1. Gender Roles in the Family
Roles are not innate but are learned
Progress toward Egalitarian roles in family
However, women still engaging in “second shift”
Equal sharing closely tied to marital satisfaction

2. Role Relationships in Happy vs. Unhappy Couples
Role Issues
Happy Couples
Unhappy Couples
Both are equally willing to make adjustments
87%
46%
Both are satisfied with division of housework
81%
41%
Both work hard to have an equal relationship
90%
54%
Couples make most decisions jointly
89%
57%
Household tasks based on preference not tradition
71%
55%
Olson & Olson, 2000

3. Key Concepts Sex: who we are biologically as male or female
Gender: includes psychosocial components that characterize us as masculine or feminine
Gender Identity: an individual’s personal, internal sense of maleness or femaleness
Gender Role: expectations about attitudes and behaviors based on whether male/female

4. Key Concepts
Masculinity: constellation of traits traditionally associated with men:
Aggressiveness
Independence
Dominance and competence
Femininity: constellation of traits traditionally associated with women:
Passivity and dependency
Sensitivity and emotionality

5. Multicultural Perspectives on Gender
Mexican American
Stereotype of male machismo
African American
Egalitarian marriages
Economic marginalization
American Indian
Communal orientation
Asian American
Filial piety
Segregated sex roles

6. Gender and Socialization Theories
Social Learning Theory
Cognitive Development Theory
Family Systems Theory
Feminist Theory

7. Social Learning Theory
Learn sex appropriate behavior
Learning involves:
Observation
Imitation
Reinforcement
Understanding standards and rules

8. Cognitive Development Theory
Learning changes with maturation
Children create:
Gender identity
Gender role stereotypes
Gender values
Once learn—seek congruence

9. Criticisms of Social Learning & Cognitive Approaches
Assumes children of same sex develop similar identities
Favors traditional role identities as desirable
Focus is on childhood processes— overlooking adult processes

10. Family Systems Theory
Gender role development and change occurs within family context
Change difficult
Balanced families more open to change
Unbalanced families resist change and independence

11. Feminist Framework
View that women have been exploited, devalued, and oppressed
Focus on institutional restrictions on women’s development
Focus on changing conditions

12. Bases of Family Power Power Bases or Resources Power Processes
Power Outcomes

13. Power Bases or Resources
Resource theory of family power
Power balance relative to resources each partner brings to relationship
“more resources equals more power”
Principle of Least Interest
Person with least interest in relationship has most power in relationship

14. Conflict Theory
Conflict Theories are oriented toward the study of social structures and institutions. Conflict theorists see whatever order there is in society as stemming from the coercion of some members by those at the top. Maintain that society is held together in the face of conflicting interests because either (a) one group in the society has the power to enforce the rules (and thus make subordinate groups follow rules that may primarily serve the interests of the superordinate group) or (b) there are so many overlapping and divided interest groups that individuals must learn to cooperate. The overall argument made by conflict theorists, however, is that through the structure of conflict in society, order can be maintained in one of these two ways.
Social conflict assumes various forms. Competition describes a conflict over the control of resources or advantages desired by others where actual physical violence is not employed. Regulated competition is the sort of peaceful conflict which is resolved within a framework of agreed rules. Markets involve competition, both regulated and unregulated. Other conflicts may be more violent and not bound by rules, in which case they are settled by the parties mobilizing their power resources.
Conflict perspective focuses on the struggle among different social groups over scarce rewards. conflict (conflictual) - A view that sees society and social phenomena, past, present, and future, as a result of conflict (a social process). Conflict is seen as a creative, inevitable fact of social life and not merely a destructive avoidable deviation. Conflict is generally held to be inevitable because of the inherent limitation of a finite universe of "knowable" social reality and because of misunderstandings in communication. Conflict is usually direct conscious struggle between individuals or groups for the same goal (as compared with competition, which can take place without contact and individuals and groups being aware of others striving for the same goal) with the intent of the individuals or groups involved to inhibit the goal striving and goal attainment of others.

15. Power Bases and Resource
Coercive
punishment
Reward
Ability to provide rewards
Legitimate
authority
Expert
special knowledge
Referent
Respect and/or love
Informational
knowledge
Raven, Centers & Rodriguez, 1975

16. Family Power Processes
Interaction techniques that occur during decision making
Assertive
Expression of wants or desires
Aggression
Demands of conformity
Control
Effectiveness of attempts to change behavior of others

17. Power Patterns in Marriage

18. Study: Helpful Dads Damage Mother's Self-Esteem at Home Friday, March 19, 2010 FOX News
The competence of diligent dads helping out at home is damaging the self-esteem of "super-moms" who feel caught between work and traditional child-rearing roles, according to a new study revealed by LiveScience.
The University of Texas at Austin interviewed 78 dual-earner couples who had eight-month-old infants, measuring them on two types of self-esteem — self-liking and self- competence.
Researchers asked the parents to talk about their partner's strengths and weaknesses and rated their responses.
They found that among mothers who thought their partners were competent caregivers, the more time those fathers spent alone with their children, the lower the mother's self- competence rating was.
"In American society, women are expected to take a main role in parenting despite increasingly egalitarian sex roles," said study researcher Takayuki Sasaki of the Osaka University of Commerce in Japan.
"Thus, we believe that employed mothers suffer from self-competence losses when their husbands are involved and skilful because those mothers may consider that it is a failure to fulfill cultural expectations," Sasaki said.
"Husbands do not suffer from self-competence losses even when their wives are involved and skilful because that is consistent with cultural expectations."
Not surprisingly, mothers were found to spend nearly three times as much time child-rearing by themselves as their husbands did.
And this was noticed by husbands who gave their wives top marks in parenting skills. In contrast they got a much lower rating from the mothers but even so, the women often said their husbands were good parents.
"Many wives would say care-giving by their husbands is helpful but at the same time wives give their husbands negative feedback because their husbands' care-giving style is different from their own," Sasaki told LiveScience.
"For example, a wife appreciates when her husband feeds their baby but also tells her husband that after all it makes more work because the way the husband feeds is messy."
The gender divide was also evident in how parents judged each others' skills.
"Husbands are often told by their wives that they are good parents when they are involved in care-giving that their wives normally do, such as feeding, changing diapers, and soothing," Sasaki said.
"In contrast, husbands do not tell their wives that they are good parents even when their wives exhibit such behavior - probably because it is taken for granted."