An understanding of gender theory and processes provides a crucial framework for career assessment and adjustment regardless of how individual women may vary in their visions for occupational work and family life. Across cultures, social systems operate in similar ways to "structure the psyches of both sexes to reproduce their desired ideal types, and they do so by controlling what can be thought and felt" (Ker Conway, 1994, p. 152). This article centers around an understanding of the active processes of reproducing gender through societal language and discourses and how such processes can inhibit multiple role involvement and role sharing for women in modern dual-earner families. Two discourses particularly influential in the "doing of gender" are described, and these are referred to as the "women and men as equals" discourse and the "men as incompetent care-givers" discourse. A segment from the popular television program Dateline, provides a powerful illustrative example. Finally, ways to disrupt gender producing processes are briefly considered.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aldous, J. (1990). Specification and speculation concerning the politics of workplace family policies. Journal of Family Issues, 11, 355-367.
2.
Athanasiadou, C. (1997). Postgraduate women talk about family and career: The discursive reproduction of gender difference. Feminism & Psychology, 7, 321-327.
3.
Barnett, R.C., & Rivers, C. (1996). She works/he works: How two-income families are happier, healthier, and better off. New York: Harper Collins.
4.
Bernard, J. (1981). The good provider role: Its rise and fall. American Psychologist, 36, 3-12.
5.
Blain, J. (1994). Discourses of agency and domestic labor: Family discourse and gendered practice in dual-career families. Journal of Family Issues, 15, 515-549.
6.
Blaisure, K.R., & Allen, K.R. (1995). Feminists and the ideology and practice of marital equality. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 5-19.
7.
Bouchard, G., Sabourin, S., Lussier, Y., Wright, J., & Richer, C. (1998). Predictive validity of coping strategies on marital satisfaction: Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 112-131.
8.
Brooks, G.R., & Gilbert, L.A. (1995). Men in families: Old constraints, new possibilities . In R. Levant & W. S. Pollack (Eds.), The new psychology of men (pp. 252-279). New York: Basic Books .
9.
Brownson, C. (1997). Working fathers' involvement in dual-earner families: An exploration of men's sex role attitudes and paternal participation. Unpublished master's report, University of Texas, Austin.
10.
Clatterbaugh, K. (1990). Contemporary perspectives on masculinity: Men, women, and politics in modern society. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
11.
Crouter, A.C., & Manke, B. (1997). Development of a typology of dual-earner families: A window into the difference between and within families in relationships, roles and activities. Journal of Family Psychology, 11, 62-75.
12.
Deutsch, F.M., Lussier, J.B., & Servis, L.J. (1993). Husbands at home: Predictors of paternal participation in childcare and housework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1154-1166.
13.
Deaux, K., & LaFrance, M. (in press). Gender. In D. Gilbert, S. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.
14.
Deaux, K., & Major, B. (1987). Putting gender into context: An interactive model of gender-related behavior. Psychological Review, 94, 369-389.
15.
deBeauvoir, S. (1970). The second sex. New York: Bantam.
16.
Eyer, D.E. (1992). Mother-infant bonding: A scientific fiction. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
17.
Fouad, N.A., & Bingham, R.P. (1995). Career counseling with racial and ethnic minorities . In W. B. Walsh & S. H. Osipow (Eds.), Handbook of vocational psychology: Theory, research and practice (2nd ed., pp. 331-366). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
18.
Galinsky, E., & Stein, P.J. (1990). The impact of human resource policies on employees: Balancing work/family life. Journal of Family Issues, 11, 368-383.
19.
Gilbert, L.A. (1985). Men in dual-career families: Current realities and future prospects. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
20.
Gilbert, L.A. (1993). Two careers/One family: The promise of gender equality. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage .
21.
Gilbert, L.A. (1994a). Current perspectives on dual-career families . Current Directions in Psychological Science, 3, 101-104.
22.
Gilbert, L.A. (1994b). Reclaiming and returning gender to context: Examples from studies of heterosexual dual-earner families. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 539-558.
23.
Gilbert, L.A., & Bingham, R.P. (in press). Career counseling with dual-career heterosexual African American couples. In W. B. Walsh, S. Osipow, R. Bingham, M. Brown, & C. Ward (Eds.), Career counseling for African Americans. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
24.
Glass, J.L., & Estes, S.B. (1997). The family responsive workplace. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 289-313.
