Gender roles in families have often been regarded as the most important aspect in ensuring harmonious relationships. It is the foundation that holds a family together in the same manner, pillars are imperative in preventing the building from collapsing. In the Parisian society at the end of the nineteenth century, men were expected to play a dominant role and be breadwinners. Guy De Maupassant depicted this type of gender role distribution in his short story “The Necklace” which was published in the 1880s. The story reveals the norms that prevailed in the society of that period where men were to earn as much money as possible while females were to manage household chores. These gender roles affect men’s perceptions regarding their need to meet the high financial expectations of society and their wives, which is illustrated in Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace” and is evident in modern society.
In the article, Tara Siegel Bernard talks about the perception of who should pay the bills for the family. Bernard presents the story of married women who are breadwinners in the family. An increasing number of women earn more or close to what their husbands earn. Women with higher employment status than their spouses were more likely to feel resentful or humiliated by their husbands’ lesser position, according to a prior study. Therefore, the perception of men being the breadwinner of the families still resonates even among women who financially support the families.
The traditional perceptions regarding gender responsibilities of men and women in their families are still evident in the current society even as things change. After having a conversation with married women who perform a financial role in their families, Bernard found that the perception of men being the breadwinner of the family is still eminent. Traditionally, most cultures across the globe were set in such a manner that men were expected to offer financial support as part of their roles in their families.
In this article, Javier Cerrato and Eva Cifre talk about gender inequality in household chores and work-family conflict. The article’s purpose was to examine if the disparity in engagement in household duties of women and men is linked with increased work-life strife in marriages. The authors found that conventional gender roles still influence how men and women handle work and family engagements.
Men are not feeling any compulsion when they engage in some home chores as women do. For example, when performing home chores, they perceive them as a hobby or rather a free choice. This is because cooking, washing dishes, cleaning the house, and other home chores are considered feminine. Similarly, women do not feel an obligation when they are involved in the financial aspects of the family as men. In a conventional setting, duties such as paying bills were considered male tasks. Based on this, men are expected by the family to offer full financial support, as stated in the article. Therefore, this article assists in the understanding of the aspect that men are more financially obligated in their families than women.
The story “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant addresses the concept of financial responsibility of men in the family. Mathilde Loisel, the novel’s protagonist, depends fully on her husband to provide for all her financial needs while she takes care of home chores. The financial responsibility of Mathilde’s husband becomes imminent when he informs the wife about a party they are supposed to attend. Mathilde complains that she does not have jewelry to crown the occasion. However, they agree on borrowing a necklace from a friend and attending the party (4). They both enjoyed themselves at the occasion, and upon arriving home, Mathilde realizes the necklace is stolen. They decide to replace the necklace to avoid conflict with the owner of the necklace. The husband was forced to engage in several jobs to pay back all the money they borrowed. After ten years, the money is all paid back.
The short story written at the end of the nineteenth century reflects the norms that existed during the period in question, which makes this source value for the present research. This primary source serves as an illustration of the way people perceived gender roles and the way these perceptions affected their behaviors. Although the short story is a piece of fictional writing, it provides insights into the way a French male author saw gender-related expectations of his contemporaries. This research will involve the analysis of such aspects as characters, conflicts, and symbolism based on psychoanalysis evolving around the writer’s views and men’s attitudes towards gender roles in the past and present.
In this article, Marcin Hitczenko examines how mixed-gender couples, a social unit that makes up a plurality of US households and includes the typical nuclear family, split responsibility for four financial tasks using survey data from the Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC). Every family must decide how to divide financial obligations among its members. Most theoretical models of how this is done involve a mix of cooperation and bargaining among members, based on each person’s external opportunities and preferences. From a sociological and economic standpoint, Hitczenko provides overviews of various theories. Overall, these ideas predict that the relative position of men and women in terms of knowledge, experience, and income should have a major influence on household duties.
Using the financial responsibility data, Hitczenko found that men have a greater financial responsibility than women in their families. Men are largely involved in the financial roles of their families compared to women. For instance, a great number of men take part in paying the bills in their families. The findings of this article play an integral role in understanding the financial responsibilities of men. This article is a valuable source for the present research because it sheds light on the way men are perceived or perceive themselves as those who should carry the family’s financial burdens.
