rrl for men and women in the family

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RRL FOR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE FAMILY

THEORY/

CONCEPT

DIRECT QUOTE PARAPHRASED

IDEAS

SOURCES

Sex Roles in

Sociological

Literature

____________

Decision-

Making and

Sex Roles in

Marriage____________

Marital

Satisfaction

First Perspective:

1.) "Sex stratification," or what

others call "gender differentiation"

2.) This construct taps the idea

that aggregates of men and

women are not randomly

distributed. Instead, there is a

layering effect in which men tend

to enjoy greater amounts ofvalued rewards (both tangible

and intangible) than women.

3.) The first class oppression [is]

that of the female by the male

sex." From this perspective men

represent a dominant group in

society, women, a subordinate

group.

Second Perspective:

1.) Division of Labor by Sex

2.) It is the attachment of gender

to particular social

positions that gives rise to the

layering effect that exists in

virtually all known societies.

3.) most preindustrial settings

men became attached to roles that

existed in the public sphere;

women's roles were found in the

private sphere -- most

importantly, of course, in the

family.

4.) While modern societies make

J. Scanzoni & G. L.

Fox, Sex Roles,

Family and Society:

The Seventies and

Beyond,available at

http://www.jstor.o

rg/stable/351822

(last accessed Dec.

25, 2015)


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possible greater

interchangeability of the sexes

between public and private

spheres, most women still remain

part of a relatively disadvantagedstratum. As an interest group,

women currently have relatively

little power to change the existing

stratification system.

Third Perspective:

1.) Sex-Role Norms or Gender

Norms

2.) Often known as Sex-Role

Attitudes or Ideologies

3.) Taken to represent actors

evaluations of and reactions to the

sexual stratification system, and

to gender-linked division of labor.

If a woman has income, does she:

gain greater power, do less

housework, and feel less stress

and more life and maritalsatisfaction? Given McDonald's

(pp. 841-854) decade review of the

"family power" literature, we need

only emphasize that power itself

is simply one component of

the larger matter of decision-

making (Nagel, 1975) and that

tangible resources constitute

merely one dimension helping toaccount for the distribution of

conjugal and parent-child power

(Scanzoni and Szinovacz, 1980)

Part of the explanation for the

relative nonparticipation of


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husbands in household tasks is

the differing pace of changes in

preferences for housework. While

changes in women's occupational

behaviors are increasinglypreferred, changes in men's and

women's household behaviors are

comparatively less strongly

preferred by both sexes.

Comparisons of married men and

women, regardless of women's

employment status, have

consistently shown men to be

advantaged regarding morbidity,

mental health, depression, and

various measures of life

satisfaction. This sex difference is

generally thought to indicate that

marriage functions as a more

effective support system for men

than women.

There has been continuing

uncertainty whether or not the

wife's employment has positive,

neutral, or negative effects on the

husband's and on the wife's

satisfaction levels.

In trying to sort out the influences

on psychological well-being and

on marital satisfaction, the

overriding point seems to be that

differences in stress and

satisfactions (for both sexes) are

not dependent merely on the

objective reality of whether or not


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the wife works. Instead, high

stress and low satisfactions seem

to result primarily from the

inability of persons to achieve

their preferences.

It is the capability to achieve

particular preferences that seems

to enhance feelings of individual

and group well-being.

The preferences help cause the

sexes to be interdependent, thus

generating decision-making

processes that may some- times

entail conflict and negotiation.

These distinctions tend to

perpetuate stereotypical task-

assignments and gender

stratification. However, it appears

that children and young adults

whose parents are better educated

are less exposed to traditional

preferences and stereotypes than

children from less-advantaged

homes.

Historical

approach to

men and

women in the

family

Spanish

Regime

American Era

and the

The introduction of Spanish

customs, religion, and laws

imposed numerous restraints on

women.

The Roman doctrines of and aspatria potestas and paterfamilias

absolute ruler and the wife's

subordination to the authority of

her husband were seen in the

several provisions of the Spanish

M. Feliciano, Law,

Gender, and Family

in the Philippines,

available at

http://www.jstor.o

rg/stable/3054074

(last accessed Dec.25, 2015)


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Commonweal

th

Japanese

Occupation

The

Philippine

Republic

Onwards

Marriage Law of 1870, the

Spanish Code of Commerce of

1845, and the Spanish Civil Law

of 1885.

The pivotal events in the history

of the Filipina during the Spanish

regime were (1) her entry into the

world of wage labor, which came

with her employment in

government-owned tobacco

factories in 1781; (2) her demand

for a more enlightened education,

made in 1888 when the women of

Malolos petitioned Governor

General Weyler to open an

academy where they could learn

Spanish; (3) her admission to a

teaching career in 1894;2 and (4)

her involvement in the liberation

of the country in 1896.

Under U.S. rule the political laws

of the Philippines were totally

abrogated, and Spanish laws,

customs, and property rights

inconsistent with the U.S.

Constitution and with American

principles and institutions were

superseded.

U.S. rule ushered in the concepts

of liberty and egalitarianism.

Education, too, was a priority. Act

No. 74 (1901) provided for free

primary education for boys and

girls and gave access to a normal

school, a trade school, and a


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school of agriculture. Admission

to state universities and colleges

was open to all regardless of sex,

as was stated explicitly in the law

that established theUniversity of the Philippines in

1908.

Between 1912 and 1933 bills were

introduced to extend suffrage to

women, but not until 1933, with

the passage of Act No. 4112, were

women granted the right to vote

and made eligible for all public

offices. This statute was never

implemented, however, because a

constitutional convention was

convoked in 1934.

The government adopted policies

to protect women in the work

force, but, in fact, these merely

restricted employment

opportunities. Special protection

was based on the relative physical

weakness of the average woman

and on her child-bearing and

maternal functions. Despite the

seeming improvement in the

status of women, then, the

stereotype of women as wives and

mothers remained.

