"From Marriage to Market", "Feminism, Children and the New Families"

The relationship between marriage, work and family is unique for all time periods, all races, classes, and all households. Through reading "From Marriage to The Market" and "Feminism, Children and the New Families", I have come to understand the importance and relevance of different gender roles within the domestic household and within the outside workplace that affect the way in which a family operates.

Susan Thistle describes that throughout history men ultimately controlled the lives of their wives and their families financially and legally. Marriage was in fact a bargain in which a man and woman participated in so as to survive physically and financially. In exchange for domestic labor, such as everyday household chores and child care, the woman would receive support from her husband that would allow her to exist in a society that was money dependent. The encounter with the market for both African American women and white women was similar in which they both faced conflict in balancing domestic and paid work, however different in the types of demands in which they required. "From Marriage to Market" served as a detailed work that introduced the difficulties that women had interacting with the market, as it challenged their primary duties as wives and mothers.

"Feminism, Children, and the New Families" was helpful in describing the trends as they relate to married or single women who are working or not working. Dornbusch and Strober introduced theories of the breadwinner system and the egalitarian system as they relate to the dynamics of marriage, family and work.

The transformation that occurred in the lives of women as a result of the Industrial Revolution became an epic change that affected all of society. As opportunities rose for women to work (after WWII), women had proved their capability to endure in "men's work" and complete tasks that weren't performed at home. With newer and bigger challenges that they had to face as they entered the workforce, women also struggled with maintaining her primary job.

The pressures in which women face not only just as a woman but also as a mother and a wife are those that cannot be compared to any other. Men desire women who are independent and take an interest in working and making their own money so that they can buy their own clothes and can offer to pay the check at dinner, but they also want women who are domesticated. Women are expected to know how to cook, how to clean, how to take care of children, and also how to present themselves in front of their man. Songs today like Neyo's "Miss Independent" suggest that his initial attraction to this woman was her ability to be independent, go to work and buy all of the things that she wants without the help of a man, which for girls is inspirational and can serve as a tool to motivate young women to go to school, make their own money and support themselves first before supporting a family, or relying on a man to support them. This trend I have noticed although slowly is growing among young women today.

I think that the rush to get married and have children right out of college, though still quite apparent in some communities. is less likely to occur here as it is in other countries. Many women today have similar if not the same dreams to become successful and make a lot of money as men do. Women, especially that that I see of African American women, have made many sacrifices to actually go to a university, that finding a husband who can take care of them completely is not only a waste of money but also a waste of a mind. Women have become independent in their thoughts and in their actions, as Thistle also speaks of the organizations and unions that women formed to help voice their problems and conflicts that they experienced while working at home and outside of the home.

The natural desire that women have to please, and to take care of their family however still seems to supersede their duties that they have in any other outside job. Family comes first to most women, and as they go out in the world and join the market, their time, their efforts, and most of all their money is returned back to the household either in monetary value or in domestic chores still carried out by the woman. Though our generation is beginning to see more "mr. moms" it is still considered non traditional and looked upon as a unique family. As a society and as a family, not making the gender roles and the duties as specific and distinguished as they are and have been in the past, but rather treating each relationship and household differently, considering all different types of situations and arrangements is a to challenge gender roles and the expectations set out in the division of labor.

From reading "From Marriage to Market," and Feminism, Children and the New Families" I have concluded that each marriage and relationship is different unique in its arrangements, and personalities. The way in which people experience marriage, and family life is unique based off of their own past experiences, and personal desires. Like every job, one must be dedicated and personally invested to allow for success. Whether it be staying at home and taking care of the children or working outside of the home for forty hours a week, each job requires some sort of sacrifice that as a parent, a wife or a husband, must be prepared to make.