Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Women in the role of family
Changes in women's role since 1945
Changes in women's role since 1945
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Women in the role of family
In the past 60 years there have been a significant amount of changes that have occurred within the American families. Throughout the years times have changed in both the workforce, and simply in the home. The ways things are done in the home have drastically changed from how they used to be. During the video clip Changes in the American Family Since 1970 we were learning about the changes that had occurred in American families since 1970, which have, even since then, changed in other ways. At the time of the video clip we were learning different things from experts Arlie Hochschild and Timothy Biblarz. One of the changes that have been made, this change being the most drastic, is the amount of women who were working in the labor force at the time. According to Arlie Hochschild, mothers of children 18 and under, less than half of them (43%) were in the labor force in the 1970s. Today over 2/3 of women are now working in the labor force, and taking care of children when they arrive home from work. Once women joined the labor force it seemed that the roll of men seemed to change drastically also. Once women were gone at work during the day, along with the men, the men were beginning to help more around the house. Hochschild had made the comment during the video clip that men are doing more work at home and women are doing a lot less, which all together means that less work is being done at home. In the home in the 1970s the rolls that each spouse had were different in many ways. Before women joined the labor force women took care of the children. By taking care of them, women did the important things such as bathing them, brushing their teeth, combing their hair, as the video stated, the maintenance things. As a father in the 70s th... ... middle of paper ... ... last 60 years are the roles that each spouse play in the relationship. In earlier days, women were expected to clean house, cook, stay at home with the children, and wait hand and foot on their husbands. But, within the last 60 years women have become key assets to the work force. Men don’t necessarily expect women to be their live in maids anymore. Both men and women in 2014 cook, clean, and take care of the children. I now see more men with their children at sporting events, and taking them to and from practice. Now, roles have changed. In today’s world men and women share the responsibilities of taking care of their family. A lot has changed since 1970 within the American family, and I think America has finally figured it out. Taking care of a family can be tough at times, but if there are two to share the responsibilities, then it seems to work a lot smoother.
Today 's generation have changed many ways since the beginning of the century. In “The American Family”, Stephanie Coontz discusses many situations that has occurred during the beginning of the 21st century and suggested solutions to solve those issues in the future. For instance, she argued that women are being treated unfairly, family are not discussing their problems openly, and institutions need to change to fit the families’ requirement. In “Complexity of Family Life among the Low-Income and Working Poor” Patricia Hyjer Dyk, argued that women still doesn’t have enough choices, low income families doesn’t have enough jobs, and Government are not helping many families. Dyk’s review of the scholarly research on low-income families support Coontz’ evaluations of the problems faced by 21st century families and the solutions Coontz recommends, like improving women 's lifestyle, discussing problems openly, improving institutions and changing institutions so it can to fit to fulfil families need. .
The Cult of Domesticity is an offensive gesture; however in the 1950s’ there was validity this gesture. The rise of feminism has created a society in which there are more single mothers than ever before, long side more children born out of wedlock. The United States Census Bureau states, “During the 1960-2016 period, the percentage of children living with only their mother nearly tripled from 8 to 23 percent and the percentage of children…” (1). The article the Cult of Domesticity indeed points out the valid flaws of Ideal duties/expectations of domesticity in the 1950s’; however, I would like to state that anything man-made idea or material mechanism is not without faults. The agreeable points of the list were that there should be a genuine respect and act of service shown to our husbands each day. However, the list made a hard-left turn in suggesting that women are not to question the motives of their husband, and/or the location of their husbands if they chose to be late after work. Lastly, if husbands choose to
Families have changed greatly over the past 60 years, and they continue to become more diverse.
Betty Friedan describes that after World War II, becoming the esteemed housewife was ultimate goal of most women. In the article Friedan states, “By the end of the nineteen fifties, the average marriage age of women in America dropped to 20, and was still dropping into the teens.” (Friedan, p. 359). Describing even further how important getting married was at the time she says, “A century earlier, women had fought for higher education, now girls went to college to get a husband.” (p. 359).The housewife status was seen as a true feminine fulfillment and considered a man’s equal. “As a housewife and a mother, she was respected as a full and equal partner to man in this world; she had everything that women ever dreamed of.” (p. 359).