During this period, a more liberal

divorce law was promulgated.

The allowable reasons for divorce

were (1) adultery on the part of


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the wife and concubinage on the

part of the husband; (2) the

attempt by one spouse on the life

of the other; (3) a second or

subsequent marriage by eitherspouse before the first marriage

was legally dissolved; (4) a

loathsome contagious disease; (5)

incurable insanity; (6) impotence;

(7) intentional or unjustified

desertion for one year; (8) an

unexplained absence for three

years; (9) repeated bodily violence

of such a nature that the spouses

could not continue living together

without endangering the lives of

both or of one of them; and (10)

slander by deed or gross insult to

such an extent that further living

together was impracticable.

Establishment of the 1935

Philippine Constitution.

Independence also brought many

social changes, resulting in the

gradual restoration of women's

rights. In drafting the Civil Code,

the Code Com- mission adopted

as a fundamental principle the

liberalization of women's rights,

which is reflected in several

provisions.

Although liberal laws were

adopted, the code retained

discriminatory provisions against

women. For example, the code set

the age of consent for marriage at


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16 years of age for males and

14 for females (art. 54). Parental

consent was required for females

below 18 to marry and for males

below 20 (art. 62). A daughtercould not leave the parental home

without the consent of the father

or mother in whose company she

lived except when she became a

wife or when she exercised a

profession or calling or when the

father or mother contracted a

subsequent marriage (art. 403);

these requirements did not apply

to a son.

Other obvious manifestations of

the husband's authority were

illustrated by his right to fix the

family residence (art. 110); the

father's power to administer the

property of unemancipated

children (art. 320); the father's

preferential right to give or deny

consent for the marriage of a child

(art. 61); and the husband's

administration of the conjugal

property (arts. 112 & 165).

Until the enactment of the Family

Code, widows were also

discriminated against. Civil Code

article 84 provides that "nomarriage license shall be issued to

a widow till after three hundred

days following the death of her

husband, unless in the meantime

she has given birth to a child."


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The purpose of the law was to

prevent confusion about the

paternity of a child, but this could

easily be prevented by the

issuance of a medical certificate tothe effect that the applicant is not

pregnant.

Justice Irene R. Cortes said in a

1992 speech before the Philip-

pine Women Judges Association:

"[R]eform in the law

unaccompanied by a change in

the environment in which the law

will operate, cannot by itself

achieve the objective sought."

Necessity for

marriage

between men

and women

Nock Men reap greater gains

than women for virtually every

outcome affected by marriage.

Research results the greater

benefit of marriage for men than

for women on many dimensions,

particularly physical and mental

health.

Women provide "kin-keeping"

Benefits to men by strengthening

their relationships with their

children and other relatives.

By implication, they posit

marriage to be a normal good

for men but an inferior good for

women when they argue thatincreased earnings lead men to

buy into family roles (Becker)

while women use theirs to buy

out of marriage. (Espenshade

and Westoff)

F. Goldscheider &

G. Kaufman, Do

Men "Need" a

Spouse More than

Women?:

Perceptions of the

Importance of

Marriage for Men

and Women,

available at

http://www.jstor.o

rg/stable/40220088

(last accessed on

December 25, 2015)


10/12

Behavior can be meaningfully

interpreted only when we

understand the belief systems that

surround the act (Tucker). Indeed,women with more positive

attitudes toward marriage marry

more quickly than those with less

positive attitudes.

While most people believe that

the married are happier than

those who are not married, this

belief is more likely to be held by

men more than women. (Axinn

and Thornton 2000)

Both men and women agree that

it is easier for a woman than a

man to have a fully satisfying life

without marrying. Both men and

women appear to realize the

differential benefits of marriage

for men, such as the findings that

married men are healthier and

happier and have higher incomes

and more sex than unmarried

men (Waite 1995).

Marriage may also be tied to

cultural conceptions of

masculinity, and marriage may

even be seen as a rite of passageinto manhood (Nock, 1998)

Work Effort

differences

between men

and women

Recent developments in human

capital theory suggest that men

and women differ in how they

allocate effort to work activities.

D. Bielby & W

Bielby, She Works

Hard for the

Money: Household

Responsibilities


11/12

(Domestic

and Labor) Are women willing to work

harder and more efficiently than

men for a given level of rewards?

Social psychological research onequity processes suggests that this

is so.

Experiments show that men and

women differ in how they invoke

equity considerations in allocating

effort and rewards. On average,

women pay themselves less than

men performing the same task,

and they tend to undervalue their

efforts relative to men

(Lenney1977; Callahan-Levyand

Messe 1979; Major, McFarlin, and

Gagnon 1984). It appears that, on

average, women have lower

internal standards of "personal

entitlement" and, in the absence

of salient, external comparison

standards, make fairness

judgments based on application

of same-sex norms about

appropriate rewards (Bergeretal.

1972;Crosby1982)

Evidence on sex differences in

entitlement standards and effort is

limited to experimental social

psychological studies.

Most men and women work in

sex-segregated jobs (Epstein 1970;

Oppenheimer1970; Bielbyand

Baron 1984,1986; Reskinand

Hartmann 1986).

and the Allocation

of Work Effort,

available at

http://www.jstor.o

rg/stable/2780364

(last accessed onDec. 25, 2015)


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As long as women lack

information about the reward

structure for men, they will be

willing to work for less pay.(Moreover, husbands of working

women benefit by avoiding

responsibility for household

activities, despite the fact that

their wives expend as much, or

more, energy as they do at work.)

The lower work effort of women is

assumed to be due to their greater

family responsibilities and lower

market human capital.

rrl for men and women in the family

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