Is Domesiticty Dead?

The common perception is that Domesticity in the United States is over. Domesticity is a gender system comprising of organization of market work and family work and the gender norms that maintain and reproduce this organization. The American version of domesticity in 19th century was men worked outside the home, while women stayed at home to bear children and maintain the house.

Though in the 21st century, we have more women stepping outside the home and venturing into the work place, the belief of domesticity is still instilled in the American norm. In the work force, our ideal worker is someone who works full time, can take a lot of overtime hours and has little or no-time off for childbearing or rearing. Since most women rear children some time in their working lives, they are inherently excluded from becoming an ideal worker and as a result they have little success in gaining high professional positions.

The result of not being considered an ideal worker is drastic especially for single and divorced mothers. Since mothers are not seen as archetypal workers, they end up getting payed lower wages than men. Women were making forty percent less then men in wages for the same job. This has a devastating affect on mothers trying to lead their household. They simply can not afford it. Domesticity causes divorced and single mothers to live under the poverty lines and almost guarantees their children will have downward mobility in relations to their father's socio-economic status.

Another bi-product of domesticity is that it takes away the responsibility of the fathers to help child-rear. Due to their responsibility to the workforce, they are always out of the house and are not interacting with their children. Mothers spend three times as much time in face to face interaction with their children than men do. This lack of fathering is depriving children of male influences in their life.

The domesticity is huge problem in America; especially since we need two sources of income to raise a family. Since both parents are outside the home, many children are not being raised sufficiently by either parent and babysitters and other people are becoming the main influences in children lives. I feel parents are losing their connection with their children and losing their authority in their lives.