William J. Scarborough and Barbara Risman (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA) and Ray Sin (Morningstar Inc., USA) published in Gender & Society Volume 33 Issue 2 (April 2019)
Abstract
Empirical studies show that though there is more room for improvement, much progress has been made toward gender equality since the second wave of feminism. Evidence also suggests that women’s advancements have been more dramatic in the public sphere of work and politics than in the private sphere of family life.
We argue that this lopsided gender progress may be traced to uneven changes in gender attitudes. Using data from more than 27,000 respondents who participated in the General Social Survey from 1977 through 2016, we show that gender attitudes have more than one underlying dimension and that these dimensions have changed at different rates over time.
Using latent class analysis, we find that the distribution of respondents’ attitudes toward gender equality has changed over the past 40 years.
There has been an increase in the number of egalitarians who support equality in public and private spheres, while the traditionals who historically opposed equality in both domains have been replaced by ambivalents who feel differently about gender equality in the public and private spheres.
Meanwhile, successive birth cohorts are becoming more egalitarian, with Generation-Xers and Millennials being the most likely to hold strong egalitarian views. The feminist revolution has succeeded in promoting egalitarian views and decreasing the influence of gender traditionalism, but has yet to convince a substantial minority that gender equality should extend to both public and private spheres of social life
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Friday, 8 March 2019
Tuesday, 24 October 2017
Education, parenting and family: The social geographies of family learning
an article by Emma Wainwright and Elodie Marandet (Brunel University London, UK) published in British Educational Research Journal
Volume 43 Issue 2 (April 2017)
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between education, parenting and family through the prism and particularities of family learning.
Family learning is an example of an educational initiative, primarily aimed at parents and linked to wider policy concerns, which can be explored through a mapping of its social geographies; family learning is played out across and productive of different sites, spaces and identities.
Based on qualitative research undertaken in West London, this paper draws on individual and group interviews with mothers participating in family learning classes and interviews with family learning providers. The key argument we extend is that focusing on the social geographies of family learning - of home, school, work, community and nation - allows us to see how educational initiatives extend the state's reach in family life, producing particular normative versions of family and ‘good’ parenting operating at a range of interconnecting scales.
Education remains a cornerstone of family policy in the UK and detailed analyses of specific initiatives at the point of implementation – how they are practised and received – is vital for better understanding their diverse and varied effects in contemporary society.
Full text (HTML)
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between education, parenting and family through the prism and particularities of family learning.
Family learning is an example of an educational initiative, primarily aimed at parents and linked to wider policy concerns, which can be explored through a mapping of its social geographies; family learning is played out across and productive of different sites, spaces and identities.
Based on qualitative research undertaken in West London, this paper draws on individual and group interviews with mothers participating in family learning classes and interviews with family learning providers. The key argument we extend is that focusing on the social geographies of family learning - of home, school, work, community and nation - allows us to see how educational initiatives extend the state's reach in family life, producing particular normative versions of family and ‘good’ parenting operating at a range of interconnecting scales.
Education remains a cornerstone of family policy in the UK and detailed analyses of specific initiatives at the point of implementation – how they are practised and received – is vital for better understanding their diverse and varied effects in contemporary society.
Full text (HTML)
Friday, 24 February 2017
Construction and deconstruction of ‘family’ by the ‘bedroom tax’
an article by Anat Greenstein (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) and Erica Burman, Afroditi Kalambouka and Kate Sapin (University of Manchester, UK) published in British Politics Volume 11 Issue 4 (December 2016)
Abstract
This article explores how the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy policy, commonly known as the Bedroom Tax, works materially and discursively to create certain types of individuals and families as valued and deserving, while portraying others as excessive, wasteful or discretionary.
The paper draws on a qualitative study project (Bragg et al., 2015) which generated accounts from 14 families impacted by the policy, as well as 39 interviews with key workers in local schools, charities and community organisations.
Through analysis of official texts (such as the policy text and related debates in Parliament) and interview data, the paper explores how particular gendered understandings of care and kinship are constructed, regulated, penalised, and performed via the Bedroom Tax, and how these impact on the everyday lives of families subject to the subsidy removal, and beyond this also to their neighbours and neighbourhoods.
Abstract
This article explores how the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy policy, commonly known as the Bedroom Tax, works materially and discursively to create certain types of individuals and families as valued and deserving, while portraying others as excessive, wasteful or discretionary.
The paper draws on a qualitative study project (Bragg et al., 2015) which generated accounts from 14 families impacted by the policy, as well as 39 interviews with key workers in local schools, charities and community organisations.
Through analysis of official texts (such as the policy text and related debates in Parliament) and interview data, the paper explores how particular gendered understandings of care and kinship are constructed, regulated, penalised, and performed via the Bedroom Tax, and how these impact on the everyday lives of families subject to the subsidy removal, and beyond this also to their neighbours and neighbourhoods.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Negotiating Time and Space for Study: Student-parents and Familial Relationships
an article by Rachel Brooks (University of Surrey, UK) published in Sociology Volume 47 Number 3 (June 2013)
Abstract
Historically, university cultures have been described as masculine in orientation, and the ‘ideal learner’ as male, white, middle-class and unencumbered by domestic responsibility.