25.
Greenstein, T.N. (1996). Husbands' participation in domestic labor: Interactive effects of wives' and husbands' gender ideologies. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 585-595.
26.
Hare-Mustin, R. T., & Marecek, J. (Eds.). (1990). Making a difference: Psychology and the construction of gender. New Haven, CT : Yale University Press.
27.
Hertz, R. (1997). A typology of approaches to child care: The centerpiece of organizing family life in dual-earner couples. Journal of Family Issues, 18, 355-385.
28.
Hubbard, R. (1990). The politics of women's biology. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
29.
Huston, T.L., & Geis, G. (1993). In what ways do gender-related attitudes and beliefs affect marriage? Journal of Social Issues, 49(3), 87-106.
30.
Hyde, J.S., Essex, M.J., & Horton, F. (1993). Fathers and parental leave: Attitudes and experiences . Journal of Family Issues, 14, 616-641.
31.
Kamerman, S.B. (1991). Child care policies and programs: An international overview. Journal of Social Issues, 47(2), 179-196.
32.
Keller, E.F. (1992). Secrets of life, secrets of death: Essays on language, gender, and scienceNew York: Routledge .
33.
Ker Conway, J. (1994). True north: A memoir. New York : Random House.
34.
Lamb, M.E. (1975). Fathers: Forgotten contributors to child development . Human Development, 18, 245-266.
35.
Malcolm, A.H. (1991, June 16). A day of celebration for a more active kind of Dad. The New York Times, p. 14.
36.
National Report on Work & Family. (1998). National study on the changing workforce. 11 (8), 81-83.
37.
Okin, S.M. (1989). Justice, gender, and the family. New York: Basic Books.
38.
Pleck, J.H. (1987). American fathering in historical perspective. In M. S. Kimmel (Ed.), Changing men: New directions in research on men and masculinity (pp. 83-97). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
39.
Pleck, J.H. (1988). Fathers and infant care leave. In E. F. Zigler & M. Frank (Eds.), The parental leave crisis: Toward a national policy (pp. 177-191). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
40.
Pleck, J.H. (1993). Are "family supportive" employer policies relevant to men? In J. C. Hood (Ed.), Men, work, and family (pp. 217-237). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
41.
Pleck, J.H. (1996, June). Paternal involvement: Levels, sources, and consequences. Paper presented at the Co-Parenting Roundtable of the Fathers and Families Roundtable. Boston, MA.
42.
Risman, B.J., & Johnson-Sumerford, D. (1998). Doing it fairly: A study of postgender marriages. Journal of Marriage and the Family , 60, 23-40.
43.
Sanchez, L., & Kane, E.W. (1996). Women's and men's constructions of perceptions of housework fairness. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 385-387.
44.
Silverstein, L.B. (1996). Fathering is a feminist issue. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20, 3-37.
45.
Silverstein, L.B., & Phares, V. (1996). Expanding the mother-child paradigm: An examination of dissertation research 1986-1994. Psychology of Women Quarterly , 20, 39-54.
46.
Tavris, C. (1998, May 10). Goodbye to momism. New York Times Book Review, p. 16.
47.
Thompson, L., & Walker, A.J. (1989). Women and men in marriage, work, and parenthood . Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 845-872.
48.
Thompson, L., & Walker, A.J. (1995). The place of feminism in family studies. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 847-865.
49.
Unger, R.K. (1990). Imperfect reflections of reality. In R. T. Hare-Mustin & J. Marecek (Eds.), Making a difference: Psychology and the construction of gender. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
50.
United States Department of Commerce, Census Bureau. (1997). Current Population Reports: Fathers as Care Providers . Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
51.
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1996). Employment Characteristics of Families: 1996 (Bulletin USDL 97-195). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
52.
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1998). Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: First Quarter 1998 (Bulletin USDL 98-148). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
53.
United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (1998). Gender differences in earnings among young adults entering the labor market (Bulletin NCES 98-086). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
54.
Volling, B.L., & Belsky, J. (1992). The contribution of mother-child and father-child relationships to the quality of sibling interaction: A longitudinal study . Child Development, 63, 1209-1222.
55.
Weitzman, L.M. (1994). Multiple-role realism: A theoretical framework for the process of planning to combine career and family roles. Applied & Preventive Psychology, 3, 15-26.
