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Sophia Ko

Dr. Kate Rosenberg

RCL 137H

11/13/18

The Evolution of Traditional Family Roles

Once upon a time, women in America would marry, have children, then fulfill their role

as a housewife for as long as their children were living at home. There was no question of their

duties, and as long as their husband fulfilled his role as breadwinner, the couple lived a stable

and peaceful life. This sense of peace was turned upside down with the start of World War 2. As

men filed out of America, women filed into the workforce. This new wave of women

domesticity in the 1950s was heavily influenced by a new social norm, propaganda promoting

women’s capabilities in the workforce (Lerner). This movement, however, would not have been

possible without the help of increased government funding for child care services (Lerner). This

new gender role did not last forever, and after the end of WW2, women returned to their

traditional roles but with a new sense of confidence and independence. Throughout the next few

decades, household tensions grew as did the divorce rate in America (Lerner). Simultaneously,

feminist movements were brewing and notable activists like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem

pushed forward for gender equality, especially in the workforce (Lerner). By the 1990s, women

from all over America were granted suffrage, and “​the first generation of children raised by

families affected by the demographic trends of the late 1960s and 1970s—including higher

divorce rates, single parent households, mothers in the workforce, and daycare centers care for

small children—emerged as parents themselves”​ (Lerner). At this point in time, mother’s views
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towards the workplace were evolving and the divide in mother’s ideologies about traditional

family roles was coined “mommy wars” (Lerner). The revolution throughout the middle to late

1900s combined with impacts of pop culture media is causing a major shift in traditional family

dynamics by challenging gender roles and the conservative outlook on marriage.

In early 1900s America, women did not plan their adult life around parenting, but they

now have greater abilities to pursue a career by controlling aspects of adult life like marriage and

fertility. In the early 1950s, it was common for couples to marry before high school graduation,

but in 1977, 45% of young women between 20-24 never married (Kohen). This delay in 1977

allowed for one out of every two women to refocus on career building instead of cleaning,

cooking, and caring for children, even if they were in a serious relationship (Kohen). In addition

to planning marriage, the 1960s introduced the first approved contraceptive, birth control, which

gave women the opportunity to delay childbirth (Nikolchev). The underlying shift beneath these

changes was empowerment, because women could now take a more psychological and

sociological approach when making decisions about marriage and children.

As women’s abilities to control marriage and fertility evolved, opportunities for women

to enter the workforce and care for their children also evolved. Today, increased employment

opportunities have allowed for one out of every six families to be headed by women (Kohen). It

must be taken into consideration, however, that since the early 1900s divorce rates have also

increased, and almost 90 percent of divorced mothers are employed to provide for their family

(Kohen). Studies have shown that often times, as an outcome of employment to provide for a

family, divorced women have gained a new sense of competence and self worth that allows for

them to finalize a divorce (Kohen). In any situation of a single working mother, a married and
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working mother, or a married couple that both work, each’s family roles outside of work have

been facilitated with new technology (Kohen). For example, prior to the1950s, stay at home

mothers had little access to technology like automatic vacuum cleaners, microwaves, electric

ovens and time efficient washing and drying machines (Kohen). Today, however, these types of

services further increase opportunities for parents to alot more time towards a career, while still

spending time with their children. The impacts of technology in household tasks helps explain

the results of one study results​: employed parents of current generation spend more time with

kids today than parents did 20 years ago (Perrone). Altogether, new workforce equality and

technological advancements also play a role in mother’s abilities to pursue a career.

Not only can the shift of gender family roles be attributed to social and technological

advancements, but also another main component, WW2. As described earlier, women in

America during the late 1930s and 1940s experimented with the reversal of traditional roles by

entering the workforce. This exposed women to previously labeled masculine roles, while fathers

were not exposed to the same reverse experience (Rushing and Powell). Due to women’s

acceptance of a more liberal view towards gender roles, they now occupy close to 1/3 of family

“breadwinner” statuses, with men upholding a little over that proportion (Rushing and Powell).

