Gender

1. The reproductive policies adopted in U.S do not appear to be driven by a sincere concern for the welfare of children both physical and emotional but by an attempt to define the qualities of a good mother. However , the punitive measures put in place by some states in regard to substance abuse in pregnancy period seem to be aimed at protect the child and not targeting women. The measures cannot be said to be biased against women of color since they are not the only target.
2. The sentiments by Kathleen Garson describes those of many fathers with a wish to be involves but cannot since their value is placed more on their success at work and provision for the families. My family and background involves fathers who have been trying to get involved even if the family cannot be complete egalitarian. With attitude of many parents seems to have embraced more involvement of fathers as the market is becoming more gender sensitive in employment (Gerson, 2009). “House hubbies” cannot fully describe fatherhood involvement whose sentiment basically considers having a balance between work and family.
3. Graff interpretation of contemporary marriage depicts how the current society views marriage. Marriage is no longer about families but two individuals who have come together driven by love and decided to live together and experienced an ultimate expression of love. They form a union that is basically recognized by law that describes protections, rights and obligations of the parties involved.
4. I agree with cultural feminism since it calls for inclusion of women in the process of decision making while at the same time recognizing the difference between gender - where women are inherently more nurturing and caring especially in terms of bringing up children (Gill, 2006). The definitions of the three kinds of feminisms have enhanced my understanding that feminisms involves a belief that women should be provided with equal opportunities, rights and even treatment. This is in contrast to my previous understanding the feminism involve women wanting to be self-sufficient.
5. The media has made feminism to be viewed as a bodily property instead of a social and psychological structural aspect. Women are normally exposed to higher cultural pressures than men in regard to possessing a sexy body mostly due to objectification if their bodies (Gill, 2006). Expecting that a woman should fit into a cultural standard of having a ‘sexy’ body is a quite narrow perception of attractiveness since personality plays a big role in defining someone. Even so, diversity in types of body exists and should not be the only measure of attractiveness.
6. The existing pay gap between childless women and mothers and men and women calls for concerted efforts to ensure that gender equality is achieved in the workplace. Policies should be adopted requiring that employers show clearly how employees are paid so that the gap in payment seen well. Though I haven’t experienced discrimination on the basis of gender, I have seen it being manifested where men get promoted more than women.
7. Neoliberalism is driven by the aspect of competition as part of human relations and which has seen the privatization of many public services (Monbiot, 2016). Despite its benefits, it has led to collapse of social pillars such as poverty, public education and poverty and such crises. The government through policies should get more involved in regulation of discriminations by employers against parents to avoid increase in salary gaps. The Scandinavian model of offering funded family programs would be better than existing neoliberal environment if there would be an increase in taxes and improvement in social benefits that would enable parents to spend more times with their young children.

References

Gerson, K. (2009, December). Changing lives, resistant institutions: A new generation negotiates gender, work, and family change. In Sociological Forum (Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 735-753). Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

 

Gill, R. (2006). Gender and the media. Cambridge [u.a.: Polity.25-27

 

Bosworth, M., & Flavin, J. (2007). Race, gender, and punishment: From colonialism to the war on terror. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press.

Monbiot, G. (2016). Neoliberalism–the ideology at the root of all our problems. The Guardian, 15(04).