Navigating Gender Roles: A Critical Analysis of Feminism, Partnership, and Motherhood in Contemporary Society

Gender role ideology is the societal attitude on how women's and men's work should be and the influence that their sexual characteristic has on their day-to-day work (Somech, & DrachZahavy, 2016). Gender roles are not biological but psychologically and socially constructed. Attitudes to the gender role usually determine the social roles of women and men in our society. Gender role determines an individual's occupational status in society, the roles that a spouse, parent, or worker will carry out in our society.

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However, in our society, gender roles tend to be biased in a way where men are assumed to be responsible for their lives giving them the advantage of being assigned work-related roles. At the same time, women are more likely to be assigned the domestic role as it is assumed that they are family-inclined. Women in our society are usually advised to give up their work to be moms who stay at home. The United States of America might have passed a law to make rape, sexual orientation discrimination, sexual discrimination, and domestic violence illegal but remain endemic. Women in our society receive unequal pay for the same tasks they perform as men.

Our society has shaped us to carry out our tasks in highly gendered labor roles way. In the majority of the social setting, women are assumed to be the best secretaries. Parenting roles remained gendered roles in our social setting. That is why when women are pregnant, they are forced to give up their work to raise the child, unlike men who are not tied to bringing up the child. Parenting responsibilities should be shared equally in order to allow women to improve both psychologically and mentally. In our society, rigid gender norms remained enforced and vibrantly alive. The states passed laws to curb the rigid gender norms and have acted as a mask that heteropatriarchal conditions by creating imaginary equality and assumption of the government as a protector for women, which is not the case. Our system contradicts whatever they are claiming to be undertaking because gender equality is far from being achieved.

Women in our society seem to be having limited power compared to men. Decision-making roles have been delegated to men in most cases. Most of the organizations are giving men a managerial role. Women are mostly assigned manual work like office messengers and clerks. We have undermined their abilities because women possess abilities that are the same as those possessed by men.

Women usually carry out very tedious work in their work setting because little has been done to create equality. Our social setting has bred us to believe a man is better for a managerial position than a woman. The disparity in the payment for women compared to men is evident everywhere. Women usually receive lower wages compared to women. However, women are hardworking. They usually do their best to deliver the best quality work in time without complaining about how men perform assigned tasks. Women usually strive to find a balance between work and family.

An example is Jane Swift, who was acting governor for Massachusetts and at the same time pregnant with twins. She struggled to balance between raising her twins and running state from home, which is an easy task as it may seem to men. Women are usually confronted with the dilemma of striking a balance between the family and the work they are performing.

Feminism believes in gender, economic, and cultural equality between the sexes. Although it emanates mainly from the West, racial hatred is exhibited across the world and is articulated by various authorities devoted to advocating for women's rights and interests. Women for a long time have been demeaned, unlike men. At the same time, partnership, on the other hand, is concerned with establishing and solidifying the feelings among the spouses. The actual partnership among the married couple plays an essential role in gender equity. The right partnership makes sure that every person is treated equally without considering their sex. A partnership usually encourages spouses to work indiscriminative towards their common goals. Each partner will have an equal influence over an important issue to make the marriage work well. Challenges that are faced by contemporary women include racism, economic inequalities, lack of adequate political representation in our society, and lack of appreciation for the tasks that they are doing while they are at home

Women usually face a big dilemma within the scope of feminism and partnership. Feminism advocates for the equality of women’s rights while partnership leans towards being submissive to their men. Unless women embrace feminism, they will still be victims of the social injustice that happens in our everyday society. Women tend to be respectful to their husbands at the expense of their freedom. Women will choose to do the chores that society has, like assuming to belong to women without questioning it. Feminism advocates for reforms to be done on the women's social position with the argument that they should access the best education and respect for their civil rights, while partnership advocates for respect for their husbands, so there is a dilemma between feminism and partnership.

Feminism and motherhood often challenge each other to a greater extent. Feminism often advocates that women should be treated in a way that depicts equality that is not possible in the society we live in (Allen, 2005). Motherhood advocates for the bond between a mother and the child to be enhanced because mothers are the ones who are close to the children from birth. The bond between a mother and child is usually substantial compared to the bond between father and child. In comparison, women are inclined to motherhood compared than be feminism because they do not want their children to suffer at any point whether a father is there or not. There are single women in America who have to choose to raise their children on their own. They usually try to balance the work in their offices and at home, making them so unique. Feminism often pushes for equality for women, which might conflict with motherhood because society is more inclined to the norm where women are given tasks that are so specific and must be accomplished by them.

The myths of motherhood are that women in our society will always feel happy for being mothers, whether they are oppressed or not (Ambrosini, & Stanghellini, 2012). Some women suffer from menopause, especially in their old age, making them invisible to society's media. Women often feel guilty for not following what society wants them to do. A child who makes a mistake in our society will translate to inadequate teaching from the mother.

The false dichotomy of the work-family balance is evident in our society. It is difficult for a mother to balance both the family and the work at the same time (Vair, 2013). Mothers who are working are usually under constant pressure to balance work and motherhood. Feminist political economy described the relationship as a contradiction because women will eventually suffer at the expense of the greedy institution they are working for. Women's choice to be mothers or to work is challenging because there is pride when a woman has children, and at the same time, she has to provide for them.

Patriarchy can support women working by allowing them to learn the preserved skills for men only before. They should adhere to the laws set by our states that prevent social injustice against humans because women also deserve to be treated in a way that feels appreciated. Men should learn to respect women because they usually perform different tasks when they are at home, which is problematic. Changes that should be undertaken to make their lives more fulfilling include listening to them when they have a problem, supporting them in their work, and advocating for a society free from racial injustice. Socio-economic scale impacts a woman's choice in ways like adequate resources will prompt them to balance work and motherhood.

Reference

Allen, A. (2005). Feminist perspectives on power.

Ambrosini, A., & Stanghellini, G. (2012). Myths of motherhood. The role of culture in the development of postpartum depression. Annali dell'Istituto superiore di sanità, 48, 277-286.

Somech, A., & DrachZahavy, A. (2016). Gender role ideology. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, 1-3.

Vair, H. (2013). The discourse of balance: Balance as metaphor and ideology. Canadian Review of Sociology / Revue canadienne de Sociologie, 50 (2), 154-177.