As an outcome, dual earning families are the most prevalent today, and now focus on three

options in order to still care for a family: either the mother/father can work part time, they can

hire a caregiver, or both parents can modify their schedule (Perrone). Even though dual earning

families are increasingly prevalent, this increase comes parallel with an increase in family

tensions.
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As women of the 21st century have begun to adopt what used to be masculine qualities,

males still have difficulties accepting what previously used to be feminine qualities. While the

1990s was a major time for pivoting ideologies because women flooded into the workforce, for

men it was a time when movies like “Mr. Mom” began to ridicule their new role in the

household. The popular movie “Mr. Mom,” depicts a father who is laid off from work and

assumes the role to care for his children, while his wife pursues her successful career (Lerner).

This was one of the first times that a man’s role as a stay at home father had been depicted by the

media, and it automatically pushed upon consumers the idea that stay at home fathers failed in

their workplace before assuming their new role. This idea was complimented by a study done by

Rochlen and Mahalik, that argues men are “socialized to behave in ways that are congruent with

traditional masculinity, which includes avoiding behaviors seen as feminine” (Rushing and

Powell). Therefore, as men fulfill a different role, the traditional housewife role, they often face

internal pressure and want to conform to the traditional role of “breadwinner,” as it used to imply

masculinity (Rushing and Powell). These feelings of insecurity and failure associated with the

role of a stay at home father are translated into a man’s perception of his time as a stay at home

father. An interview by research group Doucet explains that in interviews of 70 different stay at

home fathers, many viewed their time away from work as temporary, using the time to study or

work part time (Perrone). The perceptions and connotation of being a “stay at home father”

implies negative masculinity traits for many men in our current society.

Although what is accepted in our current society differs from the 1990s, stay at home

fathers still experience marginalization. In 2013, Pew Research Center released a study on how

the public opinion differs for children being raised by stay at home mothers versus stay at home
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fathers. It was concluded that while 51% of adults-- mothers, fathers, single men and single

women- believed that children were better off with a stay at home mother, and only 8% of people

believed the same for stay at home fathers (Livingston). This type of distrust in men is a major

barrier for men, making them less willing to assume this new role. Another study completed by

Brescoll and Uhlmann found that while social regard for working mothers is currently very high,

social regard remains extremely low for stay at home fathers (Perrone). Altogether, the way in

which others view stay at home fathers is also a barrier for men in changing their traditional

perceptions toward family roles.

When men are less willing to assume the stay at home father role, tensions in the

household are bound to increase. In an interview of twenty-one couples with a female

breadwinner, it was found that twelve males struggle with accepting new masculine ideals

unaligned with the ideals that they were raised with (Rushing and Powell). In addition, 50% of

couples reported tensions due to role reversal (Chesley, 10). The root of these tensions are from

when the role assumed is incongruent with gender, because men who disobeyed previous gender

roles felt less satisfied in relationships (Rushing and Powell). In the Atlantic Magazine,

sociologist Scott Melzer describes his research from his book Manhood Impossible:

My research is mostly about how men respond when they fail to live up to expectations,

and when they fall short on these two particular measures of manhood, this is where we

see the most dramatic reactions … Men who are in relationships with women are much

more likely to engage in intimate-partner violence when they are failed breadwinners,

and also when they’re doing what some might call “women’s work.” When their jobs are

not providing them with a sense of masculine identity and status, they’re more likely to
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engage in competitive masculinity or compensatory violence, and use violence against

women and partners to reassert their masculinity. (Fetters)

Moreover, since men’s traditional perceptions lead them to see this new role as a threat to their

masculinity, they are unable to easily accept the new role, which causes household tensions.

There are many other examples of media and pop culture influencing disillusionment of

family roles. One popular show of the 1960s, The Flintstones, depicted the main character Fred

as an accident prone and destructive father who struggled with anger management issues ("The

Flintstones"). His character traits juxtapose his wife’s, who was intelligent, loving, and level

headed. More than forty years later and television shows like The Simpsons still influence

consumers with their depiction family roles. In contrast to The Flintstones, though, The

Simpsons challenges traditional families roles by using satirical devices to recreate the media’s

image of an American nuclear family (Allen). The show highlights the father Homer’s

unsupportiveness in one instance when his son Bart is having difficulties playing the guitar.

