Kinship and Gender Roles Being

Kinship and Gender Roles Being born in the 1920s offers a birds-eye-view of almost an entire century. Living through the Second World War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and two Gulf Wars. My informant is an octogenarian male who served briefly in the Second World War. Roland Farmer grew up in rural Pennsylvania, later moved to Kansas to be with family members, and ended up in California to work for a construction company. His experiences in the military only partially helped form his ideas of masculinity.

Popular culture and peer group interactions would prove more important to Farmer's personal concepts of gender roles, as interview data would reveal. I conducted the interview with the hypothesis that Anglo-Saxon males who came of age before the 1960s would retain patriarchal social norms. Research questions included the following.

First, did men of Roland Farmer's generation believe that women's primary social role was as subordinate householder, wife, or mother? Second, did men of Roland Farmer's generation oppose the balance of power between men and women in powerful arenas like business and politics? Third, did men of Roland Farmer's generation believe that social change (specifically gender role change) was not only possible but desirable? My research questions reflect a concern about changing gender roles and norms and how those changes impact personal identity.

In particular, I was interested in how American males from Farmer's generation reconciled their notions of male social roles with the changes in gender identity that accompanied the social revolutions during the late 1960s. Moreover, Farmer was married in the late 1950s, several years before the "sexual revolution" of the late 1960s took place. A worked under the assumption that the feminist movement and the gay rights movement that characterized the 1960s might have impacted men in Farmer's generation.

For instance, changes in social norms may have resulted in an identity crisis that led to conflicts with family members or friends or the changes might lead to a reconciliation with new notions of social equity. I asked pertinent questions about the informant's wife to determine whether her background might impact her values. Her age might also have a strong bearing on her reaction to the changing notions of gender roles in American society.

Farmer told me that he and his wife Emily were married in 1955 and that they were both in their mid-twenties when they wed. I concluded that their personal identity had already been formed by this time, and that the social revolutions of the 1960s might not have impacted a couple in their mid to late 30s as it might have a teenager with a more malleable sense of self. Roland Farmer's responses surprised me on many levels.

Starting with the hypothesis that men from Farmer's generation were stubbornly affixed to patriarchal norms, I did not expect him to note that his sister, only two years younger than he was, became a lawyer. His sister's career success undoubtedly affected Farmer's view of women in general and of the role females play in society. At the same time, Farmer married a traditional wife who conformed fully to the stereotyped housewife of the 1950s.

She was, as Roland Farmer described, a "typical wife and mother" who cooked dinner every night, who "laughed at his jokes" and who deferred to his decisions. Roland Farmer also told me several jokes that, although humorous, suggested the sexist ideology by which he viewed the world. His sister might have been more of an exception to Roland Farmer's rule than the norm.

In fact, Farmer's responses confirmed the first research question: men from a generation that came of age before the 1960s believed that women who pursued a career were somehow abnormal. Referring to prominent women in positions of power in derogatory terms, Farmer revealed his prejudicial beliefs that an ideal role for woman is wife or mother, not leader or activist. I concluded that Farmer's generation represented a key transition between patriarchal values and more egalitarian ones.

After all, Farmer was born soon after suffrage and women were gradually becoming more visible in the public sphere. Farmer's responses answered the second research question in the negative. The informant did not oppose women's presence in the public sphere or in positions of power. However, Farmer has trouble reconciling the belief that women are inferior social subjects with the realization that women are equal as human beings. Farmer's beliefs were informed partly by his parents. His mother and father both worked on their family farm n Pennsylvania.

Although both parents visibly worked, Farmer notes that his father retained most of the political authority in the household. His father drank a lot, and yelled at his mother sometimes. Therefore, Farmer viewed the male role in the household as one of power and dominion over the woman. His early childhood experiences with male and female gender roles laid the foundation for his subsequent identity formation as an American male.

The male, noted Farmer when I asked, was supposed to be the primary bread-winner of the family who would financially support his wife and children. Women, on the other hand, were naturally predisposed toward nurturing, sensitivity, and affection. Farmer emphasized that he valued women: that he thought they were "superior" in some ways to men in that they were "kinder." His responses revealed the gender stereotypes of Farmer's generation.

Regarding the possibility of social change, I was surprised to learn how open Farmer was to the possibility for gender role transformation. Perhaps because of his sister's career advancement or because of his own open-mindedness, Farmer affirmed the belief that women should play more prominent roles in business and politics. When asked more about his relationship with women in his personal life, Farmer indicated some conflicting feelings.

For example, Farmer's wife had never learned how to drive and he did not view her dependence on him as any symbol of inequality. Farmer rarely cooked and when.