Change in Male Role in the Home: 1960-Present
Change in Male Role in the Home: 1960-Present
Traditionally the United States, along with the majority of the world has been a patriarchal society. The customary male role, specifically in relation to the home, has been the head of the household, the protector, and the provider. A male’s duty was unquestionably embodied in these three ideas, until the 1970’s. The growing feminist movement of that time began to question and displace these roles as solely belonging to a man, and the male role in society slowly began to shift. Instead of being the sole breadwinner for his home, families with two working parents have become increasingly more common. Women in the workforce have allowed father’s to spend more time at home with their children and helping out around the house. Over the last 50 years the male role has changed drastically, and while not all of the changes that have taken place are bad, the overall effect of these changes on society has been a negative one, creating a generation of fatherlessness, increased crime, and a general lack of respect for authority in any form. For generations it has been a man’s responsibility to provide for his family. Women were rarely even accepted into the workforce until after WWII. However, government encouragement for women to enter the labor force during the war, in combination with the rising feminist movement started a tidal wave movement of women pursuing higher education and careers. Women currently make up the majority of the workforce and 60% of all college graduates (Rosin). Donnalyn Pompper, a professor at Temple University, expands on this further in her article about the masculine gender role conflict theory. She explains that that after WWII, the increased female presence in the labor force “destabilized the breadwinner role as a basis for male identity, and now men must accept working wives and a more active parental role” (Pompper). And while it is true that the shift to equal opportunity in the
Traditionally the United States, along with the majority of the world has been a patriarchal society. The customary male role, specifically in relation to the home, has been the head of the household, the protector, and the provider. A male’s duty was unquestionably embodied in these three ideas, until the 1970’s. The growing feminist movement of that time began to question and displace these roles as solely belonging to a man, and the male role in society slowly began to shift. Instead of being the sole breadwinner for his home, families with two working parents have become increasingly more common. Women in the workforce have allowed father’s to spend more time at home with their children and helping out around the house. Over the last 50 years the male role has changed drastically, and while not all of the changes that have taken place are bad, the overall effect of these changes on society has been a negative one, creating a generation of fatherlessness, increased crime, and a general lack of respect for authority in any form. For generations it has been a man’s responsibility to provide for his family. Women were rarely even accepted into the workforce until after WWII. However, government encouragement for women to enter the labor force during the war, in combination with the rising feminist movement started a tidal wave movement of women pursuing higher education and careers. Women currently make up the majority of the workforce and 60% of all college graduates (Rosin). Donnalyn Pompper, a professor at Temple University, expands on this further in her article about the masculine gender role conflict theory. She explains that that after WWII, the increased female presence in the labor force “destabilized the breadwinner role as a basis for male identity, and now men must accept working wives and a more active parental role” (Pompper). And while it is true that the shift to equal opportunity in the
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