Changing roles in the household worldwide

A Change in Household Roles:
The case of South America v Africa
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Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc467570887 h 1The structure of the Family PAGEREF _Toc467570888 h 2Household Roles PAGEREF _Toc467570889 h 4Future Trends PAGEREF _Toc467570890 h 8Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc467570891 h 9References PAGEREF _Toc467570892 h 10

IntroductionTime and space affect what individuals become and the particular time that a person is born into determines their relationship with reality. This means it will affect what they regard as vitally important, what can be changed and what is optional for example, even though previous generations lived comfortably without any idea of social media and real-time communications, current generations can not imagine such a scenario. Changes in expectations also happen to norms. The rapid developments in the transport and communication departments have resulted in a period of intense mixing of cultures. Individuals migrate from one corner of the earth to another bringing different influence to the local community as well as inculcating the trends in this community to propagate them into their societies later once repatriated. (Are Gender Norms Changing? 4,000 Women And Men In 20 Countries Weigh In 2016) Additionally, due to development in internet based technology; it is easy for something to be shared from one point to almost every part of the world simultaneously through a blog post or a proposal in social media. This affects trends globally, and the world becomes more and more unifies.

As a result, traditional norms are continually eroded to pave the way for new developments. (Changing Role Of The Family 2016)
Among the most heavily influenced segment of the society is the household. A family is the basic unit of a community and therefore any change within it reflects a similar trend within the entire community. It is the unit for reproduction, production, consumption, and accumulation. (Are Gender Norms Changing? 4,000 Women And Men In 20 Countries Weigh In 2016) Traditionally, there have been precisely demarcated roles in the households. This means that every individual, from the parents to children as well as men and women understood clearly their responsibility within the homes. This was made possible by the fact that families were typical and well defined. This phenomenon has changed drastically and is expected to continue changing. While this is a global trend, the changes are more prominent in communities that have had very clearly stipulated cultural heritages such as South America and Africa. This paper analyzed the changes that have occurred in household roles within these two communities.
The structure of the FamilyGlobally, and especially in South America and Africa, the nuclear family has always been comprised of two parents and children with the parents being male and female. This family was connected to an infinite number of extended relations though the siblings of parents to extend into clans, tribes and eventually communities. Among this communities, roles very well defined the role of a man for example ahs always been to provide while that of a woman has been more or less to take care of the children and the house. (Changing Role Of The Family 2016) The changing structure of the family, therefore, influences the change in roles within a family.
Globally, life expectancy is increasing. This raises the possibility of many generations living concurrently, and children are likely to meet their great-grandchildren. In the majority of the African literature, the most senior position in the household such as offering counsel was given to the grandparents this is because these were the eldest individuals in a community. The increasing generations within a lifespan must, therefore, contribute to the changing roles. (Tembo 2016)
In addition to this, the families are no longer so precisely defined. There is a rapid increase in single mother phenomenon as well as the introduction of same-sex relationships who are allowed to raise children. In South America and Africa, poor economic conditions, insecurity, and political instability are forcing millions of people to flee to other countries to look for greener pastures and stable lives. This causes dynamic changes in the structure of the family. In South America, younger families live their children with relatives as they attempt to cross legally or illegally into the United States. In this scenario, women are more likely to migrate since they can find employment as nannies faster than the men. In sub-Saharan Africa, young people are crossing the Mediterranean daily in search of a better a better life in Europe. This again leads to a household imbalance as there are more single women to cater for children. Moreover, most of single parents in both communities are not forced by circumstances. A good number of women are choosing to delay marriage due to academic development and then have children singly. This means that they will have to carry out roles that were meant for both parents I the family. There are also many instances where grandparents are forced to cater for their children’s children. In Zambia, 30% of the of grandmothers are taking care of one on more grandchild as a result of the massive death of parents to HIV/AIDS it is. All these changes in the family affect the nature of household roles. (CHANGING GENDER RELATIONS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 2013)
In Africa, the family structure has reduced drastically over time. About a generation or two, most women were bearing six to ten children while today they only have two to five children. This has resulted from the extensive introduction of family planning methods with a majority of contraceptives being availed for free. Since the economic challenges remain burdensome, most of the families turn towards such methods to reduce the family size. (Bigombe and Khadiagala 2016) Additionally, girls are left to stay longer in school and search for formal employment. As a result, marriage happens later in life, and this reduces the ability to have multiple children. It also increases the women independence who can control the number of children they would like to have and when thus enabling them to further their careers. Educated women are less likely to submit to the same traditionally female duties in the African setting. Additionally, the embracing of Christianity by many of the communities has eliminated a crucial factor of the African community which is polygamy. Traditionally, one man could have multiple wives, and therefore he bore many children. In most cultures in Africa, Christianity has mandated marriage to one partner decreasing the number of children per household. (Bigombe and Khadiagala 2016)
Household RolesTraditionally, the male parents have been the head of the families in both communities. Popular culture meant that the man was supposed to provide for the family while the woman took care of the chores around the home. In South American and African families, the chief economic activity was hunting and farming. Since hunting was conducted in the early hours of the day, a majority of the men spent time in the vicinity of the family and were able to observe how the household activities are carried out.
With the rise of industrializations, more people began to work in factories thus working away from their families. (Waldman 2015) While the role of inculcating discipline in Africa was left to the father in most cases, this changed to the mother as the father was no longer able to provide an oversight of the children. Gradually women began taking a critical the role of heading the household. (Tembo 2016)
In the modern culture, the insistence of equality brought another major challenge in the survival of the traditional household chores. More and more women are going to school and therefore making their living. This diminishes the traditional role of the man as the woman can provide for her children, and it is the chief cause of intentional single parenting. Equality also demands that equality responsibilities be taken in the household. Although still, regarded as a western culture in macho African communities, more and more men are becoming comfortable with the kitchen work.
