Gender and Family life

 This week we discussed the roles that gender will play in the family. There are very important roles that gender will play in any relationship, especially the family. As we look at gender within a family, as children are being raised, you can see many clear differences that impact the dynamic of a family. Looking back throughout the history of many cultures, men were expected to be the tougher, and stronger of the two. Males were expected to provide for the family, and preside over their families as leaders. He was generally the one who would make important decisions. On the other hand, females  were traditionally expected to be more uneducated. They were expected to keep up the home, and cook. They traditionally were expected to stay home and raise families.

As we look at tradition was, I have wondered why it stayed that way for so long, what has allowed for the modern transition to which women are now more likely to go and pursue careers, and how these new norms will mesh with old tradition in terms of how people will raise their children.

Throughout history, as I stated previously, men and women have continually had different roles within their families. Traditions are ideas that are passed down from generation to generation. As children are raised, they often look up to their parents, and the role model they are. Then as they grow up, they see the system that their parents had set up, and decide to parent the same way. As a result of this, a culture is created in many areas of this idea that the roles of father and mother are completely separate. 

There were many instances of which different people have broken from the many of the traditions that they were held to. Examples of this are women during the 1920's, such as Susan B Anthony who championed this idea of leaving old norms and traditions, in order to try to allow for women to go and achieve goals beyond the home, such as an advanced education, and careers for women. It took more than one person leaving behind the tradition that was laid before them to change the culture of domesticity that had been established long before them. It required a movement of a group of people to allow for this change to happen. It needed to become the mindset of the general public in order to allow the culture to able to be changed.

 As a result of this shift in the culture that has already passed, it is interesting to see some of the remnants of the old culture of domesticity that still stick around today, along with the new aspects of the culture of femininity that has become widespread throughout the US. There are still many aspects of this old culture that still exists in today's day and age, such as that in most instances, women are still most likely to be the parent that will stay home to raise a family, while men are still more likely to be the primary breadwinner of a family. It is interesting to see how people will be more likely to raise their children in the future. As it becomes more and more prevalent for women to receive higher education, along with increased propensity to pursue careers, the examples that are laid before children are constantly changing. I believe that as time moves forward, families will become more and more independent of any traditions proceeding them. Families will always be fundamental, but the roles that we play within them will constantly need to change.