Examine critically some of the ways in which the sociology of the social divisions have impacted on your own personal and family history, and assess the implications for your professional practice as a social worker.

Social divisions refer to the social differences that are constructed between different groups or members of society society.  These can range in the influence they may have on an individual from a person being disabled or able bodied, smoker or non-smoker and male or female.  This means that it is impossible for people not to come into contact with social divisions at some stage during the life course and also means that people may experience social divisions within social divisions for example a disabled smoker in a workforce dominated by able-bodied non-smokers.

The first social division I became aware was that of gender.  I am one of three children and I am also the youngest.  My sister is the eldest, my brother a year younger than her and myself four years younger than her. I feel that being the youngest gave me the chance to observe how differently my brother and sister were treated.   My sister was always expected to help with the housework while my brother helped my father to mend the roof of the garden shed and dig the garden over.  Even though my sister was the eldest my brother was allowed to stay out later and was also allowed to go to the local youth club, whereas my sister was not allowed to go because she was a girl. At Christmas time my brother always received guns and soldiers while my sister and myself got dolls and tea sets, emphasising the domestic roll.  Such gifts were also given by extended family such as aunts, uncles and grandparents.  This was my first experience of my parents attitudes that the female is the carer and nurturer of the family while the male is the provider and protector.  This attitude is called patriarchy and is described by Sylvia Walby as “a system of social structures, and practices, in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women”, (Bilton et al p.140).  Walby believes in two types of patriarchy, private and public.  Private patriarchy describes the way in which women are controlled by their husbands or fathers for the benefit of the male as it is the male who benefits most from patriarchal relations.

Gender as a division became much more apparent as I got older.  Going to secondary school I found that my parents attitudes towards gender were reinforced by the teachers.  The girls were expected to do cookery while the boys did woodwork and metalwork and in the school playground the girls were not allowed on the football side.  I found this very hard to accept as I enjoyed playing football but disliked domestic tasks and could not understand why I was not allowed to do the same things the boys did.  When I complained about this to my mother I was always told that women just had to accept their lot in life and not complain.  My grandmother was more severe in her attitude and often stated that the war had taught women to disrespect their husbands role as the provider.  The older females in my family appeared to support the idea that women should be the carer and the men the breadwinner.  In contemporary society, although women are now involved in the labour market, the employment tends to mirror their domestic role in jobs such as nursing, teaching etc.