However, social conditions made it less feasible for families to live this way. As the 1960s approached and consumption was in high demand, women were yet again, forced to join the work force; but only a quarter of the women joined the workforce, whereas in the 1990s about “two-thirds of women who had children were in the work force (Coontz 55). Coontz (1997) explains how by 1973, “real wages were falling for young families, and by the late 1970s, government effectiveness had decreased (Coontz 54). It was because of economic factors that the nuclear bread-winning family could only be a lifestyle a few can afford. Nonetheless, women joining the workforce created a new understanding of women-hood, changed women’s status in society, and created conflict within the household. Women did not have the time to complete all the household tasks which contributed to the increased divorce rates, but left women happier due to the fact that they had that ultimate
As mentioned before, sociologists Coontz and Hochschild further elaborate upon Parsons and Bales’ concepts of the American family, but they mostly critique the idea of the male-breadwinner family. One of the main arguments Coontz and Hochschild present is the decline of the male-breadwinner family due to the economic changes of the United States and the arising social norms of consumerism. Because Parsons and Bales never considered how the changes throughout society would affect family, they believed the male-breadwinner family would continue to be a functional type of family for everyone. However, within her text, “What We Really Miss about the 1950s,” Coontz specifically discusses the major expense of keeping mothers at home as consumption norms...
The era of the 1950s was an iconic era in American history. The American dream of freedom, self empowerment, and success was growing. After world war 1, the ideals of american culture changed. The country saw the aftermath of the war in the countries of western Europe where communism was beginning to take hold, and the U.S tried to be the opposite. Marriage was propagated to be the opposite of the war torn families across the world, where women were working in factories and children fending for themselves with no home. The American “nuclear family” strived to be one where the father supported his family, the wife stayed home and provided for her children. Family became a national priority, and women were taught that a happy marriage and home
One of the reasons why divorce rates are high now, is because women are economically independent because they are educated. They did used to earn in the past, but now they have control over their income and they don’t put up with things like men abusing them or domestic violence; this shows that women have become stronger economically and emotionally as compared to how they were in the past. Those who criticize women for working and not spending time with their children, Coontz states that, “Kids do better when their mothers are happy with their lives.” (Coontze98). Men have changed as well; men didn’t used to think that children were their responsibility.
In today’s society the relationship between one’s occupation and one’s family life is drastically different than what society viewed in the 1950’s. In the 1950’s the stereotypical family consisted of a working father and a stay at home mother (Hertz and Marshall 2001). This view has altered throughout the years, however there is still traditional stereotypes in today's society. The expectations for a dual-parent household in society today think that women should stay home and care for the kids, while the men earn the majority income in order to support the household. However since the 1950’s, Rosie the Riveter was a symbol for women’s right to work, and ever since women have been a crucial part of the working world and enjoy being productive and independent.
As century pass by generation also pass their traditional values to the next generation. some people still think the way their ancestors thought and believe in what they believed in. During the beginning of 1890 people couldn’t have premarital sex, women had to be the caretaker while men was the breadwinner. during this century those perspective have changed argued Stephanie Coontz the author of “The American Family”. Coontz believe women should have more freedom and there should be gender equality. Robert Kuttner, the author of “The Politics of Family” also believe that women should not be only the caretaker but whatever they want as a career. Robert Kuttner 's text does support Stephanie Coontz’ arguments about the issues related to traditional
As history and technology changes, the pre conceived notion, and mold for a woman’s role in society is drastically redesigned in accordance to what becomes deemed as socially accepted. From even as current as years of adolescence the “traditional” role of a housewife was instilled in youth, but when factors such as technology, and the economic collapse, these traditional roles were quickly discarded. Women now had to grasp the concept of supporting a family, and in some instances coming home to a stay at home husband due to lack of job demand, and with the rapid growth in technology and inescapable access to technology younger generations of women are no longer depending nor fixed on the notion of fulfilling a traditional mold. Instead with
When one thinks of the term family values, many different ideas can come to mind. Morals, religion, beliefs, tradition, expectation, controversy, and misuse are some things that may come to mind when the term “family values” is mentioned. The true definition and meaning of family values can most likely never be directly pinpointed, but it is always going to be a known fact that family values are always going to have different meanings to different people. It is the common misunderstanding that family values are just simply the things that shape a growing persons values and morals.
There was a time when the woman 's expected role was based on staying at home. Now there are many more working mothers. This has caused changes in many attitudes. Those that
However, women have made optimistical progress towards equality and their role in the society has been changed dramatically since the last century. Many women stepped out of their home and start to work at factories and offices. The number of working women with children has more than doubled in the past 50 years. While working conditions for women may have improved, there is a lack of appreciation for the notion that work for most women doesn't end at the door of a factory or office. Despite an increase of women's participation in the labour force, women's share of housework has hardly changed in 50 years.
At the beginning of the 20th century the majority of married women worked at home. At the turn of the 21st century most married woman work full time. This is a significant change in how society functions. Greenwood credits this change to the washing machine. (Greenwood, Seshadri, & Yorukoglu, 2005)