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Working outside the home and traditional family gender roles: Is it time to reconsider?
Results so far:
| No | 22% | 104 votes | Total: 472 votes | |
| Yes | 78% | 368 votes |
No
by Jackie Ballway
Created on: March 22, 2008
At first glance, the debate can be interpreted in different ways: should working outside the home be reconsidered, or should the "traditional" Donna Reed lifestyle be reconsidered? Either way, my answer would be the same: a loud, resounding, "No!"
I have nothing but respect for stay-at-home mothers/fathers. We live in a time where either gender has the opportunity to care for their child/children and not be looked at in a negative light. One of my good friends is a mother of five girls. She, obviously, stays at home and takes care of them. The cost of childcare would outweigh any income she could bring in. The husband of a woman I work with stays home with their three children. Her income is sufficient enough to support the family and allows him to raise the kids himself.
Being a one-income family works for both couples. Why should their situation be reconsidered?
On the either side of the sphere are families in which both parents work. I have one of those families. My husband frames houses and I work in hospitality. We are both gone from morning to evening. We both enjoy after-work activities. Our son is a perfectly happy, healthy baby in daycare. He knows who we are, lights up when he sees us, and behaves for his daycare provider. We have no fear of him being mistreated.
If one of us stayed home to raise him, we wouldn't be able to afford our house, our cars, or my hefty book addiction. Our salaries are enough to outweigh the cost of childcare, and we take enough time during the day to ensure that our son knows we are his parents, not the woman who cares for him during the day.
Why should our situation be reconsidered?
We no longer live in an age where women are expected to take care of the home, relying on a man to "bring home the bacon". Women are executives, senators, managers, and mothers. There is no need to sacrifice one for the other.
To be quite frank, there is nothing really to reconsider. The barriers of the "traditional" family gender roles were broken down years ago, certainly before my time. Now is the time to sit back and revel in the opportunities we have, both at home and in the workplace.
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Yes
by Amanda Kringle
Created on: October 29, 2009
While there is nothing wrong with the idea of the traditional gender roles, in my opinion it just does not seem to be applicable anymore. In an society where single parent households are on the rise, gender specific roles are coming to the point that for the majority of families this idea of father being the bread winner" and the mother as the "home maker" is just obsolete.
Even in families where there are two parents, that does not necessarily mean that both parents are able to work. There are a growing number of families that have at least one disabled parent, or in a economic down time, there may be one parent that is unable to work.
Considering the idea of the perfect two parent household, I believe that it becomes obsolete to even implement such gender roles, because over the last several years women's rights have begun to take a more dramatic role in society and women have become to be more career oriented. Women of today are choosing to spend less time at home and more time in the job field. This enables there to be two income households, and it also makes dealing with the rise of cost of living easier to deal with in families who have a larger number of children, then the stereotypical two child household.
As for my personal opinion, I believe that the stereotypical gender roles are obsolete and the time has come for the realization that women are enteringthe workforce in greater numbers and that the time has come to embrace that fact. Gender roles have become really a figment of the past as their continues to be great strides in the social development of society, and to force something on a society that no longer fits is nothing short of ridiculous. We have come along way since the 50s and its time to embrace the changes and the inclusion of women as sole supporters of the home or as equal financial providers in the home.
To force such roles upon the next generate would be a sorrowful sight to behold, as women try to gain ground and make themselves equal. We cannot expect true equality among the female generation if we as a society continue to adhere to traditional gender roles.The truth is that although they were once acceptable and the norm in the majority of households, that idea just simple does not hold true today.
Learn more about this author, Amanda Kringle.
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