Economics of Gender Chapter 4 Assist. Prof.Dr .Meltem INCE YENILMEZ

1. Economics of GenderChapter 4Assist.Prof.Dr.Meltem INCE YENILMEZ

2. The Parenthood Transition • Preparation for Parenthood • Through family of origin, babysitting, parenting classes and books • Parenting as a crisis • On the job training, many changes, uncertainty • New parents may become child-centered and neglect their marriage • Parenting as a normal stage of development • New roles and responsibilities

3. Motherhood • Motherhood mandate • Expectations by society, individuals, and self • Idealization of motherhood • Maternal “instinct” and perfectionism leads to guilt for many mothers • Both working moms and stay-at-home moms may feel guilty

4. Motherhood • Functionalism • Biological and social reproduction • Conflict theory • Career and personal goals may be impeded by the motherhood mandate • More acceptance of childlessness • Feminism and motherhood are not incompatible • Flexible roles

5. Fatherhood • Good-provider model • Financial obligation to children is paramount • Involved-father • Nurturer • New fathers • Less confident, less engaged than mothers • Father’s impact on children is often downplayed • Egalitarian parenting benefits children and enhances marital satisfaction

6. Parents as Dual Earners • Public concern over the impact on children when mothers work outside the home • Dual earner family is the norm • Importance of high quality childcare • Adolescents appreciate their career-mothers • Helicopter parents • Parents of millennial generation • More likely to be mothers • Negative impacts on confidence of college students

7. African-American Families • Half of all African-American families are two-parent families • Of the remaining half, 90% are female-headed • Two-parent egalitarian families predominate • Flexible family boundaries and fictive kin • African-American women have worked in paid labor as a necessity

8. African-American Families, cont. • Stereotypes of strong black women and weak men abound • These may cause tension within the black community • African-American women have lowest earnings of both genders and all races • Black men contend with joblessness, incarceration, and violent crime

9. Latino (Hispanic) Families • Largest minority group, by 2050 predicted to make up 1/3 of U. S. residents • Culturally diverse • Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban-Americans • Share Catholic heritage, Spanish colonization, Spanish language • Share values of familism, machismo, and marianismo

10. Mexican-American Families • Embedded in a network • Spheres of men and women are separate • Movement is toward gender equity • Poverty decreases with second generation immigrants • Occupational gender segregation • High rates of teen pregnancy

11. Cuban-American Families • Highest standard of living of all Latino groups • Double standard of sexual morality • Demographically similar to European Americans • High levels of education, less traditional, likely to be headed by married couple • Extended elderly kin provide childcare and expect to be cared for as they age

12. Asian-American Families • Fastest growing minority group • Very culturally diverse groups • Collectivist kinship relations • Extended kinship traditions • Obedience of children stressed • Female subordination • Higher levels of education and income linked to length of residency • Second generation is more “Americanized”

13. Native American Families • Rapidly becoming assimilated • Resurgent cultural pride • Economic difficulties and at risk for: • Unemployment, low educational levels, illiteracy, alcoholism • U.S. unsuccessfully attempted “cultural genocide” • Women retain spiritual, economic, and leadership roles

14. Divorce • Teenage marriages at risk • Cohabiters of lower SES at risk • Marriage rates are declining • Calculating divorce rates • Comparing number of marriages to number of divorces: 1/2 • 20 divorces per 1,000 women (4/10)

15. Gender in Divorce • Women adjust socially and psychologically better than men • Men adjust economically better than women • Men and women with nontraditional gender roles adjust better • Younger people adjust better • The initiator of the divorce adjusts better • Older women suffer greater psychological distress after divorce

16. The Impact of Gendered Law in Divorce • No-fault divorce – allows divorce without blaming • Custody • Mothers gain custody 70% of the time • Fathers more often gain custody in contested cases • Joint Custody • Better for children if parents can cooperate • Fathers are more likely to stay involved

17. Remarriage • Serial monogamy – pattern of marriage, divorce, remarriage • Blended family – Children are brought into remarriage (stepfamily) • Men are more likely remarry than women • Poorly-educated women more likely to remarry than educated woman

18. Single-Parent Families • Numbers have risen from 7% in 1950 to 30% today • Non-marital births have declined • Over half of all poor children are in female-headed households • Single-parent mothers have higher levels of depression and lower levels of self-esteem

19. Masculine Markers

20. Men at Middle Age and in Later Life • Retirement • A shift in identity • Men take on more extradomestic roles with family members • Satisfaction with retirement • Income and health are key for both men and women

21. Midlife as Crisis • Between ages of 45 and 55 • Alternatively named male menopause or male climacteric • Changes are less dramatic for men than for women • Drop in testosterone and rise in estrogen • Fear of impotence may become a self-fulfilling prophesy • Become aware of own mortality

22. Women at midlife • The myth of the empty-nest syndrome • For women whose identity was wrapped in motherhood, identity adjustments are necessary • Marital satisfaction increases • Opportunities to explore other activities • Age related androgyny

23. Men at midlife • Life review of career competing with relationships • Spend more time with grandchildren than they were able to with their children • Reintegrate their masculine and feminine sides • Seek greater interdependence

24. Gendered Violence

25. Domestic Violence and Battered Women • Correlation with low income, isolation, and use of alcohol • Accurate statistics are difficult to determine • Rule of Thumb • Why doesn’t she leave? • Battered woman’s syndrome • Lack of financial resources • Learned helplessness • Fear

26. Sociological Perspectives onDomestic Violence • Functionalism • Social organization of family, intimacy, intensity, privacy • Conflict Theory and Feminist perspective • Subtly condoned by social system • Occurs when dominance of husband is threatened • The greater the power gap between men and women the greater the violence