The Dominance of Women in Parenting Responsibilities - Essay Example

The Dominance of Women in Parenting Responsibilities Known as the heart of the home, mothers are considered the primary caregivers of their children. This has been a reality since time immemorial. It is interesting to note that even if this has been an established and accepted fact, feminists still find it unfair to women and argue that men should do their fair share in parenting. Nancy Chodorow’s theories on why women generally do most of the parenting tasks in most families may be supported by social learning theories.

Her assertion that mothering is reproduced in a cycle of caregiving, modeling the behavior to daughters and sons, and instilling in daughters a desire to care and nurture for their own children as well, and in sons, the feeling of being cared for by a woman even as he becomes an adult. The attitude sons develop is one that may devalue women as mere caregivers of humanity, while men go on to more important endeavors such as seeking livelihood and providing for the family’s basic needs. Social learning theories contend that this kind of learning may have been acquired from children’s observations of their parents’ life patterns.

Although society has historically assigned women the role of nurturer of the family, Chodorow raises feminist protests as to the role men should likewise play in parenting. She asserts that men should level themselves with their wives in terms of being parents and not leave all the parenting responsibilities to them. Only then can the cycle of reproduction of mothering or in most cases, pseudo-solo parenting by mothers, be stopped. Sociobiological theories link the bonds between mothers and their children.

It contends that mothers are biologically predisposed to care for their infants. Nine long months in the womb, the fetus affects the mother and its dependence on her likewise affects her. For example, a stressed mother can hinder the normal brain processes of brain masculinization of her unborn child. T. Berry Brazelton, a prominent child psychologist claims, in a good interaction mother and baby synchronize with each other from the beginning, and that the pathways may be set up in intrauterine life ready to be entrained, especially by the mothers, immediately after birth"Biological studies indicate that when human babies are born, their brains are underdeveloped, hence are “born highly dependent and in constant need of care.

” Unlike other mammals like horses or cows whose offspring can stand on their own minutes after their birth, human biology draws both mother and newborn towards each other to ensure the survival of the infant. Whether a mother shares a biological bond or not with her child, her existence in her child’s life is essential to his survival.The role of mothers in families and how they raise their children well continue to be significant in the development of children. Whatever feminists say, the quality of parenting is still the issue to be dissected – whether it is by the mother or the father.

It must be remembered that how parents raise their children will affect not only their children’s future, but the whole world they will rule someday as well.