Reclaiming Feminist Theory, Method, and Praxis for Family Studies

Allen, Katherine R.; Lloyd, Sally A.; Few, April L.

doi:10.4135/9781412982801.n1

Cited by 66 publications

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“…Furthermore, in light of the fact that previous research has typically focused on middle-class families—or has not considered the potential impact of socio-demographic characteristics at all—the present study explores the intersecting nature of gender and social class, as this intersection relates to how children develop gender-role attitudes in the context of their working-class family systems. Attention to these issues is crucial in order to understand the nuanced ways in which individuals and family systems are impacted by power and oppression across multiple domains (Allen, Lloyd, & Few, 2009). Finally, the longitudinal approach utilized in the present study allows for the consideration of how gender socialization occurs within families across an extended period of time, accounting for the relative roles of each parent’s early (across the child’s first year) and late (6 years later) gender ideology and gendered behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, a feminist framework challenges us to consider how the circumstances surrounding low-wage work may lead to a mismatch between parents’ gender ideologies and the behaviors they must enact (e.g., mothers who work outside the home despite wanting to be full-time homemakers), and how this may relate to children’s understanding of gender. In short, children are likely to be affected by the inequalities their parents experience in low-wage work, and the associated challenges these families face (Allen et al, 2009). In the following section, we review the developmental literature that describes how children acquire gendered preferences with an eye towards both social class and parent gender as influential contextual factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parents’ Gender Ideology and Gendered Behavior as Predictors of Children’s Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration

2015

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The current study utilized longitudinal, self-report data from a sample of 109 dual-earner, working-class couples and their 6-year-old children living in the northeastern United States. Research questions addressed the roles of parents’ gender ideology and gendered behaviors in predicting children’s development of gender-role attitudes. It was hypothesized that parents' behavior would be more influential than their ideology in the development of their children's attitudes about gender roles. Parents responded to questionnaires assessing their global beliefs about women's and men's "rightful" roles in society, work preferences for mothers, division of household and childcare tasks, division of paid work hours, and job traditionality. These data were collected at multiple time points across the first year of parenthood, and during a 6-year follow-up. At the final time point, children completed the Sex Roles Learning Inventory (SERLI), an interactive measure that assesses gender-role attitudes. Overall, mothers’ and fathers’ behaviors were better predictors of children’s gender-role attitudes than parents’ ideology. In addition, mothers and fathers played unique roles in their sons’ and daughters’ acquisition of knowledge about gender stereotypes. Findings from the current study fill gaps in the literature on children’s gender development in the family context—particularly by examining the understudied role of fathers in children’s acquisition of knowledge regarding gender stereotypes and through its longitudinal exploration of the relationship between parents’ gender ideologies, parents’ gendered behaviors, and children’s gender-role attitudes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents’ Gender Ideology and Gendered Behavior as Predictors of Children’s Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration

2015

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“…A feminist perspective is purposely inclusive of many meanings and practices, with core themes including power and agency, as manifested in family relationships (Allen, Lloyd & Few, 2009). Feminism is central in understanding family relationships because families consist of the emotional and physical locations in which constructs such as power, conflict, and care come together to explain how people live their lives (Few-Demo, Lloyd, & Allen, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Emotion Work, and Relationship Quality: A Daily Diary Study

