10.1. 2 Gender and families.

While men and women can perform many of the same home-related tasks, women typically carry a disproportionate burden. Most of the work within the home is the province of women who do the majority of childcare, cooking and cleaning. Georgas, Berry, van de Vijver, Kagitcibasi and Poortinga, (2006) examined family functioning in thirty countries around the world. In all countries examined women carried the greater share of the home-related work. Of course there are still many societies where the father remains the chief bread winner and works long hours outside the home. The injustice to women comes in countries where both parents work outside the home, but the mother still has to do the bulk of home maintenance. Georgas et al focused on three types of functioning performed in the home. Expressive behaviors refer to the parental support required to create a pleasant and emotionally supportive home atmosphere. Financial functioning is the role of the bread winner achieving the necessary income to look after the needs of the family. The third type of home functioning is childcare that includes the role of cooking nutritious food, encouraging children’s progress in school, and also looking after their emotional needs.

Motherhood is seen as the major component of womanhood and female identity all over the world. Since many women feel their identity is expressed in motherhood women who are not mothers often feel that as a deficit or failure in their lives. Many mothers have impossible high self-standards and for these women the child’s needs are always primary and come before their needs. In Western cultures the ideal of motherhood requires the mother to practice self-sacrifice and endless love (Wilson, 2007). Traditionally the emphasis of society placed the mother at home with her children, today in many countries mothers also work outside the home leading to a divided and burdensome effort.

The survey showed that fathers were primarily looked to for financial support of the family, followed next by supplying emotional support and last in providing actual childcare. Mothers on the other hand were primarily concerned with childcare at least in the more poor countries. However, in more affluent societies mothers were like fathers concerned with all three roles, however motherhood and domestic responsibilities are still considered the primary function for women in the family. A recent study across 20 countries showed that men from 1965 to 2003 spent an average of only 14 minutes each day on child care. So unless women want totally dysfunctional families a great deal of domestic work and child care is left in their hands (Hook, 2006). Women are also the primary caregivers for the elderly and ill or disabled members of their families (Forseen, Carlstedt, & Mortberg, 2005). That expectation is present despite personal exhaustion and typically women fill these roles and responsibilities and put first the needs of family members who require help.

These demanding family responsibilities have negatively influenced the role women can play in economic activities producing lower wages and less opportunity for promotion and advancement. While such discrimination is not necessarily overt mothers often make less money than women who are childless. Family responsibilities may not allow mothers to work fulltime or overtime which give these women less work experience. Often women end up in lower paying jobs because these fit better with their children’s needs for childcare, but also limiting their occupational choices (Sigle-Rushton & Waldfogel, 2007). One study on the status of women showed that in only five countries (out of the 127 countries surveyed) women held 50 % of managerial or legislative positions (United Nations Statistic Division, 2011).

Therefore although men and women have the same educational possibilities in much of the world today (except some places in Africa, Arabia and Asia) women are often segregated by occupation and tend to be hired for less powerful jobs and lower remuneration (Cunningham & Macan, 2007). Since the responsibilities associated with motherhood are not placed on men they tend to be preferred as employees and are perceived not only as more available but also more competent compared to women who have family responsibilities (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2004).