The Role of Men and Women
By France7
@France7 (385)
Philippines
June 8, 2009 12:19am CST
The traditional roles of men and women are changing. Even though men have not been freed from being the principal breadwinners, they are also expected to help with household chores. women too are making money outside the home, but they still operate under the assumption that childrearing is primarily their function. Men and women alike cry under the load and insist they are overworked,and unappreciated. Friends, what do you think about this?
5 people like this
21 responses
@srganesh (6340)
• India
8 Jun 09
I am totally concerned about the present day children.They can't get the parental care as before and they feel lonely in a family where both husband and wife goes for job.I think,it is the greed of the human mind to earn more so to enjoy more they are putting their life and their kids life at stake.Man is trained for generations to be the breadwinner and women to look after house.This can't changed immediately.And the woman cannot demand her hubby to help which would result in ego clash.So,before allowing a girl to go for jobs,they should plan their duties.Cheers!
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
10 Jun 09
I am in agreement with you grammanooks that both men and women have equal responsibilities at home. That includes raising their kids to be great men and women in the future. Moreover, it does not matter who brings home the bacon or who stays at home to do household chores; what matters is that each partner maintains his or her commitment to honor. It is so because respect for one another is bound to get lost in the humdrum of everyday existence. It is easier to boss, to shout, to get sassy, to kick the door than to say "please," "thank you", "good morning", or "I'm sorry, please forgive me". Thus, each partner needs to maintain esteem and dignity of each other. Blessings!:)
@abigailsavan1976 (79)
• United States
9 Jun 09
Amen to that Grammasnook. I'm a single mother and I have to raise my children on my own. There are no men in this family.
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
9 Jun 09
When I was working I was expected to come home and clean,cook and do other things while the men rested and did their after work thing. I would often fall asleep in the tub from being so tired and drained. But getting up at3:00am and having to be at work by 5 and work was an hour away. Then work 10 hours come home cook clean and do other stuff then bath and fall asleep..I was always tired but my job was one where I had to stand up and work for those 10 hours and constantly be moving. No sitting down till break or lunch. If I had kids at the time I am sure I would have had to gotten them fed, bathed, helped with school work and tucked into bed also..a womans/moms work is never done it is a 24 hour job..
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
27 Jun 09
Very true..But I think it has to start at the beginning of a relationship. A person should be told they are expected to help out and so on. Seems if a person is expected of it they might try to at least help out once in awhile just to say they help..I know when I hurt my back and I wasn't able to do anything but lay in a bed for a week straight.. my sister in law asked my husband why he didn't clean the house..she told him it wouldn't hurt him to do stuff he sees needs to be done..He will sweep,mop and dust and do laundry and garbage about once or twice a month, but he won't do dishes at all. But I am happy for the help now, even though I no longer have a job. Just good to get a break.
@renemouche (843)
• United States
8 Jun 09
Well the roles for women have changed and slowly the roles of men are changing. Both women and men have hard roles in different ways. They both feel pressures in different areas. I was forunate to grow seeing my mom and dad do both roles. My dad worked and so did my mom, but my dad also cooked and did house work just as my mom did. They shared roles. I think that is the best way but its not always doable do to certain situations and attidues of the parties envolved.
My mom alway told my dad she appreciated what he did for our family and my dad told my mom the same things. Me and my sister always let our parents know that we appreciated them too, especially now that we are older.
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
26 Jun 09
I give a nod to your parents, for they showed you the right roles of men and women. Like your parents, my dad and mom did the same thing. I learned from them that doing household chores is not just the responsibility of the mom and bring home the bacon is not just the accountability of the dad. Other than that, I also learned from them the importance of respect and appreciation. Blessings!^^
@sway2513 (50)
• United States
8 Jun 09
I think I was born about 100 years to early! I hate the way things are today. I'm all for women working if they want to, but I am a firm believer that its the mans job to support his family and a womans job to cook, clean and raise the kids. I do not think women should work especially if they have children. I know it sounds so 1930, but thats how i feel. Its not just the roles that have changed its also the general way life is lived now a days that I dont agree with. For example men seam to have zero manners anymore, everyone cheats and divorce is so accepted as well as teenage pregnancy, ect ect. I'm not saying I think women should not have rights but I do think the general amount of respect of women has decreased way to much.
