Steve GannChanging Roles
November 23rd 2006 01:24
Are We Making Progress?
It used to be one bread winner and forty hours a week. Now it is two bread winners, fifty hours a week plus each and the family take a back seat.
Mary Gaudron expresses another side of the debate when she noted to a colleague:
The trouble with the women of my generation is that we thought if we knocked the doors down, success would be inevitable; the trouble with men of your generation is that so many still think that, if they hold the doors open, we will be forever grateful.
There are so many aspects to be explored: Stability of the family, perceptions of roles, acceptable courtship and seduction practices. It certainly doesn't get simpler.
What is interesting is that the further we go, the more we explore, the more we find that perceptions and roles become more open to change.
These days the word family has come to mean so many things to so many different people. The challenge is to keep the lines of communication open: to talk to one another, to nurture, to care -- to find different ways to to give and accept one another.
It's no easy task, but it is worth the effort. The rewards are there. Aren't they?
It used to be one bread winner and forty hours a week. Now it is two bread winners, fifty hours a week plus each and the family take a back seat.
Mary Gaudron expresses another side of the debate when she noted to a colleague:
The trouble with the women of my generation is that we thought if we knocked the doors down, success would be inevitable; the trouble with men of your generation is that so many still think that, if they hold the doors open, we will be forever grateful.
There are so many aspects to be explored: Stability of the family, perceptions of roles, acceptable courtship and seduction practices. It certainly doesn't get simpler.
What is interesting is that the further we go, the more we explore, the more we find that perceptions and roles become more open to change.
These days the word family has come to mean so many things to so many different people. The challenge is to keep the lines of communication open: to talk to one another, to nurture, to care -- to find different ways to to give and accept one another.
It's no easy task, but it is worth the effort. The rewards are there. Aren't they?
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