Gender Roles in the Family
Roles are not innate but are learned
 Progress toward Egalitarian roles in family
 However, women still engaging in “second
shift”
 Equal sharing closely tied to marital
satisfaction

Role Relationships in Happy vs. Unhappy Couples
Role Issues
Happy
Couples
87%
Unhappy
Couples
46%
Both are satisfied with division of
housework
81%
41%
Both work hard to have an equal
relationship
90%
54%
Couples make most decisions
jointly
89%
57%
Household tasks based on
preference not tradition
71%
55%
Both are equally willing to make
adjustments
Olson & Olson, 2000
Key Concepts
Sex: who we are biologically as male or female
 Gender: includes psychosocial components

that characterize us as masculine or feminine

Gender Identity: an individual’s personal,
internal sense of maleness or femaleness

Gender Role: expectations about attitudes
and behaviors based on whether male/female
Key Concepts
 Masculinity: constellation of traits
traditionally associated with men:
◦ Aggressiveness
◦ Independence
◦ Dominance and competence
 Femininity: constellation of traits
traditionally associated with women:
◦ Passivity and dependency
◦ Sensitivity and emotionality
Multicultural Perspectives on Gender

Mexican American
◦ Stereotype of male machismo

African American
◦ Egalitarian marriages
◦ Economic marginalization

American Indian
◦ Communal orientation

Asian American
◦ Filial piety
◦ Segregated sex roles
Gender and Socialization Theories
Social Learning Theory
 Cognitive Development Theory
 Family Systems Theory
 Feminist Theory

Social Learning Theory
Learn sex appropriate behavior
 Learning involves:

◦
◦
◦
◦
Observation
Imitation
Reinforcement
Understanding standards and rules
Cognitive Development Theory
 Learning
changes with maturation
 Children create:
◦ Gender identity
◦ Gender role stereotypes
◦ Gender values
 Once
learn—seek congruence
Criticisms of Social Learning & Cognitive
Approaches
 Assumes
children of same sex
develop similar identities
 Favors traditional role identities as
desirable
 Focus is on childhood processes—
overlooking adult processes
Family Systems Theory
 Gender
role development and
change occurs within family context
◦ Change difficult
 Balanced
families more open to
change
 Unbalanced families resist change and
independence
Feminist Framework
 View
that women have been
exploited, devalued, and oppressed
 Focus on institutional restrictions on
women’s development
 Focus on changing conditions
Bases of Family Power
 Power
Bases or Resources
 Power Processes
 Power Outcomes
Power Bases or Resources
 Resource
theory of family power
◦ Power balance relative to resources
each partner brings to relationship
 “more resources equals more power”
 Principle
of Least Interest
◦ Person with least interest in relationship
has most power in relationship
Conflict Theory

Conflict Theories are oriented toward the study of social structures and institutions. Conflict theorists see
whatever order there is in society as stemming from the coercion of some members by those at the top.
Maintain that society is held together in the face of conflicting interests because either (a) one group in the
society has the power to enforce the rules (and thus make subordinate groups follow rules that may primarily
serve the interests of the superordinate group) or (b) there are so many overlapping and divided interest groups
that individuals must learn to cooperate. The overall argument made by conflict theorists, however, is that
through the structure of conflict in society, order can be maintained in one of these two ways.

Social conflict assumes various forms. Competition describes a conflict over the control of resources or
advantages desired by others where actual physical violence is not employed. Regulated competition is the sort
of peaceful conflict which is resolved within a framework of agreed rules. Markets involve competition, both
regulated and unregulated. Other conflicts may be more violent and not bound by rules, in which case they are
settled by the parties mobilizing their power resources.

Conflict perspective focuses on the struggle among different social groups over scarce rewards. conflict
(conflictual) - A view that sees society and social phenomena, past, present, and future, as a result of conflict (a
social process). Conflict is seen as a creative, inevitable fact of social life and not merely a destructive avoidable
deviation. Conflict is generally held to be inevitable because of the inherent limitation of a finite universe of
"knowable" social reality and because of misunderstandings in communication. Conflict is usually direct
conscious struggle between individuals or groups for the same goal (as compared with competition, which can
take place without contact and individuals and groups being aware of others striving for the same goal) with the
intent of the individuals or groups involved to inhibit the goal striving and goal attainment of others.
Power Bases and Resource

Coercive

◦ punishment

Reward
Expert
◦ special knowledge

Referent
◦ Ability to provide ◦ Respect and/or love
rewards
 Informational

Legitimate
◦ authority
◦ knowledge
Raven, Centers & Rodriguez, 1975
Family Power Processes
Interaction techniques that occur during
decision making
 Assertive
◦ Expression of wants or desires

Aggression
◦ Demands of conformity

Control
◦ Effectiveness of attempts to change behavior
of others
Power Patterns in Marriage
Study: Helpful Dads Damage Mother's Self-Esteem at Home
Friday, March 19, 2010
FOX News

The competence of diligent dads helping out at home is damaging the self-esteem of "super-moms" who feel caught between work and traditional child-rearing roles, according to
a new study revealed by LiveScience.


The University of Texas at Austin interviewed 78 dual-earner couples who had eight-month-old infants, measuring them on two types of self-esteem — self-liking and selfcompetence.


Researchers asked the parents to talk about their partner's strengths and weaknesses and rated their responses.


They found that among mothers who thought their partners were competent caregivers, the more time those fathers spent alone with their children, the lower the mother's selfcompetence rating was.


"In American society, women are expected to take a main role in parenting despite increasingly egalitarian sex roles," said study researcher Takayuki Sasaki of the Osaka
University of Commerce in Japan.


"Thus, we believe that employed mothers suffer from self-competence losses when their husbands are involved and skilful because those mothers may consider that it is a failure
to fulfill cultural expectations," Sasaki said.


"Husbands do not suffer from self-competence losses even when their wives are involved and skilful because that is consistent with cultural expectations."


Not surprisingly, mothers were found to spend nearly three times as much time child-rearing by themselves as their husbands did.


And this was noticed by husbands who gave their wives top marks in parenting skills. In contrast they got a much lower rating from the mothers but even so, the women often
said their husbands were good parents.


"Many wives would say care-giving by their husbands is helpful but at the same time wives give their husbands negative feedback because their husbands' care-giving style is
different from their own," Sasaki told LiveScience.


"For example, a wife appreciates when her husband feeds their baby but also tells her husband that after all it makes more work because the way the husband feeds is messy."



The gender divide was also evident in how parents judged each others' skills.