Unlike the western culture, a woman who has participated in premarital sex is highly frowned upon. A family may lose out on having their daughter married if she is not “closed.” A girl’s virginity is very important for her ability to get married It becomes a thing of prestige, economics and family honor when it comes to female circumcision. Female mutilation is an essential part of a woman’s life to the societies that practice it, where the control of female sexuality and fertility are givens. Female circumcision reduces the uncertainty of premarital sexual activity because of its harsh procedure it prevents and discourages it all together. Even though the societies that practice circumcision can be very different, in each one the majority of females get little to no education and are simply looked upon as child bearers.
Value of wages have risen and more wives are working in paid employment, therefore are possibly seen as on the same level as the husband. Family allowances and sickness and unemployment benefits have reduced the extent of poverty which may lift the burden and create less stress. Reduction in family size from 5-6 children to under two, which creates less work for parents in looking after the children. Dunne criticises the belief that there is equality amongst heterosexual couples as she claims heterosexual couples base their relationships heavily on gender scripts which are essentially the typical expectations which males and females usually conform to. She contrasts the marriage of a heterosexual couple to that of a lesbian couple where gender scripts
In addition to this, the divorce rate across the nation was extremely low. High value was being placed on premarital virtue and marital fidelity, suburbanism, and well-defined sex roles . Films, TV shows, and advertisements of the 1950s portrayed marriage as the most important goal of American women . A common stereotype of women was that they went to college to get a “Mrs.” Degree, meaning a husband, instead of an educational one . Although women may have had other aspirations in life at the time, a dominant theme that society was pressuring them to take part of
A professional career was almost impossible, and despite Britain’s ruler being female for most of the nineteenth century until 1901 when Queen Elizabeth died, women were second class citizens. In 1870, Queen Victoria had written, ‘let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations.’ Trint, S. History Learning Site 2010-2011. Women’s Rights. www.historylearningsite.co.uk [accessed 07122011] Women’s subordination to men meant that their prime duty was domestic. Children were an economic responsibility for women - providing food, housing and clothing until the child was independent and could go out to work to provide for the family themselves.
Many middle class women were unhappy about this, and after the freedoms and empowerment of women during Weimar they did not like the new constrictions – it seemed almost like a step back for them. However, financial incentives were given to women to stay home and have children, and awards were granted depending on how many children a woman had – the more children, the higher ranking the award. They were told that it was their responsibility to provide soldiers for the future. As a result of this, many more women became mothers than might have down normally. Married couples were encouraged to divorce if their partner was infertile and many women joined Nazi women’s organisations.
For example, in 1946, only 37% of petitions came from woman – barely half todays figure. The most common reason for a woman to be granted a divorce is the unreasonable behaviour of her husband. Some couples are more likely than others to divorce, those couples whose marriages are at greatest risk include those who marry young, have children before they marry or cohabit before marriage, and those where one or both partners have been married before. Divorce was very difficult to obtain in 19th-century Britain, especially for woman. Gradually, changes in the law had made divorce easier.
Shotgun marriages lead to divorce or unhappiness in the relationship. For example my aunt was force to marry due to pregnancy at a very young and lived with an abuse, unloving husband. It is no longer crucial to marry because of pregnancy and have society debase you. The Division of labor between men and women has developed equality and helped better society in many aspects especially for women. Traditional expectation of a women being home, taking care of the children and depending on her husband financial income, but now women
I always knew my parents were going to be divorced someday, because all they did was argued. People say that you should stay together for the sake of the children, but is that what the children want. Children grow up in a household with parents who don’t get along or affected for the rest of their lives. * Divorce can be difficult, especially for children who have friends with parents that are still married. It often leaves them feeling ashamed of your family.
The first thing I learned and found interesting was that for 50% of people in the United States marriage wasn’t for them. I was shocked to learn that more and more people are single or cohabitating, because I always thought that marriage was something that most people wanted. I always thought the dream was to have a house with a white picket fence, a wife/ husband, and 2 kids. People today now have different expectations of marriage and a person can receive satisfaction if life without having to be married. As a woman it was nice to learn that because women are becoming more financially independent they are less likely to stay in unhappy marriages because they now have more freedom to leave.
Daycare and nanny’s fulfill the role of caretaker. Today’s women are less than submissive in their role as wife. They have a voice and are not so dutiful. Another reason for the difference in women today, is the divorce rate. Women today are different than women in the nineteen-fifties, in motherhood, homemaking, marriage and fashion.