INST 205 - Review Sheet - Section Six: Families
Learning Objectives
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To understand how families contribute to gender socialization and gender inequality.
To recognize how a person’s experience in a family is affected by her or his gender, race,
sexuality, and class.
To be aware of the differences in family structures that exist and of how these structures
are different and similar.
To be conscious of how families can be a woman’s source of strength or resistance.
To be aware of how public discourse and the media frame our understanding of families.
Section Summary
The institution of the family contributes to gender socialization and is often the site of gender
inequality. Families vary considerably in their make-up (sexuality of the members, number of
parents, etc.) and by race/ethnicity and class.
 Families provide people with the first sense of themselves as gendered beings.
 People spend much of their adult lives in families.
 Women and men have different experiences and duties in many families.
 Public discourse and the media shape how we understand various aspects of the family.
 Families can be a women’s source of strength or resistance, as well as of their
subordination.
Boxed Insert: Mary-Jane Wagle, “Abstinence-only: Breeding Ignorance”
The majority of abstinence-only sexual education courses use materials that contain falsehoods
and present gender stereotypes as facts. Favored by President Bush and other conservatives,
these programs are funded instead of other programs that actually help students.
 Abstinence-only programs attempt to scare and shame children into not having sex.
 Abstinence-only materials present false information that downplays the effectiveness of
contraception and overstates the risks of abortion.
 Programs with comprehensive sexual education, like California’s, have led to reduced
teen pregnancy. However, many teens who are taught the abstinence-only doctrine and
who sign virginity pledges still have premarital sex.
 Abstinence-only programs take funding away from other sexual education programs and
put children at risk for sexually transmitted diseases.
Reading 24: Kathleen Gerson, “Moral Dilemmas, Moral Strategies, and the
Transformation of Gender: Lessons From Two Generations of Work and Family Change”
Women’s increased entry into the workforce has altered the traditional model that divided men’s
and women’s work into different categories with husbands contributing to the family by working
and wives caring for the family. These changes have produced moral dilemmas for balancing
individualism and commitment. While most young people espouse equality, men and women
tend to pursue different strategies when egalitarian relationships are impossible.
 The new social conditions of a changed economy and changed ideas about gender,
particularly about femininity, have undermined the link between gender and moral
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obligation. Women are now expected to perform both paid work and the majority of
family work. Men now have more opportunities to abandon family obligations and more
pressure to be actively involved with the family.
Most spouses feel that they do not have enough time to care for their families and to
pursue their own self-sufficiency.
Gerson performed 120 life-history interviews with a racially diverse sample of New
Yorkers aged 18-32 to understand how young men and women are handling these
dilemmas.
The young New Yorkers felt that a lasting relationship was an ideal that was hard to
reach and should be based on the quality of the relationship. Many of these people
wondered if it would be possible to balance commitment and self-affirmation.
The majority of young people whose mother worked supported the idea of two-person
careers as good for the family, and half of the young people whose mother stayed home
wished she had worked for pay.
Most of the young people also felt that a good father not only worked to financially
support the family, but also spent time with the children and was emotionally present.
In this context, a good parent is conceived of as someone who cares for the family both
economically and emotionally.
Most of the men and women felt that self-interest, too, could not be limited to work alone
or to the family. However, significantly more men than women preferred the traditional
gender order in the family.
Few young people believe they will be able to integrate work and family, and most jobs
make it difficult to do so.
Men and women differed in how they would respond if their egalitarian ideals proved
unmanageable. Women would prefer to remain autonomous if they are not able to
achieve egalitarian family structures, while men would prefer a “modified traditionalism”
where they remain the primary or sole breadwinner and their partners perform most of the
domestic labor.
Some young people are waiting to marry or have children, and thus feel that autonomy
and individualism are prerequisites to commitment.
Reading 25: Denise Segura, “Working at Motherhood: Chicana and Mexicana Immigrant
Mothers and Employment”
From her interviews with Chicanas and Mexicanas, Segura describes how ideas concerning
motherhood are culturally formed. Immigrant Mexicana women see paid labor as a duty of
motherhood, while many Chicana women feel guilty about working rather than staying home
with their children.
 Chicana women tended to be voluntarily unemployed or ambivalently employed mothers.
