American Marriage In Transition Analysis

Dating back to the early 20th century, women’s roles in the United States were very limited. In regards to family life, women were expected to cook, clean, and take care of their homes. Men, on the other hand, were in charge of working and providing for the family. Together, these designated roles helped men and women build off of each other to ultimately keep their families in check. As the years progressed, society began to make a greater push to increase women’s rights. As women started receiving greater equality and freedom, their roles began to shift. More women had to opportunity to leave the house and join the workforce. The norm for a married couple slowly began to change as men were no longer expected to individually provide for their

family. Throughout the 20th century, the amount of working women skyrocketed as women eventually made up almost 50% of the working class. The change in family roles throughout the years has provided the opportunity for women to have a greater say in how they wish to provide for their families. Still, while women’s roles in the workplace in the United States have increased drastically since the early 1900s, there is still much more progression to be made.
In the early 20th century, men were considered to be superior to women. Aside from housework, women did not have to opportunities to go out and be as much a part of society as were men. Society went as far as saying that women were not allowed to leave their housework if their husbands were employed. While a vast majority of the workforce consisted of men, some women were also involved. When talking about the early 20th century, the Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia states “Nearly 4 million women in the U.S worked for pay. This represented 18 percent of the female population aged 14 and over and 17 percent of the total work force” (3). Though some women did work to provide for their families, they only made up less than one fifth of the workforce. This number signifies that women were not considered capable of undertaking such laboring tasks. While very unfair towards women, back then this was considered to be the norm. Men did their job to provide for their families, women took care of the home and kids, and nobody took the time to question these roles. Furthermore, not only did men make up a majority of the workforce, but they also earned a significant amount more than women did. In the article, The Gender Gap in Earnings during World War II: New Evidence, author and Professor of Economics at Smith College, Mark Aldrich, compares the earnings of men and women during the time period of World War II when he mentions “The disparities between men’s and women’s average earnings narrowed somewhat during the war years” (415). Aldrich explains that women’s salaries increased throughout these years. While this was true, he also mentions that the increasing salaries still did not match those of men. During these years of the second World War, women began getting involved more and more in the working class. Along with this came the increase of earnings for women. Though both employment and pay for women began to increase during these times, women were still far less equal in the working field than were men.
As the United States came out of World War II and the Great Depression, women were beginning to earn more freedom in determining how they wish to contribute to society.

In the article, “American Marriage in Transition”, Andrew Cherlin, a specialist in the sociology of families and public policy, writes about the changing division of labor in the latter part of the 20th century when he mentions “The distinct roles of homemaker and breadwinner were fading as more married women entered the paid labor force. Looking into the future, I thought that perhaps and equitable division of household labor might become institutionalized” (46). Cherlin puts it perfectly when he describes previous roles of a married couple and being the homemaker and the breadwinner. While women took care of their homes and made sure everything ran smoothly, men went out to earn money in order to put food on the table. These were the ways of the early 1900s. Cherlin goes on to mention how these roles were beginning to fade over time as more women left their homes to pursue jobs. As this trend has been present for nearly 100 years, Cherlin believes that it will continue on until the workforce is split as close to 50/50 as it can get. Cherlin goes on the speak about how designated roles are no longer relevant as when he states “Men do somewhat more housework than they used to do, but there is wide variation, and each couple must work out their own arrangement without clear guidelines” (46). In the early 20th century, men were expected to work and women were expected to take care of the home. These expectations were the basic guidelines that society had set for married couple. As Cherlin observes, these guidelines have slowly began to fade as men and women are no longer thought to have designated roles. Families have become more diverse in the sense that they can arrange their family roles without societal expectations and pressures getting in the way. This giant shift that took place throughout the

