The introduction of the National Curriculum meant girls were to be taught Maths, English, Science and Technology up until the age of 16. This advancement in education has meant that women now take up around half of all higher education places.
Over the years, the idea of job segregation has slackened and begun to allow women into more areas of work and women began to start families later in life. This has gradually increased over many years with women being accepted in almost all area of work nowadays. However women still tend to work in a more limited range of occupations than men do and still get paid on average 20% less than men for the jobs that they do according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. This may seem a lot but compared to 45% less in 1969, it can be seen that the wage gap has shrunken.
Women are definitely becoming more independent with relation to working. Women are getting a lot higher in the jobs they do and can now be seen in managerial positions. However, we only need to look at Tony Blair’s cabinet of ministers to see that there is still a lack of women in high-powered positions. The lack of childcare and women’s toilets in the House of Commons gives a hint that women are still not really welcome.
Women are generally marrying later and birth rates are declining throughout the world. Children born to unmarried mothers have increased dramatically in developed regions, which is due to the fact that more child day care facilities have been opened, to look after children while the mother is at work
It was not only women who were affected by the idea of job segregation and ‘gendered’ jobs. Job segregation has previously stopped men from entering professions such as hairdressing and nursing but more and more men are now starting to get into these jobs. Although men are now working in what were traditionally seen as women’s jobs, for example nurses instead of doctors, these jobs have become a lot more technological than they used to be. Being a nurse is no longer about basic jobs such as emptying bedpans, it is also about using computers and technological equipment.
The 1990’s began a media hype about what became known as the ‘New Man’. This is a term used to refer to househusbands, men who stay at home, doing the housework and looking after the children, whilst the wife goes to work. According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of househusbands has risen from 44,000 to 99,000 since 1974. However, although more men are becoming househusbands, men’s position in the labour market is not changing. Approximately 94% of men aged 25-54 were in the labour force in 1995, as was the case in 1971.
A survey of 902 women was carried out at The University of Memphis. The women were all Harvard University graduates with at least 1 child. Out of these women, 70% had reduced their hours of paid work because of their children, over 50% had changed jobs to accommodate childcare responsibilities and nearly 40% claimed that parenting had slowed down their career advancement. Out of all the women surveyed, only one had a househusband.
The reason why only one had a househusband seems to be due to the fact that men do not specialise in household duties or childcare and men who are simply at home as they are out of work do not have much to offer these highly paid females.
Seidler, a masculinist, states that men are linked strongly to the public sphere, the workplace, rather than the private sphere, the home. He thinks that because men are more restricted from the private sphere, they do not develop the same emotional skills as women do; which means that they are not as good at looking after other people as women are. The idea of ‘masculinity’ that is dominant in our society also emphasis traditional male characteristics such as aggression and discourages men from showing their emotions. This makes it more difficult for men to take an active role in tasks such as childcare as it would involve breaking these ‘social norms’.
A new law was introduced in order to help men who wanted to help with the parenting of their child. Men are now entitled to 30 days of paternity leave, but in comparison to maternity leave which is 6 months, this does not seem to allow the father much time to bond with the child. This shows that society still views women as the primary carers for children.
It can also be seen in custody cases in which in the majority of cases the mother is awarded custody of the child and the father visitation rights. This shows that although men may be taking up more active roles in bringing up children, this is still not recognised by courts.
Wilmott and Young describe the family as having three different stages; pre-industrial, industrial and symmetrical. With the industrial stages referring to the traditional idea of male breadwinners and symmetrical referring to a family in which the partners play more equal roles. They suggest that this theory can be supported by the change in occupational structure. Women are very obviously no longer confined to the home and play an economic role in the family.
This theory is contradicted by Oakley and Maynard who provided research showing that women in paid employment are still contributing to housework and their working week has increased and women in full time employment are still primarily responsible for housework. Similar research by Port Talbot, Delphy and Leonard found that men do not take over domestic chores as they see it as an attack on their masculinity.
Statistics show that in double income households, the average time spent on housekeeping and childcare by women has increased between 1986 and 1996 from 3.32 hours a day to 3.54 hours, whereas the time spent on these activities by men has only increased from 0.06 hours to 0.10 hours.
In conclusion, I don’t think that traditional roles are disappearing as such, but women are changing their priorities. As women are able to get into the labour force and into the highly paid jobs, they are able to provide economic stability for themselves and their children. Increased childcare facilities are enabling women to work and single mothers to cope. However, it seems that after their day at work, women go home and return to their traditional roles by doing the housework and looking after the children.
Men’s roles do not seemed to have changed much. More men are staying at home and looking after the children during the day yet it seems that this responsibility is handed over to the wife on her return from work.