Instead of providing inspirational parenting advice, Homer instead asserts, “​If something's hard

to do, then it's not worth doing” (Allen). While The Simpsons may depict Homer as a caring

father, they still use humour to emphasize his idiocy and lack of parenting skill (Allen). ​In both

these examples, humour is used as a marketing technique while simultaneously discrediting a

father’s abilities in the household. This humour is also seen throughout a Huggies diaper

advertisement, "To prove Huggies can handle just about anything, we put them to the toughest

test imaginable: dads, alone with their babies, in one house, for five days" (Kenney). All three of

these examples encourage the perception that being a stay at home father is a joking manner,

which builds a barrier to reshaping traditional masculinity traits like independence, strength, and
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success (Rushing and Powell). The media has a powerful influence in shaping the way society

views gender roles in society.

Above all, marital dissatisfaction and the ridiculing of certain gender roles indicates a

neglectance in the shift from traditional family roles, to modern family roles matching current

societal norms. As shown throughout this paper, the evolution and role reversal of family and

career roles are no longer just a women’s issue. Instead, many fathers experiences ridiculing in

the household, while many wives are now encouraged to enter the workforce. In each case, the

father, and the mother are faced with a difficult compromise, that often leaves one partner feeling

inferior, and the other as purely successful. It must be accepted that in the instance or decision to

have a child, a new type of responsibility is assumed that is not measured in the earnings of a

partner. Moreover, until a much deeper meaning of satisfaction is measured in successfully

raising a child, instead of a high paycheck, marital tensions will continue to exist. A new wave of

materialism has swept over the nation, and it will continue to disrupt societal shifts for as long as

it exists.

Works Cited

Allen, Eliezer Van. “The Simpsons: An Imperfect Ideal Family.” ​The Simpsons Archive: Awards

& Honours​, 2002, www.simpsonsarchive.com/other/papers/ea.paper.html.

“The Flintstones.” ​Wikipedia,​ Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Nov. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flintstones.
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Fetters, Ashley. “Stay-at-Home Dads Are Reshaping American Masculinity.” ​The Atlantic,​

Atlantic Media Company, 7 Sept. 2018,

www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/09/stay-at-home-dads-masculinity/56942

5/​.

Kenney, Jamie. “11 Media Depictions Of Stay-At-Home-Moms That Every Mom Hates.”

Romper,​ Romper, 13 Nov. 2018,

www.romper.com/p/11-media-depictions-of-stay-at-home-moms-that-every-mom-h

ates-17445.

Kohen, Janet A. “Housewives, Breadwinners, Mothers, and Family Heads: the Changing Family

Roles of Women.” ​ACR European Advances​, Association for Consumer Research, 1

Jan. 1981, www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/5862/volumes/v08/NA-08.

Lerner, K. Lee, et al. “Gender Issues and Sexuality: Essential Primary Sources.” ​Gale Group,​

Gale , 2006,

go.galegroup.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ps/eToc.do?contentModuleId=GVRL&

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Livingston, Gretchen. “Growing Number of Stay-at-Home Dads.” ​Pew Research Center's Social

& Demographic Trends Project,​ Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic

Trends Project, 17 July 2014,

www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/06/05/growing-number-of-dads-home-with-the-kids

/.
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Nikolchev, Alexandra. “A Brief History of the Birth Control Pill.” ​PBS,​ Public Broadcasting

Service, 2010,

www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/a-brief-history-of-the-birth-control-pill/480

/.

Perrone, Kristen M, et al. “Traditional and Nontraditional Gender Roles and Work–Family

Interface for Men and Women.” ​Sage​, Sage , 2009, Traditional and Nontraditional

Gender Roles and Work–Family Interface for Men and Women.

Rushing, Cassie, and Lisa Powell. “Family Dynamics of the Stay-at-Home Father and Working

Mother Relationship.” ​Sage,​ Sage , 2014,

journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1557988314549414.