Search Results: changing gender roles

My mom believes a woman should cook and clean for her man. My brother grew up doing nothing and had everything handed to him. He's 29 and doesn't even know how to cook for himself or set up his plate. I know he knows he just doesn't want to do it cause he's entitled and knows he'll get it handed to him and served. Being a daughter my mom made me do motherly things for my siblings even though they were all adults. I am the oldest daughter and she'd make me cook and clean up after them. My brother is 5 years older than me and he never did a thing for me. He's actually quite rude, has no manners, and acts like a spoiled brat that hates women. In my opinion I hate gender roles and I dislike them and if I ever were to raise my family I'd want everyone to help out not just me cause I'm a woman. It pisses me off. She also would tell me that I'm a lady and should always shave and look nice.. I could care less about appearance I'd believe if someone really loved me they'd accept me for who I was without having to try to look nice. Was anyone else raised this way and are you going to stick to these roles or are you going to change things up when you have kids and a family of your own?

I was reading an interview where second-wave feminist Simone de Beuvoir said:

"No woman should be authorized to stay at home to raise her children. Society should be totally different. Women should not have that choice... because if there's such a choice, too many women will make that one...
Encouraging women to stay at home will not change society... As long as the family... and the myth of maternity... are not destroyed, women will still be oppressed."

These people completely underestimate the power that stay-at-home mothers actually do have. I was reading a study the other day that said that even in patriarchies like India, mothers had a greater influence on a child's viewpoints of regarding gender equity, than did fathers[1]. And this was especially true for the children of stay-at-home mothers.

There are few roles more powerful than the role of the mother. By discouraging stay-at-home motherhood, these people are actually disempowering women. This is in addition to all the negative effects of the child being placed into the care of people other than their biological parents.

[1] http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~sjv340/igt.pdf
[2] https://www.livestrong.com/article/234110-negative-effects-of-day-care-on-children/