Nevertheless, more recent work has highlighted certain spaces within the higher education sector which, it is argued, are more welcoming of female students and those with family commitments. While there may now be more institutional spaces open to student-parents and others with caring responsibilities, we know little about whether similar change has been wrought in the domestic sphere.
Drawing on interviews with 68 student-parents, this article explores the various strategies UK students with dependent children used to find time and space, within the home, to pursue their studies.
By comparing these to the strategies used by student-parents at Danish universities, the article considers the extent to which differences in gender norms and state policy with respect to both higher education and childcare affect day-to-day familial practices.
Abstract
Historically, university cultures have been described as masculine in orientation, and the ‘ideal learner’ as male, white, middle-class and unencumbered by domestic responsibility.
Nevertheless, more recent work has highlighted certain spaces within the higher education sector which, it is argued, are more welcoming of female students and those with family commitments. While there may now be more institutional spaces open to student-parents and others with caring responsibilities, we know little about whether similar change has been wrought in the domestic sphere.
Drawing on interviews with 68 student-parents, this article explores the various strategies UK students with dependent children used to find time and space, within the home, to pursue their studies.
By comparing these to the strategies used by student-parents at Danish universities, the article considers the extent to which differences in gender norms and state policy with respect to both higher education and childcare affect day-to-day familial practices.
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Overwork and the Persistence of Gender Segregation in Occupations
an article by Youngjoo Cha (Indiana University, USA) published in Gender & Society Volume 27 Number 2 (April 2013)
Abstract
This study investigates whether the increasingly common trend of working long hours (“overwork”) perpetuates gender segregation in occupations.
While overwork is an expected norm in many male-dominated occupations, women, especially mothers, are structurally less able to meet this expectation because their time is subject to family demands more than is men’s time.
This study investigates whether the conflicting time demands of work and family increase attrition rates of mothers in male-dominated occupations, thereby reinforcing occupational segregation.
Using longitudinal data drawn from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, I show that mothers are more likely to leave male-dominated occupations when they work 50 hours or more per week, but the same effect is not found for men or childless women.
Results also show that overworking mothers are more likely to exit the labor force entirely, and this pattern is specific to male-dominated occupations. These findings demonstrate that the norm of overwork in male-dominated workplaces and the gender beliefs operating in the family combine to reinforce gender segregation of the labor market.
Abstract
This study investigates whether the increasingly common trend of working long hours (“overwork”) perpetuates gender segregation in occupations.
While overwork is an expected norm in many male-dominated occupations, women, especially mothers, are structurally less able to meet this expectation because their time is subject to family demands more than is men’s time.
This study investigates whether the conflicting time demands of work and family increase attrition rates of mothers in male-dominated occupations, thereby reinforcing occupational segregation.
Using longitudinal data drawn from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, I show that mothers are more likely to leave male-dominated occupations when they work 50 hours or more per week, but the same effect is not found for men or childless women.
Results also show that overworking mothers are more likely to exit the labor force entirely, and this pattern is specific to male-dominated occupations. These findings demonstrate that the norm of overwork in male-dominated workplaces and the gender beliefs operating in the family combine to reinforce gender segregation of the labor market.
Monday, 11 March 2013
Gender convergence in core housework hours: Assessing the relevance of earlier approaches for explaining current trends
an article by Jenny Chesters (University of Canberra, Australia) published in Journal of Sociology Volume 49 Number 1 (March 2013)
Abstract
The increase in dual-earner families over the last few decades raises questions about whether men are sharing the homemaker role now that women are sharing the breadwinner role.
Theories of the allocation of unpaid work, such as dependency and exchange approaches, time availability and gender display, were developed during the period when the male-breadwinner family was the dominant family type in many Western societies.
Using data collected by three Australian surveys conducted between 1986 and 2005 (N = 5598), I find that the increase in dual-earner families has been accompanied by a convergence in housework hours due to men spending more time and women spending less time doing core housework tasks.
Attitudes to gender roles appear to be the key predictor of housework hours overriding the effects of time availability, income and relative income
Abstract
The increase in dual-earner families over the last few decades raises questions about whether men are sharing the homemaker role now that women are sharing the breadwinner role.
Theories of the allocation of unpaid work, such as dependency and exchange approaches, time availability and gender display, were developed during the period when the male-breadwinner family was the dominant family type in many Western societies.
Using data collected by three Australian surveys conducted between 1986 and 2005 (N = 5598), I find that the increase in dual-earner families has been accompanied by a convergence in housework hours due to men spending more time and women spending less time doing core housework tasks.
