Friday, November 24, 2006
5:36 PM
Gender Summary Part 3 hahahaa
Ok...there are 3 explainations for patriarchy. But these 3 explainations cannot stand alone because they do not sufficiently account for patriarchy. Firstly, Investment in Offspring and Childcare. In raising offspring, a lot of time and effort is put in. This investment in raising the offspring and child care, there is an imbalance of investement between men and women. Women, with their mammary glands are biologically closer than men to have strong parent-child bond hence leading to maternal parenting. Men are less likely to invest so much due to their dilemma of cuckoldry. In sum, Investment in Offspring explain the differences between men and women in raising the children. Men are more flexible and variable and that women are dependent on men when they are lactating or pregnant, but more independent in the context of the workplace. The second explaination is the Sexual Exchange Theory. Sex for humans are not solely for reproduction but rather as a social bonding. Men are far more likely the initiators of sex and for them to gain access to women, they need to provide something in return for women. This comes in the form of extrinsic resources (material resources etc). Hence males have to fight with each other to gain sexual access to women by providing the best resources for the women. Women also need commitment and love in exchange for sexual gratification and surplus resources to be shared with the upbringing of the child. In patriarchy, women have the upper hand at first because sexual access is a restricted resource and men have to provide for them before accessing it. However, extrinsic resources are fungible and women will be at a disadvantaged because they need the intrinsic resources as well (love, commitment). The more patriachal the society, the more women are at a disadvantage. Lastly, socioeconomic status. This is described using 2 independent variables of mode of subsistence and investment in reproduction and 3 dependent variables - economic independence, distribution of valued goods and use of force/warfare. Joan Huber used this variables to analyse the level of patriarchy in societies.
When come together, the interplay of all 3 explainations can to an extent describe the patriarchal tendencies in Singapore. Investment in reproduction has declined for both males and females. Due to the career mindedness and quest for middle class status and adhere to the high standard of living, child care and housework has been outsourced to FDWs. Women are also not economically dependent on men as they have high education and careers. With regards to the sexual exchange theory, women at the top of the hierarchy have trouble finding spouses that meet their demands/needs while men at the bottom also find it difficult to find partners. this has resulted in the offshoring of foreign brides who conform to traditional female roles. These entail a renegotiation of male-female relationships coined as the patriarchal bargain. Lastly, the institutionalization of NS as a male dominated sphere in the aspect of warfare and the government as the sole distributor of valued goods, Singapore in general can be considered a patriarchal society of which is supported by the analysis of Jasmine Chan.
.sincera fazzy.
