Normative practices of mothering in Western popular culture have largely been defined by the patriarchal institution of motherhood that is male-controlled and oppressive to women. Three commandments that are central to the patriarchal institution include privatization by situating women’s work solely in the reproductive sphere, individualization which places childrearing as the responsibility of only the mother, and depoliticalization which discourages mothers from engaging in political or social action (O’Reilly, “Introduction” 4). However, in the margins of the institution exist groups of mothers who reclaim power by creating autonomous spaces for themselves that are female-defined and women-centered. These mothers, who are outlaws of the …show more content…
Working-class African American mothers, however, involve themselves in the public sphere at the same time they uphold their childrearing responsibilities in the private sphere. Dow notes that African American mothers tend to resume their full-time occupations more quickly than white mothers after having children (Dow, “Racial Distinctions” 7). In some families, a mother’s decision to resume her full-time work while raising young children holds greater weight than the father’s desire to work. These families lack gendered nurturing roles as the fathers tend to decrease their working hours while the African American mother advances her career by assuming the role of the primary breadwinner (Dow, “Racial Distinctions” 29). In a study conducted by Dow, many African American mothers emphasize the significance of balancing work and family life in order to sustain their financial independence. For example, a mother named Charlene highlights her desire to be self-sufficient by explaining that “from the time I was a kid, I thought I would be a mother with a job. I wanted to be able to support myself. Not need anybody to take care of me” (Dow, “Racial Distinctions” 57). Similarly, a mother named Essence wants to …show more content…
Any time their children are at home, the mothers are present to meet their needs, making them as available as mainstream “stay-at-home-mothers.” Some African American mothers consider themselves as the primary caregiver because they have the power to delegate the lives of their children who may be in the care of others as they work in the public sphere. In Karen Christopher’s study, a mother named Sarah states that her babysitter “is very good with children and spends lots of time with them, but I’m in charge” (83). For Sarah, being the primary caregiver involves organizing her toddlers’ daily activities rather than being the individual who spends the most time with them. Since autonomy involves being able to define and determine one’s own life (O’Reilly: Empowered Mothering, Jan 8), working-class African American mothers reclaim their autonomy and practice empowered mothering by rearticulating their identity as a mother to include their responsibilities in the
Robert Staples in Sociocultural Factors in Black Family Transformation: Toward a Redefinition of Family Functions goes on to further analysis and critique Moynihan’s report. Staples identify several flaws within his argument, including that the fact that African Americans are not a monolithic unit (19), the numerous reasons for fatherhood absence, and the socioeconomic factors that shape the structure of African American families (21). Staples main critique of the Moynihan report is that marginalization of the Black community is not due to the dysfunction of Black families, rather the economic basis is the fundamental cause that needs to be considered (23). For the most part, I would agree with Staples in saying that economic oppression is the cause of dysfunction within families. While reading Part One of The Black Family, the notion of respectability politics came to mind and how the role of hegemony plays in sociocultural relations. The influence of hegemony has shifted many of us into considering one-singular truth and Western ideologies have led to the shaping of ideas, mindsets, and cultures, all the way to family to dating and sexual patterns, African American culture is compared to European American
Both an empirical approach and feminist approach have been applied to this paper. A feminist approach was vital in understanding the various feminist discourses on the program for each woman speaks a different feminist language causing a clash within what is actually a patriarchal system all the mothers are working under. This is important since historically in media, men have been the ones to have power and women are portrayed as subservient. However, men are absent from Dance Moms and women reign…or so it seems. I argue that childless Abby, while female, is representati...
It is a rare occurrence indeed to stumble upon a nonfiction article as raw and true as “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was.” by Hope Edelman. The author of three nonfiction books, who has had her work published in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Seventeen magazine, writes about her expectations regarding an egalitarian marriage with equal parenting responsibilities, and compares them to the reality that comes from living in a household where both parents work full-time and cannot drop all of their responsibilities to care for a toddler. Edelman’s narrative is a flippant view on modern views of feminist relationships, from both the side of the feminist and the side of a woman whose marriage did not reflect those ideals. While she argues everyday gender roles, she may reach a deeper topic than just the sexes assigned roles of being either a nurturer or a provider, but never both. She mentions late in the article that the two
Women throughout time have been compelled to cope with the remonstrances of motherhood along with society’s anticipations
Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales, two of the leading figures in sociology, may be considered the founding fathers for the ideas of the “modern family” and the “male-breadwinner family.” Collectively, their work has influenced how Americans analyze families and has sparked new ideas regarding the American family from sociologists such as Stephanie Coontz and Arlie Hochschild. However, when studying the American family, Parsons and Bales fail to understand that the “ideal” family may not be so ideal for everyone. They neglect to consider societal influences and economic changes when discussing patriarchal social norms as the most optimal family structure. Their description of the male-breadwinner family consists of the father being the “instrumental leader” within the home, providing economically for his family based on his occupational earnings. Meanwhile, the mother is considered the manager of the household, providing for her husband and children physically, emotionally, and mentally.
In her book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau argues out that the influences of social class, as well as, race result in unequal childhoods (Lareau 1). However, one could query the inequality of childhood. To understand this, it is necessary to infer from the book and assess the manner in which race and social class tend to shape the life of a family. As the scholar demonstrates, each race and social class usually has its own unique way of child upbringing based on circumstances. To affirm this, the different examples that the scholar presents in the book could be used. Foremost, citing the case of both the White and the African American families, the scholar advances that the broader economics of racial inequality has continued to hamper the educational advancement and blocks access to high-paying jobs with regard to the Blacks as opposed to the Whites. Other researchers have affirmed this where they indicate that the rate of unemployment among the African Americans is twice that of the White Americans. Research further advances that, in contrast to the Whites, for those African Americans who are employed, there is usually a greater chance that they have been underemployed, receive lower wages, as well as, inconsistent employment. This is how the case of unequal childhood based on race comes about; children from the Black families will continue residing in poverty as opposed to those from the white families.
