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Cultural practices about marriage
Cultural practices about marriage
Gender roles men and women
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As long as I have known about the practice of marriage, I have also known about the traditional roles associated with marriage. I grew up aware of the belief that woman are usually the domesticated ones, staying home to raise children and tend to the house. While men were known as the providers, going off to work most of the day to take care of the family. This is the type of dynamic I grew up in for most of my life. That all changed once I was an adult, and my father could no longer work his job. My mother went back to school, and eventually back to a fulltime job. My father took over most of her home responsibilities and anything else that needed to be done around the house. Seeing a marriage flip a hundred and eight degrees from traditional to modern definitely changed my views on the subject. I don’t believe that Who is to say what is right and wrong for a person’s marriage? Simply because things have been this way for a while is not a good enough excuse to live one’s life in way that doesn’t provide them happiness. This belief that men and women have to fit in this traditional mold is absurd. Personalities are made up of many complicated things. To say the people should do certain things based on their sex is trying simplify the beautiful complexity of the human mind. Often times, traditional roles are not right for certain situations. Maybe some marriages simply can’t be traditional and that is okay. Since marriage is about the people in it, I think the most important part is making sure they are both satisfied with themselves and each other. The opinion of other’s should not be a factor since they are not part of the relationship. Everyone is unique, which makes everyone’s relationship unique. Trying to mold them around this idea of what roles should be played by whom is like trying to use the same part to fix every car, it is not going to
For as long as we can remember, the idea that marriage is sacred, desirable, and even necessary has persisted in the western world. In a way, society has taught us that in order to live a normal, fulfilled life, one must find their soul mate, marry them, and spend the rest of eternity together. According to tradition, a perfect marriage is characterized by a husband that goes to work every day while the wife remains within the home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. Tradition has further dictated that once the husband returns from work, the wife has dinner ready and the family sits down around the table to share a meal together. American literature is full of stories that both play on or challenge these traditional roles within a marriage. But, one might ask, does
Society in general has a way of assigning men and women with individual roles that need to be complied with. To clarify, in the 1950s and 1960s, American women were required to maintain their homes while raising their children and making sure the husbands were happy. On the other hand, American men had to provide for the family and protect them. Displaying characteristics not parallel to one’s gender is rarely unobserved and almost always has negative consequences because society seeks to maintain order. In reality, the people cannot conform to society’s “norms” because people have the right to be independent of society, yet be a part of it without sacrifice. An example would be how American society views masculinity as a man who is strong,
The females’ role before marriage is to plan their wedding. After marriage they’re basically controlled by their husbands, for they provide the financial support. During the day while their husbands are at work, the wives are expected to look after the children (if they have any) and do the house work.
“A recent Pew Research Center survey showed that 39 percent of respondents believe marriage is becoming obsolete. And as far as the issue of living together vs. marriage, 55 percent of respondents felt that it was a good thing or made no difference if a couple lived together without being married.” The older generations are surprised at how different the newest generation is. They are the ones fighting against the new generation. They do not want change and are not prepared for it. It is different than what they grew up with and it’s breaking what they have always known.
Marriage is defined as “(1) the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2): the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage ("Marriage," 2003, p. 659). Despite the latter definition’s addition to dictionaries in the past decade, this definition of marriage is still debated. Being a touchy subject in both politics and religion today, it’s been very hard to come to an agreement. There are two main sides to this argument regarding the nature of marriage. Some stick to their conservative and/or religious beliefs, while others state that marriage is a civil right (Kim, 2011, p. [Page 38]). However, same-sex marriage is not legally recognized in North Carolina and thirty-two other states at this time ("Defining Marriage: State Defense," 2014). Homosexuals have been denied many of the rights given to those that are heterosexual. Same-sex couples are not able to receive other benefits as a heterosexual couple would. The lack of benefits is extremely unequal and unfair. This unacceptable treatment is unconstitutional and should not continue.
Nontraditional roles have caused a huge change on how people view marriage these days. Most people in the older generations view nontraditional roles as a bad thing because they think that traditional roles are important in the dynamic of a marriage. Traditional roles have set expectations of how a family is and how the marriage will go. Nontraditional roles have a bad reputation because there is not necessarily have a set expectation of the way the marriage will be and a set expectation of how the family will be. The expectations of a traditional marriage are that the wife will stay at home and clean, cook, and take care of the children. The husbands would be the “breadwinners” and work outside of the house. If the wife is not able to
Fairfax, “Marriage is one of the core values of society. Almost 20 years ago, the well renowned black scholar and psychologist Dr. Na’im Akbar (1991) penned the following: ‘‘marriage is such an important lesson in manhood (womanhood) development. It is no wonder that every society requires some form of it’’ (p. 13).” This coincides with the values that I stated above that were considered important in my culture. Marriage is important to more that my culture obviously but in my culture there is always this well-known quote from the bible: “He who finds a wife, finds a good thing (NKJV Proverbs 18:22). That is basically religion and love in the same
Marriage has existed longer than written history and there still a great demand. Over half of the adult population in the United States is married which consists of over 2 million people. At some point, two thirds of all Americans heterosexual or homosexual will vow to better or for worse till death do us apart. Despite, the recent decreased in the amount of people to get married, it’s still at a soaring 80 percent. Marriage is an integral part of who we are as humans but the real question is that because of evolutionary development or creation by God. These two belief systems play a fundamental role in the way we understand and live out marriage. The first view is evolutionary development which believes that marriage wasn't created by God and it was not originated in the beginning, however it was develop by society in the context culture. Therefore, concluding that marriage was a human institution invested throughout history as a way to carry out social roles. The second view would fall under the biblical view. Marriage is not of human origin, because it began with the Creator God. It was created by God from the beginning of history when He created the heavens and the earth . As the Creator of marriage, God has the right to tell us which rules should control marriage. Tim Keller affirms this in his book Meaning of Marriage; “Marriage is God’s idea. It is certainly also a human institution and it reflects the character of the particular human culture in which it is embedded. But the concept and roots of human marriage are in God’s own action, and therefore what the Bible says about God’s design for marriage is crucial.” Marriage is one of the most important institution in the world we living, however there is a...
