Gender is defined as the scopes of genetic, physical, mental and behaviour characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and feminity, meanwhile inequality is defined as in a situation where there is an unfair situation or treatment in which certain people have more privileges or better opportunities or chances than other people. Thus, from the definition stated gender inequality refers to unequal or unfair management, treatment, or perceptions of persons or individuals are based on their gender. In a parallel sense, gender inequality can be said as the world in which there was discrimination against anyone based on gender. In this introductory, the general understanding of gender inequalities will be discussed further into three significant factors that influence the allocation of housework between men and women. Household chores can be classified as cleaning, cooking and paying bills. Division of housework serves as an important element in the continuation of the function of a family and it requires contribution from both spouses (Tang, 2012). However, current society’s perception on housework is based on gender, so the three major factors that influence the division of household chores within the couples are education level, economic resources, and time availability (refer to Figure1 in Appendix 1).
Education is one of the major factors that influence the division of housework between men and women. Education plays important roles in society and to ensure the progression of the public, each person’s duty is to contribute to its development because education is the greatest tool for accomplishing this goal. The basic ingredients of the society are men and women, however mostly societies think that women...
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...e household activities together for greater efficiency, they both can gain more time for other pursuits.
In conclusion, there are three factors that influence the division of housework, thus men and women should divide the house chores equally even though they have different education level and economic resources. Men and women also should manage their time wisely so that they have more time availability to do the housework. If both men and women able to divide the housework effectively, so they can reduce the level of stress and their marriage would be more meaningful without any hitch. Irish poet Thomas Moore once said that “The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.” His musing on the mundane acts of housework highlights its importance in maintaining a household through everyday means.
Women have always been stereotyped as being the mother who stays home and has the responsibility of the household and maintaining the children. Presently mothers work outside the home, but they still have the responsibility of taking care of the household. “One study of 20 industrialized countries ...
such as appliances that would enable them to run their home efficiently. The Victorian housewife
From the very beginning of history, women were portrayed to be insignificant in comparison to men in society. A woman was deemed by men to be housewives, bear children and take care of the household chores. Even so, at a young age girls were being taught the chores they must do and must continue through to adulthood. This idea that the woman’s duty was to take charge of household chores was then passed through generations, even to this day. However, this ideology depends on the culture and the generation mothers were brought up in and what they decide to teach their daughters about such roles.
As she is starting out her article she begins to set the stage with an image in your mind of her own specific event of her being trapped inside her apartment with her husband for thirty-six hours. While his father was going to come over after being trapped inside, she insisted on cleaning up the house even though her husband said his dad didn’t mind the house being messy due to magazines, beef jerky wrappers and empty soup cans. The next thing she does is outline the uneven distribution of cleaning work that is in her own marriage and she suggests to make a chart of who does what chores and dividing up the tasks based on your skill and ability to make it fairer for both parties in the household. She also, suggests to accept a dirtier house since you both are working full time and then coming home after work.
Sociological study on the gendered division of labour within the domestic sphere has perennially been characterised by evidence of a clear inequality concerning the allocation of unpaid chores within the home between men and women (Warren, 2003:734). While men have traditionally been regarded as primary breadwinners, the management of home-maintenance has remained largely women’s responsibility (Breen & Cooke, 2005:47). A number of theories exist to explain this unequal distribution of domestic labour, in particular the economic exchange model (which argues that women perform domestic duties in ‘exchange’ for financial support from their husbands), and the gender display model, which asserts that household labour is divided on the basis of the symbolic importance of gender (Baxter, 2002:401). While this paper will argue the inherent features of both models, it will also discuss the importance of gender stereotypes in maintaining the unequal distribution of household labour, despite women’s increasing involvement in the workforce. The paper will also demonstrate that the issue of a gendered division of labour holds great significance for sociological study, particularly surrounding issues of power, dominance and authority in the gender regime.
The critical rank for reducing gender inequalities should be education, labor force participation, and lastly, wages. There are obvious differences between men and women whether it’s anatomically, financially, and so forth. The gender inequalities women face compared to men is alarming and saddening. Gender stereotypes reinforce gender inequalities because stereotypes can often be internalized which results in biases against either sex. These biases against a person can result in negative results. Gender inequality has been within our society for a long time especially amongst women.
The chapter Maid to Order of Global Women focus was on the work done by the “cleaning ladies.” The chapter goes in detail about the degrading connotation that the words maid and cleaning lady have and how they impact the lives of women who make a living of cleaning homes. This chapter made me feel very guilty because it mentions how housework is most of the time gender specific. Mothers pick up after husbands and their children without them noticing the effort that is put my the mother. The husband and the children get the idea that everything gets made and if they spill something someone is sure to clean it up. My mother recently began to work full time and still comes home to clean the house and our mess. I sometimes leave things dirty knowing that my mother will clean them. My mothers work does not end when she leaves work. I am responsible only for my room and what I make dirty but sometimes I don't do it and my mother will clean it for me.
