Activity Instructions:
Part One
Family is our first and most enduring social institution. It is the one we have the most interaction with and throughout every stage of life. Family is where we first begin to learn gender, and the roles and expectations. Gendered expectations and divisions of labor in the household also significantly impact how we spend our time as well as the opportunities available to us. This week we are examining this gendered impact and how societal conditions in the current pandemic have affected it.
Briefly interview at least one adult who lives with others in a family. This can be a friend or someone in your household. This person does not need to be in a married/cohabitating couple. You might choose to discuss how gender impacts family division of labor among siblings, single parents, extended family etc.
Please write your discussion as a summary of your findings addressing the following aspects:
- – Find out what their household division of labor looked like according to gender before the pandemic. Were chores and responsibilities divided according to gender? Think about who was responsible for caretaking children/elders, cleaning, shopping, working outside the home, helping with homework, scheduling appointments, etc.
- – How has the division of labor in this household changed due to COVID-19? How has family and household responsibility been impacted in regard to gender/gender roles etc? Has responsibility or proportion of work for certain tasks shifted among family members?
- – Assign each interviewees division of labor before and during with a label from the book: traditional, neotraditional, or egalitarian.
- – Discuss your thoughts and reactions to what you have found and how it relates to the material. Remember to consider and discuss intersections of race/class/ability.
Part Two
For your response, please respond to at least one classmate with your reactions and reflections on what they have shared. Please connect your reaction by discussing examples from the book, the articles I posted, or your own sources that you think relates to their post.
- – Which concepts or ideas from the material this week do you think are relevant to the interview your classmate described? Choose at least one of these terms to describe in your own words and how it relates to your classmates post:
- – The feminization of housework/childcare
- – The ideology of intensive motherhood
- – The mommy tax
- – The care chain
- – The feminization of poverty
- – Describe the second shift in your own words. Is there evidence of a second shift for anyone in this family? What is it and what effect do you think it has?
- – Based on your classmates discussion, what do you think might be some of the long term impacts on these family members based on household gender expectations and division of labor?
- – What other conclusions can you draw about how divisions of labor in general impact expectations and the way we do gender in society?
Classmates Response:
- – Find out what their household division of labor looked like according to gender before the pandemic. Were chores and responsibilities divided according to gender? Think about who was responsible for caretaking children/elders, cleaning, shopping, working outside the home, helping with homework, scheduling appointments, etc.
The pandemic has changed nearly every aspect of their life including education, work and connection with their family. Chores and responsibilities were never really divided. The women are mostly responsible for staying at home taking care of their chil, cleaning, shopping, scheduling appointments while the dad is normally out working providing for the family.
– How has the division of labor in this household changed due to COVID-19? How has family and household responsibility been impacted in regard to gender/gender roles etc? Has responsibility or proportion of work for certain tasks shifted among family members?
The division of labor in this household changed due to COVID-19 because people are spending much more time at home meaning the demand for childcare and home/online school because schools and daycares for children are closed. The household responsibilities have been impacted regarding gender roles because women have a higher chance because they work in sectors. Meaning that men are technically the money provider for the child and partner. It mainly shifted towards his partner (the mom) because she had to give up her job to stay at home and take care of their child due to the pandemic closing daycare.
- – Assign each interviewees division of labor before and during with a label from the book: traditional, neotraditional, or egalitarian.
The division of labor before and during small shifts toward a more equal division of labor.
- – Discuss your thoughts and reactions to what you have found and how it relates to the material. Remember to consider and discuss intersections of race/class/ability.
My thoughts on what I found out about the person I interviewed was that I have noticed that ever since the pandemic not really many men lost their jobs compared to women a few of those where men are not working, are now experiencing a more equal gender division.
Materials Needed:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/feminism-womens-rights-coronavirus-covid19/608302/
https://phys.org/news/2020-03-women-coronavirus-families.html
And attached powerpoint