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
26 Jun 09
In my case, I was brought up in a family wherein both of my parents took the responsibility of raising me up with my siblings. I can still remember that time when I was still a young kid, and my parents were both working. What they did was dividing their time. In the morning, my mom goes to work and my dad stays doing all the household chores including taking care of us. Comes afternoon, my dad lets me sleep then everytime I wake up, he's gone and my mom is there with me preparing also for dinner. I can definitely say that they never failed taking care of us. And because I saw my dad and mom doing the household chores together, that made me realize up to now that men can do everyday chores and not just women. As for your opinion, I understand it as well. The only thing that bothers me, too is the acceptance of divorce and teenage pregnancy in other culture. I can say that I am just so lucky to have belonged to a culture wherein divorce and teenage pregnancy are taboos. Thanks for the opinion and blessings!^^
@cainam (493)
• Philippines
9 Jun 09
the only thing that will not change is the role of women as a mother to her child. a mother may become the breadminner in the family or the one who fixes everything even plumbing but her childrearing function will never be replace by men exactly the same way as women do. me may be the one doing the household chores but it will never be done much better than women do.
@pillusch (1147)
• Mexico
8 Jun 09
I believe that women have always been in charge, it was just camouflaged by the traditional role playing as long as the man was the only bread winner. But even then I believe that who ran the show was always the women. In that setting the poor gals where so helpless and dependent on their husband that he literally could read every wish in her eyes and grant it ! They never fought for or against something, they just made the right suggestion at the right time. While men played the macho, it was really ‘Thy will be done’. Check on Esther Villar, she wrote a book about it in the seventies.
Nowadays it’s even more obvious. It’s us man who change the diapers (and we do it proudly!), are more familiar with the lay-out of the supermarket and attend to the guests. I’m personally not falling for that anymore, I don’t only ‘do’ the mach nowadays, I ‘am’ the macho.
@Pose123 (21635)
• Canada
8 Jun 09
Hi France, A good discussion, thank you. The past sixty years in particular has seen these changes taking place. It was slow in coming at first, but in the past twenty has grown to a feverish pitch. I feel as you do, that it has created many problems as well as brought much good and greater equality. Many of the problems will have to be solved on an individual basis and I don't feel that there is one solution that will solve all the problems. Blessings.
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
26 Jun 09
Hello my friend. Thank you for the appreciation. It is true that now, changes have brought equalities between men and women. On the other hand, problems arise just like what you have said. Is it fine with you if you give more details on this? Thank you and God bless.^^
@reckon21 (3479)
• Philippines
8 Jun 09
The role of men and women are constantly changing.
There are family out there that the husband is the one
taking care of the children, while the wife is working
outside the house.I think there's nothing wrong with it as long
they accepted the changes with open arms.
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
18 Jun 09
How do you do reckon? We can see eye to eye on that....there is never unethical neither immoral for a husband taking charge of looking after the kids. so long as the wife and husband agree and respect each other, there should be no any problem about it. God bless!^^
@kingxu (44)
• China
8 Jun 09
As the development of the society,women have the same opportunities as men to pursre their careers,and in some special field,they even have great advantage over men. Modern women play quite different position as before.And modern men,after their work,they should also do household chores.
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
26 Jun 09
Hi there kingxu. You might be right in saying that both men and women have the same opportunities these days, but I am not sure about your statement saying that in some special field, women have great advantage over men. Could you please further expound on this if you don't mind?^^
@guixiu81 (30)
• China
8 Jun 09
Yes,it's changing.As my point, men and women has equal right to be breadwinner or to be household,actually it should not be defined as men should do what or women do what,it should depend on who is good at what,If women is good at to being breadwinner,men can help with household chores. Or if men is good at child education,they can spend more time on child and women to earn money, as long as they make agreement in family on who is responsible for which role of family.
@JamieRose (168)
• Philippines
8 Jun 09
The role of men and women vary in every country and in every culture. What has been used to being done, whether we admit it or not, greatly affects how we perceive the roles of men and women. Example, if a young boy got used to seeing his dad get home after work watching tv, and sees his mom do the dishes and cooking food while the dad is relaxing, more or less this will have an effect on how he views parental roles. But at the end of the day, I believe that whether a man or a woman, we are all human beings. We should act/work depending on our own talents and skills. All of us deserve to be appreciated, whether it be cooking a delicious meal, or bringing something to the table from work. All of us, despite and inspite of our weaknesses, deserve to be recognized and appreciated for every small thing we do.
