I am interested in exploring questions pertaining to the possibility of realizing gender equality within marital relationships and happy family life of couples in the age range of 20 to 55 years. I am thinking of gender here as the socially constructed roles, behaviors, feelings and attitudes expected of girls and boys, women and men, in a given society. I am also thinking of it in terms of the rights, power and privileges accorded or denied as well as the restrictions and taboos imposed on any sex. I make a distinction between sex (the condition of being male or female) which is biological, natural and fairly constant, and gender which is social, cultural, human-made, learned and therefore changeable. Furthermore, I think of gender equality as a situation where girls and boys, women and men, have equal opportunities for participation and enjoyment of rights, responsibilities and privileges in their society without any legal, cultural, political, economic, religious, or social hindrance on the basis of their sex. How is gender equality expressed in terms of distribution of roles, responsibilities and opportunities among family members? What role do educational attainment, religious beliefs and attitudes or the lack thereof, play in influencing such distribution in matters of: participation in family leadership/decision-making (about finance, recreation/vacation, child-bearing/rearing/caring, child-spacing, keeping a job or letting a job go, etc); who calls the shots? participation in home-making, cooking, serving, cleaning, etc; cultural/social symbolizations and ritualizations: that is who does what, why, when, where and how, based on whether they are boy or girl, woman or man? Who leads the family devotion for example? E.g who drives the car when the couple travels together? Who sits where at table? Who speaks and who must be silent? How are these symbolizations and ritualizations justified? Are the gendered practices around participation in roles, responsibilities and opportunities in family settings contributing to the overall wellbeing of humanity in light of the United Nations sustainable development goals? The questions raised here are not concerned with LGBT issues. Rather they are concerned with gender issues that are a matter of life and death for many women and girls in many world contexts. So please if anyone knows of real life examples of couples and families, anywhere the world, who are living on a basis of gender equality or if someone has any literature related to the subject of this research interest, I will be very grateful if they can share with me.
Equality, equity, and related issues are perhaps taken care of passionately in a family. There is enough evidence of coexistence in family set up. Exceptions may exist, but these exceptions are to be managed exceptionally.
There are too many issues to be addressed in your questions ranging from statutory and non-statutory rights; adjudicatory and non-adjudicatory rights and perhaps; universal human rights which should be of interest to all of us. However, i'll appreciate if you can break it to one or two specific issue(s) for determination and then, we can can look for laws (statutory and case laws), commentaries and specific norms that addresses such issue(s).
Yes. It is possible in family life: between siblings and within a married couple. Also in the spouse.
My answer is yes, but the larger question is about cultural gender norms. Heteronormative gender norms are deeply policed within every culture throughout the world (for the most part because of the legacy of patriarchy and colonization). While you say this has nothing to do with LGBT people, it actually does. Gender norms restrict everyone's abilities to flourish in the world in the way that they were meant to be, straight women, straight men, cis-gender women, cis-gender men, and lgbti people. Gender norms are strict in order to maintain power for the patriarchal structures that exist in most cultures. Look to cultures that are matriarchal (some American Indian cultures & Akan in Ghana, etc.). Anyway, this is a very important question that you are asking as we know....as the health and well-being of women in the world go...so goes the health and well-being of the world
Also in our family the parents do the same things and the children of both sexes are taught the same way (all participate in cooking/cleaning dishes and all do martial arts and play piano). - But i know families where the men are more bound to working, as they have a highly demanding job and somtimes staying away the whole week, and leave the rest to their wives. Also i know divorced couples, where he refused good jobs in order to stay more close to the child and thus being able to take care the weekends.
Also in our family the parents do the same things and the children of both sexes are taught the same way (all participate in cooking/cleaning dishes and all do martial arts and play piano). - But i know families where the men are more bound to working, as they have a highly demanding job and somtimes staying away the whole week, and leave the rest to their wives. Also i know divorced couples, where he refused good jobs in order to stay more close to the child and thus being able to take care the weekends.
We can still perceive the existence and influence of gender stereotypes in Family, Education, Business and so on. A new study (written by Cornelia Koppetsch & Sarah Speck 2015: Wenn der Mann kein Ernährer mehr ist. Geschlechterkonflikte in Krisenzeiten) focuses on heterosexual couples in Germany, where the female part works and the male part stays at home. As far as I grasped it: The authors found out, that neither "role reversal" nor "household-sharing" really works. And it depends on the social-economic Status of the family, wether gender equality is intended or part of an agreement between the partners. Statistically spoken, women still carry 2/3 of family work - thus sustaining masculinity of their partner as well as keeping up w/ the image of "good motherliness". "Happy couples" are characterised by an attitude of acceptance and "good will", leaving small-minded crticism behind.
Dear Colleagues,
Many thanks to all who have contributed. I am very appreciative of your time, thoughts and information on resource materials shared.
RU
Dear Colleagues,
Many thanks to all who have contributed. I am very appreciative of your time, thoughts and information on resource materials shared.
RU
I think that depends on cultural context and gender contract which is created within each society differently. I come form Poland and gender issues are completely imbalanced in my country e.g.: women are expected to be professionally active and ... mothers and perfect wives and look after the household/family. This double work-day can be seen as an oppressive situation in context of not only professional development, equal pay but also it makes only mother(s) almost entierly responsible for children's school, health, socialisation and...life success. It is huge responsibility and an hard to share burden.
But I still believe this is possible and gender equality is one of the component of truly happy family life:)
check Margunn Bjørnholt's research from Norway (about men's role as fathers and partners in equality oriented families; [email protected]). Perhaps that will be helpful... Best, natalia
From the African perspective, it can be dual. Traditional and modern. Traditional - the sons and fathers are the main persons in the home and come first in nearly all issues while the female gender becomes the second citizens. Modern - which is taking over now especially in cities - because of education is where both the genders are treated equally. But again, religion also plays a part. In the Islamic environment, the male gender is more respected but in Northern Nigeria, this same gender is pushed out of the house at an early age to fend for itself. The female gender is cared for because of what the family will gain from the marriage dowry. In the Christian world here, both genders are seen as equal except where tradition conflicts. It is therefore an ongoing transformation issue
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