Discuss the differences in how conflict theorists and symbolic interactionists view the issue of gender and housework.
Since the 1950’s, women have been seen as very dainty and sensitive creatures who are meant to be silent partners to their mates. A woman’s place was in the home-cooking, cleaning and watching after her children. Women were to get up every morning and prepare lunches for their breadwinning husbands, as well as wake and dress the children for school, cook breakfast, do housework and have a hot meal on the table when her husband was to return home. Women have stepped down to their traditional roles as housewife and caretaker, and it has raised many issues in society today. It was considered a woman’s job to be a good cook and be a whiz with a broom, in fact, it is what made them so darn attractive. Times, they are a changing. In fact, the U.S Department of Labor states that in the year 2008, women will make up 48% of the work force. That means that more women will be going to college and getting and education, as well as heading out into the workforce to make a name for themselves.
Gender is defined as the scopes of genetic, physical, mental and behaviour characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and feminity, meanwhile inequality is defined as in a situation where there is an unfair situation or treatment in which certain people have more privileges or better opportunities or chances than other people. Thus, from the definition stated gender inequality refers to unequal or unfair management, treatment, or perceptions of persons or individuals are based on their gender. In a parallel sense, gender inequality can be said as the world in which there was discrimination against anyone based on gender. In this introductory, the general understanding of gender inequalities will be discussed further into three significant factors that influence the allocation of housework between men and women. Household chores can be classified as cleaning, cooking and paying bills. Division of housework serves as an important element in the continuation of the function of a family and it requires contribution from both spouses (Tang, 2012). However, current society’s perception on housework is based on gender, so the three major factors that influence the division of household chores within the couples are education level, economic resources, and time availability (refer to Figure1 in Appendix 1).
...ir own well being are disdained as ?woman?s work? ? the chores of the inferior sex. Undertaking the responsibilities of the housewife for many men is again an admission of failure, a sign announcing inadequacy in doing men?s work, which, if successful and profitable, would no doubt keep them to busy for insignificant tasks. Men do, however, develop traits often not found in women. In their competitive world men enhance their own logic and rationality and they learn top deal with problems, not people, as they inch their way up the latter of status and prestige external supports in this world are strong and rewards are tangible. They seldom have to wonder if their labor is or is not noticed, appreciated, or of value. At the same time as men?s energies are engaged in this competitiveness they tend top lose touch with their own emotions of with those of others. They are not interested in vital interpersonal communication when they return home after a day?s work. Overworked and preoccupied they desire only relief from those they have left at the office. Very much in need of emotional support they still regard the interpersonal facet and life as secondary to the major business.
More and more women work outside and inside the home. The double demands shouldered by these women pose a threat to their physical health. Whether you are an overworked housewife or an exhausted working mother the chances are that you are always one step behind your schedule. No matter how hard women worked, they never ended up with clean homes. Housewives in these miserable circumstances often became hysterical cleaners. They wore their lives away in an endless round of scouring, scrubbing, and polishing. The increased strain in working women comes from the reality that they carry most of the child-rearing and household responsibilities. According to social trends (1996), women always or usually do the washing in 79 percent of cases and decide the menu 59 percent of the time. Picking up the children at school or doing grocery shopping are just a few of the many typical household-tasks a woman takes on every day.
Gender roles are extremely important to the functioning of families. The family is one of the most important institutions. It can be nurturing, empowering, and strong. Some families are still very traditional. The woman or mother of the family stays at home to take care of the children and household duties. The man or father figure goes to work so that he can provide for his family. Many people believe that this is the way that things should be. Gender determines the expectations for the family. This review will explain those expectations and how it affects the family.
A gender role attitude is an individual’s interpretation and expectation on how a woman or man should behave. These assumptions create a socially accepted “norm” about each gender. In various lectures, we examined three common gender role ideologies; traditional, egalitarian, and transitional. A traditional gender role would fit into society’s fundamental outlook on a household. An individual holding this view would believe that men should work and earn money for the family, while women stay at home to do house work and take care of the kids. An egalitarian position believes that both women and men should equally distribute responsibility throughout every situation they are faced with. This would include dividing duties up evenly despite what type it is (more strenuous chores vs. easy chores). A transitional approach combines the traditional and egalitarian approaches together. A couple who practices this attitude would split up the tasks equally but in a way that still views men as holding the majority of the “household” power. For example, women would do the dishes and clean the house while men would cut the lawn and fix the car because those jobs are “more difficult”.
ticised by some sociologists as they believe that they majority of the housework, is taken on by the females. This can be backed up by research on couples and the evidence of the children's pay. It is argued that good children, a clean home and a happy husband all rely on the mother of the family. It could be argued that changes in conjugal roles have happened because of changes in society i.e. women in the work place, but the old fashioned, underlying norms of society seem to still be alive today. But we cannot categorise all families into one area as the symmetry of domestic roles depends on a number of factors.