Feminism and Care Perspectives

This week I enjoyed reading Hochschild’s article Gender Codes and the Play of Irony. I believe that the most interesting part was the chart called Gender Codes on page 49. It shows that in modern times a career woman should be dressing and acting in a more masculine manner in order to be taken seriously at work. I do not believe that a woman needs to become a man in order to achieve equality. I think that dressing in male colours, low heels, short hair and plain nails, does not scream success, it gives a more frumpy and boring appearance. I intend to be a successful businesswoman with long hair, brightly coloured clothing and five inch black pumps. I hope that I command attention when I walk into a room, not because of what I’m wearing but because of my skills. I believe that trying to dress or act the part of a man to gain equality furthers the gender divisions and stigmatizes the female roles of domesticity and the male role or being the one with a career and more power.

After reading Pyke’s article I wondered how different her finding would have been had she included couples that have remained married for many years. Instead she talks about current conceptualizations that view divorce as a disruption of gender arrangements in families by systematically relating gender to other structures of power, such as social class. Society creates expectations that cause men and women to act in a certain way. Men are separated into two groups. Men who are upper class are expected to provide for the family, which is what gives them power. The others are working class men who need to achieve their expected masculinity, which often results in abuse in the home. It is foolish to think that in a society that is so accepting of feminism that woman are still influenced by these outdated stereotypes and “‘culturally prepared for powerlessness.” (530) As Ferree points out, change is central to the study of families and that individuals must be studied within the institution as well as the culture.

1. Do you think that society forces us to take on these gender codes as either traditional or modern? Or is there a happy medium a woman can dress like a woman but still be taken seriously in the workforce?

2. Is it possible to live in a marriage where both spouses are equal?

3. Are the expectations different for working and upper class men when race is added as a variable?