The change in traditional gender roles has affected not only family life but also the general society at large. Tough economic times have pushed women to leave their traditional roles of taking care of their family as more women undertake employment opportunities on equal levels with men. Some women are the sole breadwinners for their families. The high rate of maternal employment has posed a challenge to the gender division of childcare. Women still play a more significant role in childcare responsibilities, even when they take up employment opportunities. Men spend less time on raising children than women. However, modern men still try to take up an active role in family upbringing as compared to past times and have taken an upper hand in education as discussed hereinafter.
The female gender has taken up new social roles as more women advance themselves in education. Research has it that more women than me have taken up education opportunities in the last few decades. Unlike in the past, women have educated themselves on equal levels or even better than their partners. There is a high number of children grow out of a marriage as people no longer look at marriage as an essential factor (Oláh, Kotowska & Richter, 2018). Most of the working women still strike a balance between work and taking care of their families. This balance is an attribute to the fact that more women are highly educated and active in the labor market. Similar roles have changed their views concerning parenting and forced more men to undertake family roles such as cooking, which they were not allowed to do in the past. The whole aspect of gender roles has changed as men participate more in household chores such as caregiving, just as women. Domestic expectations have mainly changed as revolution changed domestics tasks that were strictly carried out by women in the past (Oláh, Kotowska & Richter, 2018).
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Family patterns have changed due to the impact caused by the change in traditional gender roles. There is a high rate of decline in fertility rates as people delay marriage and parenting. A couple who stay together and have children can easily dissolve a marriage as more people refrain from long-term commitments (Oláh, Kotowska & Richter, 2018). Change of gender roles due to modernity has contributed to the de-standardization of family life across the world. As more women dominate the economic sphere, marriage has no longer become the most crucial part of couple-relationships. The change in the general structure of the family has enhanced diversity in family biographies that have indicated a decline in childbirth. The rate of childbearing continues to decline with time, unlike in the past days. Fertility rates have as well declined as more women opt to have a few numbers of children. European countries have indicated low levels of childbearing rates.
Men used to have a higher authority within the society in the past. This aspect has changed over time as more women have become independent can provide for their children just like men. There is a complete change in modern family patterns. There is a substantial increase of women in the labor market as there are high rates of women employment (Oláh, Kotowska & Richter, 2018). Pregnant women no longer withdraw from the labor market because they get granted with the permission to work. This situation is different from the past when women could withdraw from employment once they got married or had children. More women aspire to be employed and not just sit at home and take care of children. The high rates of women in employment have enhanced new female work patterns, which do not allow for women to withdraw from their jobs when married, but instead, they stay employed until when they retire.
The current female gender roles have changed the dimension of economic independence as more women are economically independent and carry out responsibilities that previously belonged to men (Oláh, Kotowska & Richter, 2018). Gender equality has enhanced the equal distribution of responsibilities between men and women. However, there are still no evenly distributed household roles such as childcare and housework as women still dominate this sector, even those that are employed. Among young couples, more fathers embrace the part of active parenting, unlike in the past days.
Reference
Oláh, L. S., Kotowska, I. E., & Richter, R. (2018). The new roles of men and women and implications for families and societies. In A Demographic perspective on gender, family and health in Europe (pp. 41-64). Springer, Cham.