Karin Jurczyk, Birgit Jentsch, Julia Sailer, and Michaela Schier explored how women’s breadwinning is tied to emerging gender rules and the impact on gender roles. According to the authors’ qualitative study, when daily family life, gender ideals, and gender patterns are not effectively defined and no longer follow dominating arrangements, their outcome becomes visible. Some women challenged conventional views of women and motherhood, embraced their financial freedom, and were happy with their new status as breadwinners. Women’s propensity for acceptable gender roles may be strong, especially in Europe and other Western settings. However, women are still primarily anticipated to be the primary caregivers in their families.
While women frequently complain of unequal labor divisions, the authors focused on the intertwined activities of family and gender roles in female breadwinners, which revealed new insights. The degree to which gender disparities were accepted or suffered by women breadwinners to pursue the goal of happy family life was astounding. The results of this article are insightful in the understanding of whether the financial expectations of men are greater than
In the article, Kim Parker and Renee Stepler talk about how Americans see men as financial providers, even as women’s contributions increase. Despite a growing share of women as providers in the family, the public still looks to men for family financial support. According to Parker and Stepler, women make half, or more of the income is around a third of married in the US, a significant rise from the past. On the other hand, men typically provide more of the income in most partnerships, which corresponds to the fact that Americans place a larger emphasis on a man’s job as a breadwinner.
Parker and Stepler found that men are more inclined than women to prioritize their status as financial providers in the family. Men major more on making sure that they become the breadwinners of the family to maintain the perceived gender rules. The findings of this article are important because it helps determine whether men are more financially obligated than women in their marriage. The result proves that men have a higher financial expectations in their families.
This research will be associated with the analysis of the way societal norms affect people’s attitudes and their behaviors, so the focus on psychological aspects will be made. To address the thesis statement, literary analysis and psychoanalysis will be implemented. The psychological framework mentioned above will guide this research as it is instrumental in revealing the reasons behind people’s attitudes and behaviors. On the one hand, psychoanalysis will assist in detecting the way males’ psychological state is affected by external aspects, such as social norms, the financial expectations of spouses and peers, and so on. On the other hand, this theoretical paradigm will be utilized to identify the author’s attitude towards the matter and the way he expresses his views.
Based on the literary devices used by the author, it is possible to identify his perspective regarding the distribution of gender roles. The author shares the views that are dominant in French society at the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, it was seen as a norm for a family to have a husband who is the breadwinner and a wife who manages the household. The twisted ending of the short story can be seen as the author’s response to the high financial expectations for men and attempts to meet them. The author reveals his negative attitude towards people’s attempts to comply with the standards that are assigned by society. The couple wanted to seem financially secured, which led to the deterioration of their financial status. Importantly, the author depicts the husband’s attitudes and actions that show the way males tried to meet the expectations or try to seem the standards are met.
As far as the literary analysis is concerned, the primary focus will be on the conflicts depicted in the short story in question. The conflict between the couple’s perceptions of their true socioeconomic status and the desired one will be addressed. The wife, as well as the husband, wanted to seem wealthier than they were in reality. The conflict between personal desires and socially assigned standards will be explored with a focus on the husband’s views and actions. Symbolism in the short story under consideration will also be examined as it sheds light on the way the author sees the situation. The symbols, such as the necklace (standing for the social status), help to understand the writer’s perceptions. The choice of jewelry is not random, as the author wanted to draw the reader’s attention to people’s obsession with their status. The fake necklace is the symbol Guy De Maupassant employs to show his attitude towards social norms and expectations. It is clear that the author found status or financial expectation irrelevant and tried to ridicule people who had another point of view on the matter.
Works Cited
Bernard, Tara Siegel. “When She Earns More: As Roles Shift, Old Ideas on Who Pays the Bills Persist.” The New York Times, 2018.
Cerrato, Javier, and Eva Cifre. “Gender Inequality in Household Chores and Work-Family Conflict.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 9, 2018, pp. 1-11.
De Maupassant, Guy. The Diamond Necklace. Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2020.
Hitczenko, Marcin. Division of Financial Responsibility Among Mixed-Gender Couples. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 2021.
Jurczyk, Karin, et al. “Female-Breadwinner Families in Germany: New Gender Roles?” Journal of Family Issues, vol. 40, no. 13, 2019, pp. 1731-1754.
Parker, Kim, and Renee Stepler. “Americans See Men as the Financial Providers, Even as Women’s Contributions Grow.” Pew Research Center, 2017.