Throughout most of recorded history, women generally have endured significantly fewer career opportunities and choices, and even less legal rights, than that of men. The “weaker sex,” women were long considered naturally, both physically and mentally, inferior to men. Delicate and feeble minded, women were unable to perform any task that required muscular or intellectual development. This idea of women being inherently weaker, coupled with their natural biological role of the child bearer, resulted in the stereotype that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Therefore, wife and mother were the major social roles and significant professions assigned to women, and were the ways in which women identified and expressed themselves. However, women’s history has also seen many instances in which these ideas were challenged-where women (and some men) fought for, and to a large degree accomplished, a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society.
Their ethnographic study included about 162 women. The sample was limited to mothers making less than $16,000 per year, placing them under the federal poverty line. All the women lived in neighborhoods where at least twenty percent were poor. Each had at least one child under eighteen living at home. They also were classified single mothers, though few actually maintained their own household. They ranged in age from fifteen to fifty-six, with an average of twenty five years of age. Forty-five percent had no high school diploma, but fifteen percent had a GED. Of these women, forty percent worked low income service jobs. The authors had informal interactions with the wome...
When intensive mothers are busy with thier responsibilities in the public sphere, due to their belief that a mother is the central caregiver, their temporary replacement must exclusively be female (Hays 414). Even with a female nanny who “leaves the place in a mess, makes a petty point of not putting the dishwasher on […], never gives the correct change from the supermarket and “loses” all the receipts” (Pearson 84), Kate still makes every effort to keep the nanny in her family. From the perspective of intensive mothers, men are not capable of providing the same quality of care that a woman is able to provide (Hays 414). From a gender essentialist perspective, Kate argues that “Emily and Ben need me, and it’s me that they want. […] Daddy is the ocean; Mummy is the port, the safe haven they nestle in to gain the courage to venture farther and farther out each time” (Pearson 169). Therefore, intensive mothers find “alternate mothers,” that is, credentialed female child-care providers (Hays 412) such as Paula, Kate’s nanny, as well as Jo, Alice’s nanny who are able to promote the intellectual enrichment of their
According to results, a parent’s approach to parenting is highly influenced by a family’s social and economic status and condition. The popularity of the disciplinary approach is mostly due to the challenges that a black family faces on a daily basis such as racism, discrimination, and poverty.
Though the concept of the New Woman was empowering to many, some women did not want to give up their roles as housewives. These women felt there was a great dignity in the lifestyle of the housewife, and that raising children was not a job to scoff at. Mary Freeman's short story “The Revolt of 'Mother',” tells the story of such a domestic woman, Sarah, who has no interest in leaving her position as mother, but still wishes to have her voice heard in the private sphere of her home. Freeman's “Revolt of Mother,” illustrates an alternative means of resistance for women who rejected the oppression of patriarchy without a withdrawal from the domestic lifestyle. First to understand why this story is critical to empowering women who wished to remain tied to their domestic roots, we need to look at the limitations imposed upon their resistance.
American families are becoming more diverse every day. The merging ethnic diversity in our country is becoming more apparent daily as we see different people of different cultures becoming involved with each other. America is a melting pot. The influx of immigrants and with their varied cultural backgrounds was essential in molding America’s identity. The United States became a refuge for all those suffering persecution for political or personal beliefs. America has become a shelter for a wide variety of faiths and beliefs.
Stone (2007) conducted “extensive, in depth interviews with 54 women in a variety of professions-law, medicine, business, publishing, management consulting, nonprofit administration, and the like- living in major metropolitan areas across the country, half of them in their 30’s, half in their 40’s” (p. 15). Keep in mind these women Stone (2007) focuses on are “highly educated, affluent, mostly white, married women with children who had previously worked as professionals or managers whose husbands could support their being at home” (p. 14). Her findings revealed women are strongly influenced by two factors: workplace push and motherhood pull. “Many workplaces claimed to be “family friendly” and offered a variety of supports. But for women who could take advantage of them, flexible work schedules (which usually meant working part time) carried significant penalties” (Stone, 2007, p. 16). This quote represents the workplace push, where women are feeling encouraged to continue their rigorous careers with little to no family flexibility being offered from workplaces. The motherhood pull is a term used to describe the way mothers feel when they face the pressure of staying home to raise their children while still expected to maintain a steady job. “Motherhood influenced women 's decision to quit as they came to see the rhythms and
In most cultures, motherhood intensifies social pressure to conform to what the culture says or what the tradition orders, this seems to be driven by levels of modernity or urbanization than by the status accorded to norms of society and community. Through the concept of “One Life,” it motivates Meridian in her quest toward physical and spiritual health, the societal evils which lower one class to another, one race to another, one sex to another, and eventually terrorize life. Meridian is built on the tension between ones’ beliefs against the societal forces that inhibit the growth of living toward their natural state of freedom.
These gender roles follow people through their entire lives, and affect every aspect of life. Some of the same gender roles that are shown in The Handmaid’s Tale are true in today’s society as well. Women are expected to want to become mothers in both worlds. Becoming a mother is the high point in a woman’s life for both cultures, and a woman who doesn’t want to become a mother or outright refuses is rejected from society.