Question

The unequal involvement in housework and childrearing experienced by Malia and Ron is reproduced by their children through a process of role socialization, in which their son identifies with the roles of his father, and the daughters identify with the roles of their mother. This process helps to produce a gendered identity for each of the children, which is unequal in nature, reproducing structured inequality between men and women. This scenario falls within which of the following theories?

a) Chodorow’s psychoanalytic theory
b) Parsons’ sex role theory
c) Rubin’s sex/gender system
d) Collins’ black feminist "matrix of domination" theory

Answer 1

Chodorow’s psychoanalytic theory

Step-by-step explanation:

Chodorow’s psychoanalytic theory analysis the gender development of adult males and females. The psyche of men and women are different because of their differing childhood experiences.

This is why women are more empathetic with a less fixed ego than men. It was a learnt behaviour from their mother.

So the unequal involvement in housework and childrearing experienced by Malia and Ron will be passed on to their children in which their son identifies with the roles of his father, and the daughters identify with the roles of their mother.

Answer 2

b) Parsons’ sex role theory

Step-by-step explanation:

Parsons' sex role theory stated that within a traditional family where the role of women is limited to domestic tasks, while the role of men is limited to work outside the home, there is an influence among children that defines parents between men and women unevenly. This is because daughters have a tendency to be limited to domestic tasks, such as the mother, and not to look for jobs that are more significant for their personal fulfillment. Meanwhile, the children will be influenced by the father's behavior and will not take any responsibility for the housework in the house they live in.