It is not only gendered specific roles that have changed within the household. Traditionally, parents were obligated to cater for their children up to a certain level. It was also the standard norm that children take care of the seniors who were no longer capable of taking up productive activities in the family. In both South American and African communities, people lived in a clan. This assisted in caring for the elderly in the community and the support for each other in the society. This is changing in both communities. Younger generations are moving to urban centers leaving behind the parents to fend for themselves, the financial difficulty that is experienced by these young people disables them from supporting the parents substantially. The assistance is further reductive to extended families. Older people are living alone through forced circumstances but more so because they prefer to live in their home where familiarity have produced substantial comfort. The longevity of life combined with the reduction of time that couples spend with their children in the household contributes significantly to the change in family dynamics and especially the psychology towards marriage. Many individuals do not see the necessity of remaining restricted to one partner for the long run especially after the children are old enough to leave the household.
Although these changes are happening rapidly, there are still socio-political, psychological and economic factors that prevent a full shift of circumstances among families. In Africa, most women participate in the attempt to collect revenue for the family. However, men still hold on to the mentality that it is the role of the woman to conduct kitchen chores and raise children. As a result, there is gender struggle in families as women negotiate these double standards. This is the exact circumstance that is witnessed in the South American communities. In most Latin America countries, families require the salaries of two people to survive the harsh economic realities. (Chant 2016) As a result, women have been propelled to the workforce but have not resulted in the abandonment of the traditional female role. As a result, women go to work and still take care of all the household chores. In contrast to Africa where men may be considered superior at work at in the household, Latin America has a peculiar trend where women are regarded as equals in the workforce but unequal in the household. In Cuba, women have achieved equal or even greater competence at work, but they are still tied to the same domestic responsibilities. The scenario is even more prevalent in Chile where divorce and abortion are illegal, and contraception is discouraged. In modern feminist view, this denies the woman the right to her body. However, the country elected the first female president in 2006, a phenomenon that is hard to achieve in developed countries. It is thus seen that women have progressed to take traditionally male roles while maintaining their female duties. (Chant 2016)
Furthermore, since economic development does not happen at the same pace as the dynamic cultural change takes, more and more men and women are forced to remain outside work. The result of having too many individuals eyeing the same position is the fact that the employer is more likely to employ individuals who are traditionally regarded as effective in a particular field. Ultimately, this results in gender biases. However, in Africa, many governments and social support groups are emphasizing on the need to support projects that are gender sensitive such as gardening and basketing. Modern support groups are also recognizing that such activities are not entirely equipped to enable poor women achieve the same potential as men and are therefore emphasizing on the need to look at better opportunities for women. This changes household roles by allowing women to contribute to the domestic resources and therefore gives them a better bargaining power when negotiating for freedom in the household.
African families are especially building in an environment that is particularly fragile. The communities are raised in environments that are laden with political insecurities, war, economic poverty and often disease. In a peculiar trend, violence seems to be growing in the continent when peace was expected to begin reining. Recently, violence has erupted in most of the countries in central and northern Africa. Burundi, Central African Republic, and Mali have seen rampant upheavals resulting from political disagreements. Libya and Egypt have gone through extensive violence after the overthrowing of formally stable governments of Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak respectively. Somali, Nigeria, Cameroon and other countries have witnessed increased violence though the rise of the islamist militia. All these factors heavily impact the household roles in Africa. As young men leave home and enroll in the militia, women are left to fend for women and children are forced into child labor to cater for the family expenditure.
Future Trends
Despite the already numerous changes, future trends indicate there will continue to be shifting in the roles within the family. South American and African communities have just begun understanding the role of change in the household and are far more conservative than other communities around the globe. (Jelin and Díaz-Muñoz 2003) African traditional culture is still very strongly embedded into the culture. In South America, adherence to religion and especially the Catholic Church has sustained the traditional dynamics of the family. These phenomena will change with time as globalization takes a toll on the communities. Gender sensitivity will continue to be deleted and therefore most of the household roles will be carried out irrespective of gender. As development progresses, the number of children in each household decreases. In the developed countries, adults are either raising one child singly or remaining unmarried and without children. In the future, there will be more and more childless families, and thus the role of the family will change drastically. So far, the chief role of the family is to provide for the children. The head of the families works hard to provide good living conditions for the offspring. Children cement the bond between parents. For example, in both South American and African communities, domestic violence is quite rampant with the notion that it keeps a woman in check. In the nomadic communities of Kenya, the wife is still counted among the property of the husband. (Jelin and Díaz-Muñoz 2003) In fact, as the introductions for the family are made, she is introduced as the eldest of the children of than man. Most of these women, through distressed by the circumstances are unwilling to leave their households for concern about their inability to provide for these children singly. This will be resolved by the continued reduction in family members. Lack of children in the house will mean that the women do not have any inhibition to living a household can leave at their pleasure. This will thus make families more temporary with time.
On a positive note, South American and African markets are still fresh and laden with potential. As global recession brings the developed markets to the knees, there is an opportunity to develop these markets and thus produce robust employment opportunities for the community. This will reduce constant migration attempts and allow communities to settle down and develop families.
ConclusionGlobalization has contributed to a mush-up of cultures across the globe. In addition to this, economic ventures and political struggles have resulted in either voluntary of forced migrations. This has led to multiple changes in the family which is the basic unit of a community. With the shift in family dynamics, the roles in the household have also changed significantly. Gender specificity is decreasing, and roles are abandoned or embraced within members of a family. This numerous changes are only beginning to be realized and appreciated but are expected to stretch far into the foreseeable future affecting the way communities operate significantly.

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