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GENDER INEQUALITY FOR THOSE OF THE WEAKER SEX

Gender Inequality for Those of the Weaker Sex

Tanya Weller

Student ID: 185301861

Sociology 213 Robert Nestor

Midterm Take Home Exam

July 27, 2016

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GENDER INEQUALITY FOR THOSE OF THE WEAKER SEX

Both Smith and Parsons view of the Standard American Family are in agreement with

the accepted norm, which still stands today, that the couple are married where the husband

provides financially for his family and his wife tends to the needs of her husband, household,

and children (Nestor, R. 2015 Unit 4 6 parenting. P. 1). This has worked well for both Sidney

Workmans and Kendra Wilds families seem to be able to make this work in a way that is

mutually agreeable to both families. (Unit 1 Forum 1 July 5 1:02 pm and 4:01 pm). However, for

many women gender inequality exists within the home, at work and in society, especially in

patriarchy societies.

A century ago or more women were needed as domestic partners for the men of the

colonial times and the Indigenous people needed the help of a woman, as well, to take care of all

the domestic needs including having children. This they did without the right to own land, to

handle their own money or to have custody of her own children (Baker. M. 2014. P. 8).

Unfortunately, as Dranoff is quoted in Choices and Constraints on Family Life, the husband

[also] had the right to decide what was necessary [for his family] (cited in Baker, M. 2014. P.

12). However, the roles of the Huron (matriarchy) and the Ojibway tribes we learn that though

the gender roles were, usually separate and apart, they portrayed an aura of fairness. Amongst the

Ojibways if a girl was an only child she would fulfill the role of a son (Nestor, R. 2015. Unit 2

2 Aboriginal Families. Pp. 1-2).

Prior to the 1960s society expected women to leave the labour force and be supported by

their husbands, if married. Unfair husbands led a number of wives feeling discontented with the

gender inequities in their marriages leading them to separate and divorce (Baker, M. 2014. P.12).

After the sixties, women, whether married or not were becoming more commonplace outside the

home. Yet, they were still left with the majority of the work at home after they returned home
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after working all day, although men surpassed their forefathers, somewhat, in this regard (Nestor,

R. 2015. Unit 4 6 Parenting Roles and Children. P. 2)

Men receiving state assistance or benefits often do so as wage earners, thus the state does

not keep tabs on them. Single moms are assumed to be unemployed and in need of welfare-to-

work programs that guarantee close monitoring by the state (Baker. M. 2014. P.16). After the

Pill became legal in Canada in 1969 young women were able to go to school and/or work

without the worry of pregnancy. Unfortunately, they were limited mostly to service orientated job

that meant less pay than their male counterparts (Nestor, R. Unit 3 2 Paid work p.3).

By 2006 67 percent of women were in low-paying occupations such as teaching,

nursing, clerical, sales or service with many working part-time (Nestor, R. Unit 3 2 Paid work

p.3). Interesting to note, is that, also, in 2006 55 percent of doctors and dentists were women.

However, in the field of engineering only 22 percent were women (Nestor, R. Unit 3 2 Paid

work p.3).

In the late 40s and early 50s Sociologists Margaret Mead and George Murdoch (Nestor,

R. 2015. Unit 1 -2 Theories and Methods. P.2), Talcott Parsons and Dorothy Smith (Nestor, R.

2015. Unit 4 6 Parenting Roles and children. P. 1) described what the ideal family should look

like. Although they differed in whether the stereotypes for the nuclear family were by nurture or

by nature, the result was the same. Women find themselves in the nurturing role, men the

provider role. Sharon Hays delineates the dichotomy for working women she is expected to

exhibit masculine attributes while at work and show her nurturing nature at home (as cited in

Nestor, R. 2015. Unit 4 6 Parenting Roles and children. P. 2).

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GENDER INEQUALITY FOR THOSE OF THE WEAKER SEX

Television shows like All in the Family (Nestor. R. 2015. Unit 1 Television Families)

depicting the traditional nuclear family and pictures with a woman working in the kitchen while

another photo shows a man, presumably the husband, leaning on a bookshelf further illustrates

gender inequity. Cliff and Claire have a seemingly equal in their relationship harbours echoes of

the traditional roles father as disciplinarian and mother as hostess and while Cliff tells a story

mom is getting ready to prepare a meal. The films in Unit 2 forum 1 and 2 seem different at first

glance but the portrayal of the white men in both films are callous and uncaring, whereas, their

Indian wives Ikwe and Mistress Madeline - fulfill their duties as homemakers and child

bearers/carers. Their husbands offer them little in return (Bailey, Norma *1986); Johnston,

Aaron. (1986)).

Gender inequality is not specific to any single time period and is still present today.

From our course work it would seem that the Indigenous peoples were less overbearing than the

white men to their wives or even the white man to their Native women. Is it because the

Indigenous people have extended family very near to them, like the Huron and Ojibway (Nestor,

R. 2015. Unit 2 2 Traditional Aboriginal Families. Pp. 1-2)? Or is it because we have limited

material with which to study Aboriginal families than we do our own? Baker suggests that the

European embraced the nuclear family model because several generations ago this was one of

the only possible family structures because extended family were left behind when Canada was

colonized. Shorter life expectancies were also a contributor to the close knit families. Now that

several generations in one family are alive at the same time why is the nuclear structure still

preferable?
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References

Bailey, Norma. (1986).Ikwe. Film. Retrieved from https://www.nfb.ca/film/ikwe/

Baker, Maureen. (2014). Choices and Constraints in Family Life. Don Mills, Ontario. Oxford

University Press.

Johnston, Aaron. (1986). Mistress Madeline. Film. Retrieved from

https://www.nfb.ca/film/mistress_madeleine/

Nestor, Robert. 2016. Class Notes. Retrieved from https://urcourses.uregina.ca/course/view.php?

id=5383

Workman, Sidney. (2016, July 5). What Is a Family. Message posted to

https://urcourses.uregina.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=281083

Wild, Kendra. (2016, July 5). What Is a Family. Message posted to

https://urcourses.uregina.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=281083