et al. 2015

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We use the gender relations perspective from feminist theorizing to investigate how gender and daily emotion work predict daily relationship quality in 74 couples (148 individuals in dating, cohabiting, or married relationships) primarily from the southwest U.S. Emotion work is characterized by activities that enhance others’ emotional well-being. We examined emotion work two ways: trait (individuals’ average levels) and state (individuals’ daily fluctuations). We examined actor and partner effects of emotion work and tested for gender differences. As outcome variables, we included six types of daily relationship quality: love, commitment, satisfaction, closeness, ambivalence, and conflict. This approach allowed us to predict three aspects of relationship quality: average levels, daily fluctuations, and volatility (overall daily variability across a week). Three patterns emerged. First, emotion work predicted relationship quality in this diverse set of couples. Second, gender differences were minimal for fixed effects: Trait and state emotion work predicted higher average scores on, and positive daily increases in, individuals’ own positive relationship quality and lower average ambivalence. Third, gender differences were more robust for volatility: For partner effects, having a partner who reported higher average emotion work predicted lower volatility in love, satisfaction, and closeness for women versus greater volatility in love and commitment for men. Neither gender nor emotion work predicted average levels, daily fluctuations, or volatility in conflict. We discuss implications and future directions pertaining to the unique role of gender in understanding the associations between daily emotion work and volatility in daily relationship quality for relational partners.

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“…This means that families are spaces where society's gendered power distribution is enacted and at the same time, families are spaces where such struggles are resisted and transformed by individuals in relationships (Allen et al 2009). A traditional concern for feminist scholars who study families has been that of how gender structures power inequalities between women and men within family relationships (for example, between husband and wife; Ferree 2010).…”

Section: Gender Theory and Family Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Daughters’ Anger towards Mothers and Fathers in Emerging Adulthood

2016

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We examined young women's anger towards mothers and fathers in emerging adulthood using a qualitative methodology and a feminist theoretical framework. To achieve this objective, we interviewed 16 young women (18-25 years-old) residing in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region about their relationship with fathers and mothers and their anger within these relationships. The qualitative analysis revealed four types of relationships between young adult women and their fathers and mothers: challenging conflictual, challenging mutual, accepting authoritarian, and accepting authoritative. Our analysis also demonstrated that young women relate in two ways to their anger at mothers and fathers: accepting anger or distancing from anger. Furthermore, they express their anger at mothers and fathers following three distinct patterns: non-expression, indirect expression, and direct expression. The distribution of participants within coding sub-categories for anger at fathers and anger at mothers, as well as the reasons provided by young women as to why they related to anger or expressed anger in a particular manner at fathers and mothers suggests: (a) women's relationships to fathers and mothers are shaped by gender power dynamics in the family and (b) women's relation to anger and anger expression towards mothers and fathers is influenced by gendered relationships towards fathers and mothers.Keywords Women's anger . Parent-child relationships . Gender . Emerging adulthood . Feminist family studiesIn the current study, we examined young women's relationship to their mothers and fathers, young women's relation to their anger towards mothers and fathers, and young women's anger expression to mothers and fathers. In order to approach these objectives, we used a feminist theoretical framework and a qualitative methodology to collect and analyze data. The findings of our study contribute to a better understanding of (a) how gender structures daughter-parent relationships in emerging adulthood and (b) how gender shapes anger experience and expression in those relationships. We recruited a sample of mostly young U.S. women (18-25 years-old) from intact two-parent families, therefore our findings are mainly applicable to young women in this country and should be used with caution in research and counseling with women of other ages and cultural backgrounds. Likewise, our review of theoretical and empirical literature is based on studies developed with U.S. samples, unless otherwise noted. In the few cases that non-U.S. samples are referenced, the studies were conducted in westernized countries with many cultural similarities to the United States, but generalization of those results to our sample is potentially more problematic than our U.S. references.Feminist family studies have demonstrated the influence of the larger gender structure on parent-child relationships, focusing mostly on childhood, adolescence, and older adulthood (Walker 1999). Less is known about how gender shapes parent-child relationships in young (or emerging) adulthood. Non...

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Reclaiming Feminist Theory, Method, and Praxis for Family Studies

Cited by 66 publications

References 0 publications

Parents’ Gender Ideology and Gendered Behavior as Predictors of Children’s Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration

Parents’ Gender Ideology and Gendered Behavior as Predictors of Children’s Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration

Gender, Emotion Work, and Relationship Quality: A Daily Diary Study

Daughters’ Anger towards Mothers and Fathers in Emerging Adulthood

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