Mexicanas tended to be involuntarily unemployed or nonambivalently employed
mothers.
 Mexicanas see paid labor and domestic or childcare work as intertwined with
motherhood, because they were raised in Mexico where women’s labor is not considered
separate from motherhood. This allows these women to feel less ambivalence and less
guilt about their work.
 Chicanas experience greater guilt and ambivalence because they have been raised in the
United States, where the productive labor of the family is seen as separate from the
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expressive functions of the family. These women tended to see paid labor as distinct
from their roles as mothers.
These findings contradict theories that suggested that more recent immigrant women
would tend to experience greater guilt and ambivalence about paid work. Rather,
Mexican immigrant culture places a stronger emphasis on the importance of employment
as part of motherhood than American culture does.
Neither of these forms of motherhood challenged male privilege in the family and many
of these women spoke of being pressured by their husbands regarding their work
situations.
Reading 26: Hung Cam Thai, “For Better or Worse: Gender Allures in the Vietnamese
Global Marriage Market”
Thai uses the example of the couple Minh and Thanh to demonstrate how the decisions of
Vietnamese women and Vietnamese-American men to engage in transnational marriages are
based on a need for respect and global class relations.
 The men are unable to marry because they have low class status in the United States,
while the women are unable to marry because of their higher class and education level in
Vietnam.
 Both of these statuses are considered unattractive to prospective marriage partners based
on the intersection of class and gender ideology.
 These Vietnamese men and women attempt to improve their marriage statuses through
marriage migration. In the global marriage market, Vietnamese-American men receive
status because they are living in the United States. The Vietnamese women are seen to
be in a lower position because of their location in Vietnam.
 The women expect that their husbands in the U.S. will have a more egalitarian gender
ideology than the men in Vietnam do, while the men expect that the women from
Vietnam will respect traditional gender roles.
 These gender ideologies are likely to clash during the marriage when the women come to
the United States; this could place the women in danger or force them to lose their own
egalitarian ideology.
Reading 27: Nancy Naples, “Queer Parenting in the New Millennium”
Naples discusses the queer communities’ various opinions regarding the GLBT movement’s
focus on same-sex marriage rights. Many efforts are needed to expand conceptions of the family
and to challenge heteronormativity.
 Conservatives have focused much money and attention on traditional marriage. The Bush
administration has funded programs to promote marriage among low-income people, and
Senate conservatives have unsuccessfully attempted to bring about an amendment that
would limit marriage to heterosexuals.
 Although much of the mainstream GLBT movement has focused on opening up marriage
to gays and lesbians, many in the GLBT movement are skeptical of this direction. They
fear that the focus on marriage would assimilate queers into a heterosexist regime,
undermine radical queer politics, and further marginalize those in non-monogamous
relationships. Others suggest that the tremendous energy within the same-sex marriage
movement can be harnessed to achieve other goals of the GLBT movement.
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While some have argued that marriage is only an issue for white gays and lesbians, recent
research suggests that many GLBT persons of color desire same-sex unions, too.
Under the current laws, gays and lesbians are denied many opportunities and benefits
including access to adopting or having children. Many gays and lesbians must go
through expensive legal processes to obtain only some of the rights.
Queer parents like Nancy Naples pose a challenge to various assumptions about families,
gender and sexuality. However, the prevalence of heteronormativity causes many
problems for the non-biological gay parent. The non-biological parent must constantly
explain his/her relationship to the child. Moreover—though this sounds rather strange—
he/she may even need to adopt his/her own child!
Reading 24: Kathleen Gerson, “Moral Dilemmas, Moral Strategies, and the
Transformation of Gender: Lessons from Two Generations of Work and Family Change”
1. What is the moral dilemma facing men and women according to Gerson? How have
things changed regarding this dilemma?
2. How do young people feel about their mothers having worked or stayed home? Why
might the children of working mothers be happier with the idea of the working mother?
Why did some whose mothers stayed home wish their mothers had worked?
3. According to Gerson, what do young people hope for when arranging their own families?
What might get in the way of these aspirations?
4. How do men and women differ in the way they intend to handle the demands of work and
family? What does Gerson suggest can be done to make this easier?
Reading 25: Denise Segura, “Working at Motherhood: Chicana and Mexicana Immigrant
Mothers and Employment”
5. Discuss the differences between Chicana and Mexicana mothers regarding work and
motherhood. Why are they different?
