work and family response 4

The Deutsch article talks about working-class couples who work on alternating shifts to avoid placing children in daycare. While the mothers are at work, many fathers have to take over the role of “Mr. Mom.” This goes against traditional notions of gender roles. Though these people, especially the men, cling to the values of the breadwinner system, their financial situations don’t allow them to live that way. Without aspiring to, these couples have adopted a more egalitarian division of labor, even when still subscribing to old-fashioned ideas of father as earner and mother as care-taker. She determines that many of these Mr. Moms would revert to traditional roles if they could afford it, though many of the wives enjoy having careers.
Dorothy Roberts argues that, contrary to popular belief, the poverty of black children is caused by racial oppression, not by their fathers being absent. Fatherlessness is a convenient excuse that dominant whites use to explain why many black families are living in poverty (it puts the onus on the black people themselves, not the system, for their troubles. She also speaks out against the policy of collecting child support for poor children in lieu of providing them welfare; since many black men are unemployed, their children would have more money coming to them if they received public assistance. People are so quick to judge the black family system as dysfunctional, she believes, since it is in contrast to the dominant white patriarchal image of a good father as a “married breadwinner.” (p. 152)
In Chapters 1 and 9 of No Man’s Land, Kathleen Gerson emphasizes that the modern reality that most men live does not match the dominant breadwinner image. Since women’s place has changed so much in recent decades, men find themselves redefining their roles too. Loss of men’s economic entitlement, the employment of women, and changes in family patterns have led to questions about what constitutes masculinity these days. If a man doesn’t necessarily run the house and win the bread, what does he do? Gerson’s research suggests that, though some men cling to the vestiges of patriarchy, many are abandoning the breadwinner system that they grew up in. A new image of father/husband as emotionally and practically involved in the family is emerging, albeit slowly.
I was glad that we did a chapter on men and fatherhood. Oftentimes, sociological literature concentrates on women’s issues. Though the study of women’s role in society is undeniably important, social changes affect men’s lives too. And since men’s lives are intertwined with those of women and children, it is a good idea to know how they as a gender are faring.
The Deutsch and Gerson articles talked about the changing roles of fathers, and to what extent they cling to or abandon the values of the breadwinner system. I think that 100 years from now, people in a history class are going to read their articles as primary sources, to learn about how things were back when we were making the transition from the “old” breadwinner system to the “new” egalitarian system. I think we are in the midst of a major sea change. As the economy changes, a new definition of family is emerging, along with entirely new gender roles. As the articles discuss, even people who want to cling to the traditional breadwinner family-organization are being forced to accept a more egalitarian way of life. Since children are being raised with their parents having a more egalitarian relationship, they will likely go onto model that when they start their own families. Many more children may even elect to remain unmarried, since divorce and nonmarraige among their parents today is so common. Roberts’ article also touched upon this generational influence: many black fathers are comfortable raising their children in “nontraditional” family units because that is how they were raised. Though none of these authors (except Roberts) explicitly call for policy reform, these articles demonstrate that the notion of the “proper” family is changing. So, policies are going to have to change with it.