Family

10 Pages 2456 Words

is the essential key to women's present subordination. Not only does patriarchy exist in the pubic domain of the paid labour force, but also in the private domain of the household, or better yet, the family.
With patriarchy by its side, gender inequality has developed into one of the biggest controversies amongst sociologists, feminist groups, and women. In modern day society women are working their way into the labour force, and "expanding their roles to include working outside the home as well as being wives and mothers" (Kaufman, 1999, p. 440). As women are moving into the paid labour force, they "continue to work longer hours than do their husbands on household tasks, and there is little evidence that men's proportionate share of the family work has changed much during the past decade or so" (Blair, 1991, p. 91). Although women are moving into the paid labour force at a fairly fast pace, according to Kaufman (1999), "men's involvement in domestic roles has increased but at a slower pace than women's entrance into the labour market" (p. 440). Women's entrance into the labour market evolved rather rapidly from approximately less than 30% in the 1960's to currently more than 45% of women are in the paid labour force (Dr. Levin, 2000, class notes).
There are many reasons for the increase of women's labour force participation. The main fact being that the North American standard of living has increased drastically in the past decades, and that double-incomes are needed in order to survive. Along with the increase in standard of living, divorce rates are increasing leaving women with children to support on their own, and therefore, women must find outside work. There are also fewer children to raise, therefore, women have more time to work and raise their children. Also, there is a great change in societal attitudes that push women into the work force. Finally, with pay equity policies having been established, it is m...