A Breadwinner Rethinks Gender Roles Summary
A Breadwinner Rethinks Gender Roles
In the January 27th 2007 edition of the New York Times, M. P. Dunleavey wrote an article entitled “A Breadwinner Rethinks Gender Roles.” In this article she highlights her current domestic arrangement with her husband and questions both the established gender roles and the feminist concept of the female bread winner. Dunleavey describes her current condition; she explains that as a woman of the post-modern society, she and her husband decided that she would be the breadwinner of the family while her husband stays at home and takes care of their child. She asserts that she was not prepared for the emotional issues that come with this kind of ultra-modern domestic situation. She admits that her idea of equality did not include her being the breadwinner of the family. She cites Harvard researchers Kathleen Gerson and Jerry Jacobs that our concept equality means that both partners are earners and this is the social template, but when it comes to the single income earning family where the woman is the breadwinner, it gets complicated. Dunleavey draws from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to …show more content…
In the section on gender roles Bjorklund et al questions what happens when there is a sudden change in the social and economic situations and how does that affect gender roles. This is much like the situation that occurred in Dunleavey’s household. Bjorklund et al posits that in the “United States the roles of women and men have changed asymmetrically, women have moved into the workplace in large numbers…but men have not taken on feminine roles to the same extent” (Bjorklund and Bee, 2008, p.136). It is interesting to note the use of the term “feminine roles” without even the word traditional inserted in front of it. This plays right into the stereo-type that they speak about, what exactly are feminine roles? Who defines these
In the January 27th 2007 edition of the New York Times, M. P. Dunleavey wrote an article entitled “A Breadwinner Rethinks Gender Roles.” In this article she highlights her current domestic arrangement with her husband and questions both the established gender roles and the feminist concept of the female bread winner. Dunleavey describes her current condition; she explains that as a woman of the post-modern society, she and her husband decided that she would be the breadwinner of the family while her husband stays at home and takes care of their child. She asserts that she was not prepared for the emotional issues that come with this kind of ultra-modern domestic situation. She admits that her idea of equality did not include her being the breadwinner of the family. She cites Harvard researchers Kathleen Gerson and Jerry Jacobs that our concept equality means that both partners are earners and this is the social template, but when it comes to the single income earning family where the woman is the breadwinner, it gets complicated. Dunleavey draws from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to …show more content…
In the section on gender roles Bjorklund et al questions what happens when there is a sudden change in the social and economic situations and how does that affect gender roles. This is much like the situation that occurred in Dunleavey’s household. Bjorklund et al posits that in the “United States the roles of women and men have changed asymmetrically, women have moved into the workplace in large numbers…but men have not taken on feminine roles to the same extent” (Bjorklund and Bee, 2008, p.136). It is interesting to note the use of the term “feminine roles” without even the word traditional inserted in front of it. This plays right into the stereo-type that they speak about, what exactly are feminine roles? Who defines these