An article by Richard Dorment entitled “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All” deals with the issue of a man’s responsibility in a family and what their roles within that are. In my own experience, I was able to relate to a lot of the article due to my relationship with my father. My father was around the house a lot less than my mother and in doing so, it weakened my relationship with him. Because of my dad not finishing his degree, and his need to provide financial footing for my family, he was forced to spend less time at home. We must work to eradicate this role for the sake of every member of the family.

“Good Dads - Bad Dads” by Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr. examines trends of father’s behaviors and attitude of parental responsibilities (1988). Previously, the father’s role had “an...exclusive emphasis on economic responsibilities which interfered with the day-to-day contact they had with their children” (Furstenberg 1988 : 196). He explains that it was the transition from rural to an industrial economy that began the revision of parental roles (Furstenberg 1988). This gave rise to “male liberation” “from the excessive burdens of the good provider role” and to the modern father (Furstenberg 1988 : 199). On the one hand, males have been freed to interact more fully in the family, and on the other hand, they have also been liberated from all family responsibilities (Furstenberg 1988). Furstenberg notes that “there is a growing trend toward fathers’ absence from families and the apparent unwillingness...to assume economic responsibilities for their support” (1988).

The video I watched on the history of gender focused on the changes that have occurred in recent years. One of the major changes that has happened more recently has been the shift regarding the perspective of men being the head of the household. As more men leave their families and become absent in their roles as fathers, women have taken on more roles as the head of the household. Once a traditional masculine role has transformed itself into a role most women find themselves in. While in some ways women taking on these roles may seem empowering, the absence of male figures in families demonstrate a concerning change. Another interesting highlight from the video was the number of children women have nowadays in comparison to in the past. In more developed countries, such as Canada,

The core responsibility of a family depends on both the man and the woman. This also varies depending on the family. In my opinion, I would expect both genders o take equal responsibility. The feminine gender is mostly associated with the child care activities and the house chores while the Masculine gender is associated with the providing for the family and helping the feminine gender. In as much as there will be

Within and across different cultures, we can find great consistency in standards of anticipated gender roles. In the United States, like many other countries, males are expected to be independent, assertive, and competitive. Females are expected to be more passive, sensitive, and supportive. For example, when a woman gives birth, she is the one that is expected to stay home and take care of her children while the father goes to work and is the breadwinner for the family. In society, it is more acceptable and common to see the women stay home and take care of the house and children while the husband goes to work instead of the other way around. Stay at home dads are not as common as stay at home moms. However, it is up to the individuals on what they decide as a couple. Because of this, gender appropriate behaviors can be seen because of sex segregation and starting at young ages.