Whereas the wife’s role was called expressive, this is when the wife is expected to look after the house and to raise the children emotionally and cook. However with increasing numbers of married women working in paid employment sociologists have looked more carefully at the division of labour and weather the increasing numbers of women working has caused the renegotiation of the traditional domestic roles. Whether a family live in a symmetrical family or not will have an effect on the divisions of labour. Theorists such as Young and Willmott argue that family life is gradually improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic. For example, women now go out to work and become wage earners, just as men now help with housework and childcare.
Anne Oakley argues that we still live in a patriarchal (male dominated) society, and therefore women occupy a subordinate and dependant role within the family and wider society. Overall it could therefore be argued that rather than partners becoming more equal, women now have to carry a ‘dual burden’, whereby she is responsible for two jobs of unpaid or paid labour. Factors such as patriarchy and conforming to a gender script will lead to these divisions. It could be argued that the money management within a family has an effect on the
Abigail Adams was one of the first women to question male superiority and the importance of laws for women which ultimately led to establishment of Women’s Rights. For women in America life in the early 18th century was associated with domestic activities. They were required to take care of household and raise the children while men were expected to support family with food and other common needs in order to survive. Even women who belonged to the upper class and had maids to help around the house were still expected to stay at home and be by the side of their husbands when necessary. Marriages were usually based on economic partnership and cultural believes.
Alexa Nickell Pre-Modern History 115 Roles of Women In Patriarchal Societies Exploring the Differences Between Egypt and Mesopotamia ! In an age where women are fighting desperately to be on the level of their male counterparts, patriarchy is nearly unheard of, especially here in the United States. Patriarchy, an age old social system, allowed men to direct political, economic, and cultural life, causing the role of women in most societies to deteriorate almost completely. 1 So why, one might ask, did women allow this to happen? Well, for most women subordination to men was the norm, from childhood young girls were taught that the father was the head of the family.
For example, women now go out to work, just as men now help with housework and childcare. However Feminists reject the ‘March of Progress’ theory, and argue that women remain unequal within the family. Anne Oakley argues that we still live in a patriarchal (male dominated) society, and therefore women occupy a subordinate and dependant role within the family and wider society. In addition in Mary Boulton’s research backed this, she found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a majority role in childcare. Overall it could therefore be argued that rather than partners becoming more equal, women now have to carry a ‘dual burden’, whereby she is responsible for two jobs of unpaid or paid labour.
The common perception of marriage is that it was originally weighted heavily in favour of the male member of the couple, and that this has shifted slowly to a more even-handed arrangement in recent years. This essay will examine the question of how accurate this belief really is. Historically, marriage was highly unequal. While the husband took the role of breadwinner and went out to earn the necessary money to support the family, his wife was expected to stay at home and look after the more mundane tasks that make up the day-to-day running of a household. As the former role was commonly seen as more valuable than the latter, this often meant that the husband held most of the power, such as deciding where they would live, how resources were distributed, etc.
The jobs that were previously done by men were now opened up to women. A typical man’s job, which comprised of working in the munitions factories, shipyards, farm, coal mines, drivers or bus conductors were now filled by women. The reason that this dramatic change occurred was because the men of the country were away fighting in the war. The war did not only create jobs at home but it also provided them with a chance to experience the outer world. It offered many women great opportunities to volunteer for the uniform services e.g.
Some women “felt they were needed at home to raise families, crops for food and to fill the jobs that the men had vacated in order to serve their country.”(Suite101) Women’s lives on the home front during World War II were a significant part of the war effort for all participants and had a major impact on the outcome of the war. Once the men went off to war and left their jobs, the women that were single had a great advantage because job opportunities were everywhere. In the other hand married women had a tough time, especially if they had children. Hundreds of women worked in machine shops, welding shops, manufacturing plants, and also worked in war industries to make equipment for the war. New industries, naval, and army bases were being built during the home front.
The Depression hit women, like other minority groups in American society, similarly harsh because of that payrolls of many communities and private companies were open only to males. The main role of women during the Great Depression was that of the homemaker. Some women had gone through college level education and, like their male counterparts, were having a difficult time of finding employment. Those with families had the task of keeping their family together, as the traditional view of motherhood role, when the principle moneymaker of the family was out of work. However, some women joined the work force and would do jobs that men previously had held.
A widespread attitude was that women’s roles and men’s roles did not overlap. This idea of “separate spheres” held that women should concern themselves with home, children, and religion, while men took care of business and politics. A little before the 1920s women were strictly home ridden. They were to focus on the house. For instance they had to maintain dinner, cleaning, and maintaining of the children.