Attitudes to gender roles appear to be the key predictor of housework hours overriding the effects of time availability, income and relative income
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Revisiting ‘mothers and sons’ preference formation and the female labor force in Switzerland
an article by Aline Bütikofer (Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Norway) published in Labour Economics Volume 20 (January 2013)
Abstract
This paper analyses the interrelation between men’s gender role attitudes and female labour supply decision. Following Fernández et al. (2004), I argue that the recent increases in the female labour market participation rate are driven by the growing proportion of men who were brought up in a family with a working mother.
First, the paper re-examines the results of the cross-section analysis of Fernández et al. (2004) using the Swiss Household Panel 2005 to illustrate that married women whose mothers-in-law were working are themselves significantly more likely to be in the labour force.
In a second step, the paper attempts to test one of their model’s crucial mechanisms and show that the effect of a wife’s labour market integration on her husband’s well-being diverges depending on the former labour market status of his mother.
Taken together, this evidence can be interpreted as varying preferences for women with high labour market integration due to exposure to certain sexual stereotypes early in life.
Highlights
► I analyse interrelations between marriage choice and female labour supply decision.
► Married women are more likely to work when their mothers-in-law were working.
► A wife's contribution to household income reduces her husband's satisfaction.
► The negative effect is only significant when the husband raised by working a mother.
JEL Classification J22, I31, J12
Full text (PDF 10pp)
Abstract
This paper analyses the interrelation between men’s gender role attitudes and female labour supply decision. Following Fernández et al. (2004), I argue that the recent increases in the female labour market participation rate are driven by the growing proportion of men who were brought up in a family with a working mother.
First, the paper re-examines the results of the cross-section analysis of Fernández et al. (2004) using the Swiss Household Panel 2005 to illustrate that married women whose mothers-in-law were working are themselves significantly more likely to be in the labour force.
In a second step, the paper attempts to test one of their model’s crucial mechanisms and show that the effect of a wife’s labour market integration on her husband’s well-being diverges depending on the former labour market status of his mother.
Taken together, this evidence can be interpreted as varying preferences for women with high labour market integration due to exposure to certain sexual stereotypes early in life.
Highlights
► I analyse interrelations between marriage choice and female labour supply decision.
► Married women are more likely to work when their mothers-in-law were working.
► A wife's contribution to household income reduces her husband's satisfaction.
► The negative effect is only significant when the husband raised by working a mother.
JEL Classification J22, I31, J12
Full text (PDF 10pp)
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Stay-at-Home Fathers and Breadwinning Mothers …
Gender, Couple Dynamics, and Social Change
an article by Noelle Chesley (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) published in Gender & Society Volume 25 Number 5 (October 2011)
Abstract
I examine experiences of married couples to better understand whether economic shifts that push couples into gender-atypical work/family arrangements influence gender inequality. I draw on in-depth interviews conducted in 2008 with stay-at-home husbands and their wives in 21 married-couple families with children (42 individual interviews). I find that the decision to have a father stay home is heavily influenced by economic conditions, suggesting that men’s increased job instability and shifts in the relative employment conditions of husbands and wives push some men into at-home fatherhood. However, this shift in family arrangements can promote change toward greater gender equality even in couples that initially hold entrenched, gendered beliefs. The data indicate that at-home fathers come to value their increased involvement in children’s care in ways that reduce gender differences in parenting and that have the potential to translate into institutional change, particularly when they re-enter the labour force. Furthermore, at-home father arrangements generally appear to provide increased support for women’s employment and promote changes in women’s work behaviour that may reduce inequities that stem from traditionally gendered divisions in work/family responsibilities.
Hazel’s comment:
What I would now like to see, whether studied in the UK or elsewhere, is whether employers are less likely to favour a male returner to the labour market. My instinct tells me that a child-rearing break is acceptable for a woman but not for a man when wanting to take up some form of employment.
an article by Noelle Chesley (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) published in Gender & Society Volume 25 Number 5 (October 2011)
Abstract
I examine experiences of married couples to better understand whether economic shifts that push couples into gender-atypical work/family arrangements influence gender inequality. I draw on in-depth interviews conducted in 2008 with stay-at-home husbands and their wives in 21 married-couple families with children (42 individual interviews). I find that the decision to have a father stay home is heavily influenced by economic conditions, suggesting that men’s increased job instability and shifts in the relative employment conditions of husbands and wives push some men into at-home fatherhood. However, this shift in family arrangements can promote change toward greater gender equality even in couples that initially hold entrenched, gendered beliefs. The data indicate that at-home fathers come to value their increased involvement in children’s care in ways that reduce gender differences in parenting and that have the potential to translate into institutional change, particularly when they re-enter the labour force. Furthermore, at-home father arrangements generally appear to provide increased support for women’s employment and promote changes in women’s work behaviour that may reduce inequities that stem from traditionally gendered divisions in work/family responsibilities.
Hazel’s comment:
What I would now like to see, whether studied in the UK or elsewhere, is whether employers are less likely to favour a male returner to the labour market. My instinct tells me that a child-rearing break is acceptable for a woman but not for a man when wanting to take up some form of employment.
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