Gendery stuffs
So I don't know how many of you have read or head of "The Second Shift", but the basic premise was an unhappy one. The book argued that women who have careers still feel just as much pressure to run their household, and therefore, are currently held to the impossible standard of filling both their traditional roles and those formerly reserved for men. As frustrating as it is to hear that many women today are functioning under this kind of pressure, I’ve also always felt like that’s not what my married life would be like, based on where my priorities are, and the mindset that Matt and I have regarding the balance of work and family, sharing responsibilities, etc. It turns out that there might be something to my optimism that this won’t be me - our generation’s ideas of marriage are different from those of previous decades, and hopefully the changes will reflect positively in how those of us who chose to marry play out our roles as wives (and their husbands).
I recently found an interview with gender-studies professor/author Susan Barash, who has been studying the evolution of the "wife role", and she's noting some positive changes in the attitude of women who are getting married in the current decade. Here are two excerpts from the interview. The 1st paragraph talks about how expectations evolved over the previous five decades, the 2nd speaks of the new attitude that might help things be different in our generation:
In the 1950's, wives were expected to organize and run their homes and not concentrate on working. With the explosion of the feminist movement in the 1960's and the fact that the pill made premarital sex easier, women started to pull away from traditional roles and venture into the workplace. By the 1980's women were fighting to "have it all" -- fulfilling professional and home lives -- and by the 1990s they were burning out, frustrated with having to struggle to be perfect both domestically and in their careers.
What is so interesting about the Generation Y women, the young woman, the 21st century wife, is that she is able to extract what she needs from historical models in terms of being a wife, to evaluate her status, and to get what she wants... and from later in the interview......Now, what's really notable about [her] is that she is totally confident that she and her husband are equals. It doesn't matter who earns more money. This is revolutionary. People ask how I know these marriages work, and I can't predict the future but I can certainly note the voices in unison of these young women and I can't help but feel positive about them.
She has a lot of other insightful things to say. Check it:
http://www.indiebride.com/interviews/barash/index.html
I recently found an interview with gender-studies professor/author Susan Barash, who has been studying the evolution of the "wife role", and she's noting some positive changes in the attitude of women who are getting married in the current decade. Here are two excerpts from the interview. The 1st paragraph talks about how expectations evolved over the previous five decades, the 2nd speaks of the new attitude that might help things be different in our generation:
In the 1950's, wives were expected to organize and run their homes and not concentrate on working. With the explosion of the feminist movement in the 1960's and the fact that the pill made premarital sex easier, women started to pull away from traditional roles and venture into the workplace. By the 1980's women were fighting to "have it all" -- fulfilling professional and home lives -- and by the 1990s they were burning out, frustrated with having to struggle to be perfect both domestically and in their careers.
What is so interesting about the Generation Y women, the young woman, the 21st century wife, is that she is able to extract what she needs from historical models in terms of being a wife, to evaluate her status, and to get what she wants... and from later in the interview......Now, what's really notable about [her] is that she is totally confident that she and her husband are equals. It doesn't matter who earns more money. This is revolutionary. People ask how I know these marriages work, and I can't predict the future but I can certainly note the voices in unison of these young women and I can't help but feel positive about them.
She has a lot of other insightful things to say. Check it:
http://www.indiebride.com/interviews/barash/index.html