Gender roles have greatly influenced the way human beings think and behave, including traditional stereotypes portraying men as strong and dominate, whereas the female been are submissive and unintelligent (Lovdal, 1989). Throughout history, gender stereotypes have particularly disadvantaged and discriminated against women in the workforce, at home, through education and in society as a whole causing inequality amongst the female gender (Clark, 1991). But as will be discussed, while stereotypical traditional gender roles and inequalities continue in society, ideologies on the issues are starting to change. This essay will examine how ideologies on stereotypical traditional gender roles have influenced gender in society and the gender inequalities
Tradition is a strong component in the institution of marriage. The ideal American dream usually involves the perfect fairy-tale wedding with the gorgeous white wedding dress for the bride, the matching bridesmaids, the well-arranged bouquet and the numerous rituals that compose this well thought-out event. Usually it requires a great amount of planning, devotion and dollars to make the important day memorable. Family and friends come together to rejoice in the vows that will bond the two lovers into a lifetime journey of love, commitment and fidelity. Each person in the couple is expected to have a role in this institution. According to Judith Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee, “in the idealized form of the older model of traditional marriage, the man’s primary job for self-definition is to provide for the economic well-being, protection, and stability of his family ...The woman’s job and self-definition”, on the other hand, continue Wallerstein and Blakeslee, “is to care for her husband and children and to create a comfortable home that nourishes everyone, particularly her husband, who comes home each evening drained by the demands of his job (211).” With a constantly changing society, the concept of marriage has also varied. The “quickie” Vegas drive-through wedding or the underwater vow exchange is not as unusual or shocking as it once was. Even the roles of the persons involved have changed to fit the shape of society’s needs. For example the modern “companionate marriage” which is “founded on the couple’s shared beliefs that men and women are equal partners in all spheres of life and that their roles, including those of marriage, are completely interchangeable (Wallerstein, Blakeslee 155).
is the most usual in which a man and a woman unite themselves in the
Marriage has gone through many changes throughout its history. It's earliest forms date back to the story of creation. It has developed a great deal since then. It is a simple fact that men and women can not survive without each other. Marriage is part of the created natural order, we were meant to be together.
When we learn our norms and values of our culture, we are also learning what type of marriage we prefer and what type of family we wish to have. Marriage is able to “shed light on human nature” (MindEdge, 5.03, 2016). There are different forms that societies follow that help make their decision on who they will marry. When people are married, it shows their norms and values on what they believe in and what is normal for them. In one culture going out with another guy, that’s not your husband, would be totally against their norms and values, so marriage is an expression of cultural norms and values. Although, even though marriage may be great, it can also lead to “a forging of relationships between kin groups”(MindEdge, 5.05,
In contemporary society, particularly in contemporary America, divorce rates have spiked to rates as high as 4.1 marital separations per 1000 individuals. This escalation has left many very ambivalent of the future of marriage in the world, a commitment that in many respects has been viewed as a lifelong or even lasting for eternity. Such surges in divorces seem to be more visible in cultures that allow for free-choice mate selection, where individuals are free to choose whom they wish to marry. This is highly contrasting to other cultures such as Japanese culture where arranged marriages are the regular practices of many kin-groups. Often free-choice societies are blamed for their elevated divorce rates because such individuals fail to take
The fourth and final step of the marriage process is to become one flesh. According to free dictionary.com, become means “to grow or come to be,” or “to be appropriate or suitable; to develop or grow into; to be appropriate; befit.” Becoming is a process that takes time and work. Tim Keller states that in order to call a union marriage, “sex is understood as both a sign of that personal, legal union and a means to accomplish it. The Bible says don’t unite with someone physically unless you are also willing to unite with the person emotionally, personally, socially, economically, and legally. Don’t become physically naked and vulnerable to the another person without becoming vulnerable in every other way, because you have given up your freedom and bound yourself in marriage.” (Keller pg. 215) God’s design is supposed to occur on the wedding night as they complete their marriage vows by having sex. It is clear that “they will become one flesh” is a indirect term for sex but it is also more than sex. The become one is to be on the same page, mind and accord. It is correct to compare it to one brain, making one decision and taking one action. Together one path, and they share one authority, one heart, one body, one mind, one thought, one church, and one God. The spouses become one flesh in every sense of the word. All these areas of oneness are important because division in any of them will cause them to stumble.