6. How do husbands factor into Chicana and Mexican women’s decisions regarding work
and motherhood? How does class status make a difference in these decisions?
7. Why does Segura’s research on Chicana and Mexicana mothers differ from what was
expected relative to current understandings of immigrants? Do Mexican immigrant
women experience greater gender equality?
Reading 26: Hung Cam Thai, “For Better or Worse: Gender Allures in the Vietnamese
Global Marriage Market”
8. Why are Minh and Thanh unable to find spouses in their home countries? How is the
idea of respect linked to Minh and Thanh’s decision to marry a person so far away?
9. What are the social-structural reasons why people like Minh and Thanh decide to
participate in marriage migration? What are the demographic reasons?
10. How are Minh and Thanh’s gender ideologies likely to clash when they are married?
What do you think will happen to couples like this?
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Reading 27: Nancy Naples, “Queer Parenting in the New Millennium”
11. Why are many queer scholars and activists concerned with the GLBT movement’s focus
on same-sex marriage? Do you think their concerns are justified? Why or why not?
12. What benefits might gays and lesbians receive from the legalization of gay marriage?
13. According to Naples, what are conservatives doing to promote heteronormativity? Can
you think of other laws and monies that are used to promote heteronormativity?
14. What effect does queer marriage or parenting have on heteronormativity and traditional
gender relations?
Web Links
Alternatives to Marriage Project
Many couples (e.g., gays and lesbians) can’t get married; others choose not to get married. This
site explores some of the various “alternatives to marriage” that couples pursue. This
organization seeks validation and support for unmarried relationships.
http://www.unmarried.org/
Asian Americans and Interracial Dating and Marriage
Social norms, mores, values, and laws regulating families have been organized around sex,
sexuality, and property concerns, and also around racial hierarchies that make “marrying outside
one’s race” a threat to the existing structures of social organization. The Asian-American
experience in the United States has been shaped by pressures against out-marriage (or
“exogamy”) both within Asian-American communities and from white-dominated society.
Learn more at the Asian-Nation website.
http://www.asian-nation.org/interracial.shtml
Dual-Science-Career Couples
How does “family” relate to “career” in the lives of women? Do women in professional
positions have more power in their relationships? What happens when both partners work in the
same profession—and it’s a non-traditional field for women? These are some of the questions
facing women in the male-dominated field of physics, and this information is relevant to people
in careers besides physics. One strategy physicists have used to explore this issue is to share their
concerns with others facing similar challenges. This website introduces some of their concerns,
strategies, and triumphs.
http://physics.wm.edu/~sher/survey.pdf
Feminist Perspectives on Reproduction and the Family
Many feminists and other philosophers and theorists see equality in the family as intrinsically
linked to gender equality in society. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explores feminist
ideas of equality in the family and in society on this website.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-family/
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Human Rights Campaign (HRC): Families
Nancy Naples describes the mainstream GLBT movement’s focus on same-sex marriage rights
and this difficulty of social acceptance for GLBT families. The Human Rights Campaign Fund is
at the forefront of the mainstream GLBT movement for equal rights. In this section of the HRC
website there are stories describing the struggle to have queer families accepted. This site also
provides links to information on relevant legislation and goals.
http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Family
Juggling Work and Family
As Kathleen Gerson describes, many families have struggled with balancing the demands of
work and family, and most young men and women worry about how this balancing act will take
place. This site provides numerous links to information for employers who are trying to structure
a family-friendly workplace and for families who are trying to work out a balance. There are
additional links to organizations and other information that may be helpful to families seeking to
be egalitarian.
http://www.pbs.org/workfamily/
Mixed-Race Families
What is it like to be in a mixed-race family? What issues do children and parents face? What
are the special strengths and benefits of families that include people of more than one race? This
website presents a timeline concerning various milestones in interracial relationships and
explores some of the familial and personal-identity issues people encounter in mixed-race
families.
http://www.kqed.org/w/baywindow/othercolors/changingtimes/
Sex Education in America
Mary-Jane Wagle describes what is and what should be taught in sex education programs in the
United States. Recent research by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard’s Kennedy
School of Government looks at what parents and educators want in today’s sex education
programs.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1622610
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