Changing Roles of Race and Gender - Essay Example

?Running head: RACE AND GENDER Race and Gender Insert Insert Insert 9 April Race and Gender Introduction Race refers to the distinct classification of living human beings in consideration to their phenotypical or outward appearance, geographical origin in correlation to general traits such as their culture, ethnicity, and social-economic status. In addition, race provides a distinction between different groups of individuals in the universe and at the same time coinciding with the discrimination of individuals according to their race. The less disadvantaged individuals in a given race become inferior as compared to the superior races. In most cases, the whites (Caucasians) have been viewed as the superior race as compared to the blacks (Afro-Americans) in numerous fields. Gender refers to a set of observable characteristics that are used to provide distinction between the male and female in any given population. There exists only two recognizable genders within the population; it describes the femininity and masculinity of persons in any given society. Moreover, it is a description of the sexual orientation of different people in the overall population. This paper discusses the changing roles of work and family, policies affecting paid work and family, gender differences in other countries, family as an economic unit, labor market discrimination, and nonstandard employment for workers. Changing work roles and family The family is an entity that consists of a collection of members who are related by marriage and blood. These members of the family have different sexual orientations -male and female. Both members of the family are objected to certain roles that they have to play within the family as a unit. Because of the dynamic changes and demands of the society and life in general, there has been a dramatic change in the role that different members have to play irrespective in their gender. Both men and women have crossed each ones impenetrable boundaries into each other’s territories in terms of cooking, doing laundry work, shopping, childcare, and cleaning the house, all of which are roles that were viewed as women tasks. Nowadays, men perform these tasks with the same expertise as women. Such situations would occur when one of the family members is preoccupied with other duties including employment commitments. In families where mothers work outside, most of the fathers have dominated childcare (changing the infants’ diapers and bathing the infants); indeed, results showed that such infants achieved average social skills and enjoyed the external stimulation from their fathers, as they were as skillful and loving as the infants’ mothers were (Blau et al 2006). There is a preference of equalitarian marriage where both spouses share work responsibilities, home making and child rearing (Lewis & Sussman, 1986). Other family members including the offspring’s have also been involved in different tasks within the family. For example, in the African rural settings, the male children could look after the livestock owned by the family, and other communities allowed their females to build houses for the male counterparts for example the plain and highland nilots. Policies affecting paid work and family Different family members are concerned with different tasks and certain policies both traditional and corporate affect their performance. Maternity policies apply to the expectant mothers both the young and adult mothers (Blau et al 2006). Such a policy ensures that, for example, in the corporate sector, the expectant mother is subjected to a maternity leave for a defined period before and after childbirth. This ensures that the mother does not strain in terms of performing certain family duties. This is also evident in the traditional society setting as the family members perform family tasks while the expectant mothers have maximum rest. The social policy has a number of parental leaves that are usually granted to either the mother, father or both members. The first is transferable, which is gender neutral and allocated to either parent. The second is transferable child rearing, which is gender-neutral leave that gives the parents the right to look after the children for an extended period of time. The third is nontransferable maternity leave, which is taken by a mother, immediately after childbirth. The last one is nontransferable paternity leave, which is taken by the father soon after childbirth. The government (executive, legislature and judicial) at all levels and the county government make and carry out policies that affect families and the activities carried out in terms of paid work. These include income maintenance, health (all individuals are subject to better treatment), and social services, correctional and court services. Such policies affect the family and paid work directly and indirectly. The business (private) sector provides policies such as work schedules, medical leave, remuneration rates, health benefits, and pension policies that affect the family. The state governments’ policies on issues such as security, access to natural resources and the general employment and manpower affects the way in which the family members gain access to natural resources so as to reduce the chances of their destruction. This is in addition to ensuring that the members are guaranteed with security within their families and work place, and also ensuring that child labor is strictly prohibited (Zimmerman,1992). Gender differences in other countries Gender is viewed as being dynamic in relation to the existing numerous countries and their social background and beliefs. In African countries, women are inclined to perform most of the household chores as compared to men. They are majorly involved in childcare and rightful upbringing of young children to adulthood. In some rural communities, especially the plain nilotes, women build houses for men, while the men perform fewer tasks as compared to the women in such communities. The African women were not allowed to become leaders, as the man is regarded as the head of the family and all the family decisions are undertaken by men. Also, certain foods are preferred to be consumed by males, rather than the females, as these is seen to increase the masculinity and ability to work extra hard as exhibited by the males. Indeed, activities such as drinking, smoking are seen as meant for men (Blau et al 2006). In the western world, there has been