3 Comments

But millennial women don’t marry millennial men. They marry men born before that and those born-before millennial men are far more rigid.

[Reply]

I found your article very interesting. I am currently writing a paper about the evolution of gender roles in our society. Thus far my research supports your ideas that men are increasingly stepping into more active roles in the home. The job of raising and caring for the children and the home and no longer considered only a woman’s role. It would be only natural for men to begin feeling torn between home and carreer goals due to the increasing connection they have with their families.

If these modern families become the norm, companies will have to make major adjustments to accomodate the working family. No longer can they rely on the “wife” taking care of business.Both parents must be present.

[Reply]

Thanks to her I have it all. She gave birth to me, she fed me, she clothed me, she taught me the simple and the complex things about life, she worked to support me. She does everything for me. After losing her father at a young age and being sent away to another town to study, my mother dedicated herself to succeed. I often do not comprehend how did she get to the place she is at right now. She came from a very small village where their only way of subsistence was by farming. Today, she owns a successful business, she has an assortment of assets, she has triumphed in raising three girls and she has had the responsibility of sustaining most of her siblings and children when they are in need. What more can you ask for?
The interesting part is getting to know how did she get to be so successful? After all, she is a woman in the Mexican society. It is indeed true that gender roles have changed all over the world. In every society, man repressed the woman and their only role was to have children, stay at home, and run the household. Women depended entirely on men and they were definitely not self-sufficient. Necessity was a big factor that caused all of these traditions to change. In my mother’s life, the necessity to keep on living after her father’s death made her persevere and struggle to get an education. According to Parrado, Flippen, and McQuiston schooling is one of the most important factors that enhance women’s power within relationships. Education provides women with knowledge and verbal skills that directly facilitate their participation in decision-making processes.
Even though women have more freedom nowadays and they are granted with more opportunities to obtain an education, to have respectable careers, and even to be successful single mothers, repression and gender prejudice still exist in many societies. Focusing on the Mexican society, most of the women still form part of the traditional roles – those being still staying at home, cooking, taking care of the children, not learning to drive or using technologies, not getting an education, you name it. I can strongly relate to this because apart from my mother; all of my aunts are controlled, on tasks they can and cannot do, by their husbands. I like to see them as conformists rather than traditionalists because I know they want to break apart from their husband’s chains but they just will not do it. Why? Well, Gomes claims that adult and older generations are reinforcing the traditional female roles, which are centered on taking care of the family and routinizing domestic activities. I completely agree with this based on what I see in my family. My grandmother always advice her daughters that they must do whatever their husbands order every time my aunts try to “rebel” and break free.
As I look closer and closer to the actions of the women in my family, I come to the realization that I will never be like my aunts. Frequently, my mother has repeated to my sisters and me that we must be independent and self-sufficient. She has tried to inculcate into us that a woman with no education or passion for life is nothing. Yes, my mother has always been a working mom but that did not stop her from raising us properly. There is a way for everything in life and I am completely sure that breaking away from your husband’s dominance will not cause your family to be dysfunctional.
To those women who have already become independent, I must applaud you. My independence must look wrong in certain societies, including the Mexican community I come from, but I have been taught that a woman must be perseverant, dedicated, passionate, and powerful. I do encourage those housewives that feel repressed to open their eyes and look at the opportunities the real world has in stock, I know they will be surprised as my mother was in the beginning.

[Reply]

Leave a Comment