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
26 Jun 09
I like your idea in saying that our idea about the roles of men and women had been passed on to us when we were children. The way we look at how our parents work at home had affected our views. That is why parents need to be careful at which role they portray in front of their kids, for it may affect their point of views regarding the responsibilities of men and women. Blessings!^^
@sudiptacallingu (10879)
• India
8 Jun 09
I don’t really know what to think about this except for the fact that the kids suffer the most. Both men and women are working outside and in the home, yet what they are earning never seems to be enough. Competition in every walk of life is so intense, sometimes it does feel we are living in a wild jungle and not in a civilized society. Its each to his own almost everywhere and we are forever scared of lagging behind or not being able to give our children the ‘best’…this is leading to frequent friction in relations resulting in dysfunctional homes and divorced parents. And as I said…kids are suffering the most. In my opinion, at least one parent should stay at home for the better part of the day to take care of the children.
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
13 Jun 09
Hi there sudiptacallingu. It is truly a dreadful situation for children suffer due to lack of time given by their parents. Should both the man and woman or husband and wife prefer working outside, they need to communicate well regarding raising up their kids. Without proper communication, they create monster children. blessings!
@rsa101 (38166)
• Philippines
8 Jun 09
True I guess for the past several century women has pretty much been liberated by the society as to their function and roles in the community. Women's role has since expanded already and they should appreciate that than where they were before a couple of centuries ago. Although of course there are some societies in our world that still stick to their traditional belief system that women should stay at hoem and rear for their kids.
For me both should not complain anymore especially for those that live in countries where there is almost equal treatment on women.
@ShellyB (5241)
• United States
8 Jun 09
I agree with you. I live in the US and I see sometimes couples that work and yet the woman rushes home to cook, clean and be with the kids, and the man rushes home and rests for a while.
I am not saying it is wrong but if there are both working why not rest together and then tackle the housework together?
It is not the norm tho, it is just something that I have seen and bugs me a little.
I believe in every family, both husband and wife should make their own rules and forget what society and other people think.
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
10 Jun 09
I totally agree with you that it is a must both husband and wife should have the time to talk together about how they can work together in cultivating their own family. If the husband agrees to help in the house cleaning, then why not. It would be of great help for the wife. Besides, they became one all ready, which means they are to be committed in helping each other for the good of their own family. Blessings!:)
@mods196621 (3652)
• Philippines
8 Jun 09
As we can see the role of men and women are pattern already. The man as breadwinner and the woman as childbearer and doing all household chores. Very ordinary. But as of today as far as I know both man and woman can do just the same except pregnancy for men. Mostly women can do to raise the needs of their family in terms of financial support because women also can work as men do. According to my own opinion man and women has the equal capacity to raise their family in terms of financial aid.
Have a nice day!
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
10 Jun 09
Hello there mods. I am with you in saying that women nowadays have also the capacity to financially bring up their own family. Most women now are not just contented staying at home as a plain housewife; they also want to work not because their husbands do not earn well, but women choose to work because it gives them pleasure. cheers!
@Ingkingderders (3832)
• Philippines
8 Jun 09
I think that times have changed and the roles of men and women in a household can be interchanged. It is just a matter of ego ( for men to be called househusband ) and pride ( for women to the breadwinner of the family). I don't think that the children are the ones on the loosing end at the end of this all, if the parents know how to manage their time, then there'll be no problem.. My sibling and I grew up with both of our parents working full time, and we never felt that we missed something while we were growing up. It is a matter of balancing your time for work and for your family I guess, and my parents did a perfect job doing it. =)
@France7 (385)
• Philippines
18 Jun 09
Hello there there ingkingderders. You are right in saying that if parents know how to manage their time, then no problem shall arise in taking care of the kids. Thus, proper communication between the husband and wife must be taken seriously on how they bring about their time especially when they are both working. Cheers!
@doggyhouz (548)
• United States
8 Jun 09
It compliments one another I believe. That the male takes on that role because he wants to do this for the women. Now women have babies at a older age.