a diversity of gender in terms of activities, lifestyle, and other issues concerning the family. Women behavior is not restricted as women can adopt lifestyles such as drinking, smoking, going to party and hangout joints at night with minimal restrictions. In addition, the men carry out various activities within their homesteads such as providing childcare, cooking for the family when the wives are not around. Family as an economic unit Family refers to a union by marriage and blood consisting of parents and their children. An economic unit defines a unit that affects the production and consumption of resources. The members of a family are viewed as households that are capable of producing goods (tangible assets) and services (intangible personal and commercial). Each member of the family is entitled to specific tasks so that to ensure the smooth running of the family. Personal services provided by the family members to the community include education where a member of the family could be providing either formal or informal education services to other members of the family and within the community, medical care provided to a sick family member or other members in the society, and hair care among others. Commercial services include transport, banking, advertising, and assurance provided to family members, all of which affect the productivity and consumption of resources (Blau et al 2006). All the services and goods provided by the family as an economic unit are managed by the parents who act as overseers to every household activity that take place. The parents are involved in planning (deciding on what to be done), organizing, guiding, and controlling (checking whether instructions have been followed to the latter) in production. Members of the family provide human labor required in production of goods and services. The family is an economic unit in the sense that the household members are involved in the production of goods and services. Members can work in the farm to produce agricultural products for example food crops such as cabbages, maize, sugarcane and others, milk from the reared cattle. The family is viewed as a firm, which makes decisions on what and the form in which to produce the goods, and the prices to be charged on the goods when they are to be sold or exchanged for other impending services required (Blau et al 2006). Labor market discrimination Race and gender have influenced the individual occupations and eventual overall earnings by people from their employers. Labor market discrimination takes the form of different wage rates provided for workers with regard to characteristics such as sex, age, education, social class, and political beliefs. There had been so much prejudice in the labor market as a result of racial prejudice both the employers and workers having distaste about working with people from different ethnic backgrounds. Such people tend to associate with their own people from the same background. The employer may assume that certain groups of people are less productive than others through observable characteristics such as race and gender. This results into the employers’ unwillingness to employ such people, payment of less salary that fairly reflects ones productivity and experience (Blau et al 2006). The employer might assume that the specified job does not fit or is not suitable to a given gender and or race. This would result in low paying jobs being offered to the weaker gender (female), while other long-term and highly paying jobs being given to the stronger gender (male). This results into a disparity in the occupations and the earnings of the female gender as compared to the male gender. In terms of gender, more women are offered part-time jobs than their male counterparts are, and the travel patterns of the females are limited, as they prefer shorter distances from the workplace (they are geographically immobile); this results in their low wage earnings. Women who take occasional breaks from paid work to raise their family always end up loosing certain amounts of their capital earnings and the level of work experience, specifically those who are employed in part-time jobs. Occupational crowding effects where the females and other minorities are crowded into the low paying occupations because of employer prejudice results in different occupational levels and general earning of the minorities (Blau et al 2006). Nonstandard employment for workers Nonstandard employment defines poorly paid, insecure, and unprotected type of employment, which in essence cannot support any given household because of poor pay. This type of employment entails part time, temporal, on-call work and both the worker and employer face different advantages and disadvantages. Workers with scarce expertise or skills may benefit as they are given managerial and overseer posts in the employment. The female gender benefits from the part-time nature of the work and they can balance between the work and their family care. In general, the employees are not fixed to the employers timetables throughout as it provides flexibility to other chores (Blau et al 2006). Structured flexibility provides opportunities for some groups that would be excluded, such as expectant females. The employer can perform the desired work at their own convenience because they only offer the opportunity when it arises, and this reduces the costs incurred. The worker faces job insecurity, as there is no guarantee for full time employment, and hence financial instability of the workers. Incomes from the nonstandard jobs are low, resulting into low living standards of the workers. Discrimination and abuse occurs due to gender, for the women who work as house helps, they are usually subjected to sexual harassment by their employers, the workers health is not guaranteed as they work at their own risks, workers are not subject to benefits such as pensions, health care and medical coverage. The employer might end up having substandard work done due to unskilled experience from the workers and might lead to double expenses being incurred by the employer. Child labor can be induced, as the employment does not specify on age limits of the workers. Works Cited Blau, Francine et al. The Economics of Women, Men, and Work. NY: Prentice Hall. 2006. Lewis, Robert and Sussman, Marvin B. Men's changing roles in the family. NY: Routledge. 1986. Zimmerman, Shirley L. Family policies, and family well-being: the role of political culture. London: SAGE. 1992. Read More