This week in lecture we talked a lot about gender differences in the family and how mothers and fathers often have different roles. In one of our assigned readings, "Thinking About Gender and Power in Marriage," Veronica Tichenor discusses the idea of gendered power in marriages and how this can affect the family dynamic. She talks about how since men are seen as the breadwinners and the ones that must provide for the family through working, this takes power away from the woman and puts her in a more submissive position.
We discussed this same idea in class when we watched the video about the struggle that one family had while trying be fair and balanced in the amount of housework they did and the time they spent with their children. They took days off work and split household chores 50/50 for the amount they did. This family was held up as the standard to which we should all model our families and didn't present any other ways that a marriage could be evenly split in power.
I was raised in a very traditionally-structured home where my father was the breadwinner and my mother was the stay at home mom who cleaned and cooked. I know from first hand experience that they had a very fair and balanced marriage and that this kind of family structure can work. I always had enough time to spend with both parents, and both of them made important decisions together- they just had a different kind of "work."
I think that several of the examples and readings we have had in class have looked at the issue of power balance in marriage in a very universal way and have not presented all the options that are available for families who want to have more balance of power in their lives. The issue must be taken on a case by case basis, accounting for the unique situations of each family and what is best for the members in it.
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