Sociology The Family Essays - Gender Studies, Family,

Sociology: ?The Family? One of the main institutions in society is found within the household and is popularly known as ?The Family?. It is here, in the family, where the commencement of society takes place. It is amongst this unit that the origin of women's oppression began with the constant power struggle between man and woman. With the ?nuclear family? slowly being thrown out the window and the new ?dual-earner? family creeping in to takes it's place, it's no wonder that women's positions have changed radically over the past one hundred years. The key work here to this being position, because although women's position has changed, their workload has not. With this radical change many issues can be addressed, particularly, to the women's role and how it has remained fairly constant over the years. A closer examination will look at the development of gender inequality within the family as a result of the ever-changing issue. A second issue that needs to be inspected is that the family roles have changed in regards to family make-up as women have moved into the work force. This growing capital effort to increase standards of living by pushing every family member into the paid labour force has taken a toll on the family unit. The final issue that will be investigated in this report is how the traditional sex roles have remained constant, even with women's ever-changing family position over the years. For decades, commencing back to the time when patriarchy was the ?norm? and women were their husband's property, men have oppressed women. This ideology of patriarchy existed way before it was ever examined by sociologists and it was accepted as a natural or biological way of living. It wasn't until the 1960's when feminist groups began to explore patriarchy and at the same time began to exploit it, that patriarchy was established. Feminists at that time, and even still today, believe that patriarchy operates to achieve and maintain gender inequality and is the essential key to women's present subordination. Not only does patriarchy exist in the pubic domain of the paid labour force, but also in the private domain of the household, or better yet, the family. With patriarchy by its side, gender inequality has developed into one of the biggest controversies amongst sociologists, feminist groups, and women. In modern day society women are working their way into the labour force, and ?expanding their roles to include working outside the home as well as being wives and mothers? (Kaufman, 1999, 440). As women are moving into the paid labour force, they ?continue to work longer hours than do their husbands on household tasks, and there is little evidence that men's proportionate share of the family work has changed much during the past decade or so? (Blair, 1991, 91). Although women are moving into the paid labour force at a fairly fast pace, according to Kaufman, ?men's involvement in domestic roles has increased but at a slower pace than women's entrance into the labour market? (Kaufman, 1999, 440). Women's entrance into the labour market evolved rather rapidly from approximately less than 30% in the 1960's to currently more than 45% of women are in the paid labour force? (Levin, class note, Women's Studies). There are many reasons for the increase of women's labour force participation. The main fact being that the North American standard of living has increased drastically in the past decades, and that double-incomes are needed in order to survive. Along with the increase in standard of living, divorce rates are increasing leaving women with children to support on their own, and therefore, women must find outside work. There are also fewer children to raise, therefore, women have more time to work and raise their children. Also, there is a great change in societal attitudes that push women into the work force. Finally, with pay equity policies having been established, it is much easier for women to find work that will pay enough to support her and her family. Historical factors have weighed heavily on women's current status. In the nineteenth century, attitudes toward women were very different to the present attitudes placed upon them now. In the nineteenth century, there was a great need