1900s has brought our society to what it is today. Men and Women now grow up with the total ability to determine what they wish to do and how they wish to do it. Marriage is no longer an expectation, and neither are the inhumane and unfair roles that were once given to married men and women.
The progression that has been made in the time period since the start of the 20th century has brought our society to where it is today. In terms of education, women have actually surpassed men. In terms of workforce representation, women make up approximately 50%. These statistics would have not been imaginable during the early 20th century. In an article titled Gender Pay, The Government Accountability Office examines the representation by women in the workforce in recent years when it states “We estimated that women made up 49 percent of the overall workforce in 2010” (10). Since the early 1900s, this percentage has gone up by over 30%. Undoubtedly, women have made their way up in the workforce and have managed to gain equality to men in terms of employment numbers. Not only have women successfully taken over half of the United States workforce, but they have managed to do so working side by side with men and performing similar tasks. During the early 1900s, even the women who worked did not all work alongside men. Women were mostly given easier and lower tier jobs. Now, women are seen receiving equal education and consideration for tough, upper class jobs. The article, Gender Pay, further examines how education levels compare between men and women when it states “Women have also attained higher education levels since 1980. Both men and women workers are better educated than they were 30 years ago; however, women have surpassed men with respect to obtaining high school diplomas and college degrees” (8). Before, even the majority of women who worked did not have a college diploma. Now, women have even surpassed men in terms of education achievements. Seeing that women have surpassed men in education, it is not surprising that they have managed to work their way up in the workforce as well. When taking into account all the credentials that used to separate men and women, it is apparent that a majority of these are no longer that much different. Now, without a doubt, women can be considered to be closer to men in the workplace than ever before.
Seeing as that women have climbed their way up in terms of education, employment levels, and pay, there should be no doubt that equality is finally evident in all domains. Yet, when a closer look is taken, it is apparent that there is still a great amount of change to be made. In A Mother’s Day Kiss-Off, Leslie Bennetts, an author and married mother, writes about how husbands continues to view their wives when she says “Most husbands still view child care and household chores as women’s work, even when those women are working full time” (42). Even now that women have acquired the ability to control their own lives and work as they please, men are still stuck living in the past. Bennetts addressed a very important issue and leaves us questioning whether men themselves are part of the problem. Men have always had the same role for the most part. Some men may please to live a traditional lifestyle where the mother stays at home with the children. While women do have the opportunities to go out, when their counterparts has different expectations, they are often all out of luck. With a majority of society having adapted to the new ways of life, a key part is still living in the past, and this poses a serious threat to the progression of women in gaining full equality. Aside from expectations, women are also still quite far behind in a major aspect, salaries. While women have managed to even out gender equality in the workforce, they have yet to receive full equality in terms of pay. The article, Gender Pays, further explores the difference in salaries between men and women. In a study about gender earnings it states “We estimated that female managers earn 81 cents for every dollar earned by male managers in 2007, compared to 79 cents in 2000, after adjusting for selected factors” (8). This study shows that much like the early 20th century, women are still making a good amount less than men. Having that more women than men are earning college degrees, and women make up half of the workforce, it seems strange that men are still making an extra 20% more than women. Equality has come a long way in the workplace, and as seen in this study, women’s earnings are still rising as we speak. Still, after 100 years of progression, quite unfairly, women are still earning much less than men are for performing the same tasks. When taking in all of the progression, it can easily be determined that a change has been made. Women are closer now than they have ever been to being completely equal to men. Still, when observing the research, it can easily be seen that there is still a significant amount of progression that must still be made.
As time goes on, society will continue changing. Gender roles will always be around whether we like it or not. Throughout the last 100 years, an enormous amount of change has happened not only regarding women’s rights, but also the rights of all people of different cultures and ethnicities. Our society was once at a very dark place. Thankfully, as a whole, our country has taken a more than needed approach to make things right for everybody. Women’s roles in the workplace are just one such area. Women have gained near equality in almost all aspects of life as society’s discrimination against women is at an all time low. Women are now even contending for the presidency. All this makes it apparent that women are no different than men. Change is happening as we speak, and though women have yet to earn full equality in the workplace, it can easily be inferred that it won’t be long before discrimination between men and women is completely gone.