The Impact of Gender on Family Life

Conceiving of gender as a social construction rather than a biologically assigned identity helps explain historical fluctuations in men’s and women’s practices and in culturally bound definitions of appropriate male and female behavior. Hansen argues that an individual’s gendered behavior is influenced by culturally constructed notions of what is appropriate for good mothers or good fathers or good people to do when caring for children (Hansen 7). The perception of American families as “small, self-reliant units headed by a breadwinning father and cared for by a stay-at-home mother” (1) has considerable influence over family life. This cultural construction affects everything from childrearing to networking to the workplace and individuals must consciously strive to break away from these roles. Both clinging too and attempting to break from these roles can have significant effects on one’s family experience.

For the past two centuries at least, the tasks of child rearing and caregiving have been assigned primarily, though not exclusively to women (Hansen 6). Arlie Hochschild presents the idea of a gender strategy as “a plan of action through which a person tries to solve problems at hand, given the cultural notions of gender at play” (7). This is something that is necessary for “not-so-nuclear” families in order to function and get by. Women are “located at the structural nexus of domestic work, child rearing, and paid labor, they nonetheless exercise some discretion about how they act on and interpret their situations” (7). Many women take into consideration where it is appropriate to take a stand for a equality or when they should back down for the sake of a marriage or to prevent fighting within the family. Men and wome...

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...ry have shaped the mindset of the people. The idea is so solidified in our minds that a complete change may never be able to occur. Either way, the most important factor for changing the family dynamic will be time.

Works Cited

Cherlin, Andrew J. Public and Private Families: An Introduction. 6th. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.

Hansen, Karen V. Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, And Networks of Care. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005. Print.

Johnson, Michael P. A Typology of Domestic Violence: Intimate Terrorism, Violent Resistance, and Situation Couple Violence. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2008. Print.

Tichenor, Veronica Jaris. “Gendered Bargain: Why Wives Cannot Trade Their Money For Housework” from Earning More and Getting Less: Why Successful Wives Can’t By Equality. 2005. Rutgers University Press. Print.