Chapter 8: CAGE(s) and Families

Question 1

How prevalent is social assistance for low-income mothers? How do women come off of social assistance most of the time?

Answer 1

McMullin found that 87% of low-income mothers had received social assistance at least once, but 60% were not receiving any help at the time of the interview.
Most had married or had a common-law relationship with an employed man, allowing them to come off of social assistance.

Question 2

How do ideologies of gender affect women in the grand scheme of things? Relate it to reproduction, production and distribution.

Answer 2

We hold ideologies that women provide for their families and children and the ideologies that shape this care (reproduction) limit their opportunities for education and paid work (production). As a result, distributive processes vary accordingly, with women often relying on spouses or the state for the means of subsistence.
- The family is one of the principal domains in which the processes of reproduction, distribution, and production are organized.

Question 3

What does David Popenoe say on the state of families?

Answer 3

The family is in a state of decline;

• Families do not provide functions such as procreation, socialization, caring, economic support, and sexual regulation as effectively as they once did
• Families have lost social power and control over their members, partly because they are smaller and less stable and do not last as long as they used to
• In a move toward individualism, American families are less willing to invest time, money, and energy in family life

Question 4

According to Popenoe, what has been the (4) most significant trends since the 1960s in regards to American families?

Answer 4

1. considerable fertility decline
2. “marital role erosion,” with more women working for pay and fewer taking full responsibility for the care of their children
3. increases in divorce rates, stepfamilies, and lone-parents families
4. increases in singlehood and non-family living

Question 5

Why is Popenoe so concerned for the decline of families?

Answer 5

Fewer children are living in nuclear families, and children cannot become successful adults without proper socialization within families

Question 6

Has the fertility rate increased or decreased in recent years? What are some of the causes for this change in rates?

Answer 6

It has decreased significantly. In 1961, the fertility rate was 3.85, in 2014 it had fallen to 1.59.

• more women working
• higher divorce rates
• less nuclear families
• the rate of lone-parent and common-law couples are increasing, while the rate of married couples is decreasing; less pressure to marry

Question 7

What are two criticisms against Popenoe?

Answer 7

1. He uses a conservative and limited definition of “family”, underestimating how central families remain in contemporary society
2. He ignores that “the family” is a primary site of oppression of an violence against women, children, and the elderly.

Question 8

Define nuclear family.

Answer 8

A nuclear family consists of a husband and a wife who live together with their biological or adopted children

Question 9

What is Popenoe’s definition of family and how does it argue against his claims?

Answer 9

A family is a group which people typically live together in a household and function as a cooperative unit, particularly through the sharing of economic resources in the pursuit of domestic activities.

• in the definition, it is false to say that families are decline since most Canadians live with at least one other person, he simply means the rate of nuclear families are declining
• his “group of people” is too narrowly defined

Question 10

What is the Canadian census definition of family?

Answer 10

A married couple and the children, if any, of either or both spouses; a couple living common law and the children, if any, or either or both partners; or, a lone parent of any marital status with at least one child living in the same dwelling and that children or those children. All members of a particular census family live in the same dwelling. A couple may be of opposite or sex same. Children may be by birth, marriage or adoption regardless of their age or marital status as long as they live in the dwelling and do not have their own spouse or child living in the dwelling. Grandchildren living with their grandparents but with no parents present also constitute a census family.

Question 11

What relationships do the Canadian census definition leave out?

Answer 11

Siblings who live together or parents who live with their divorced child and his or her children are not “families” according to that definition

Question 12

What does the term family typically imply?

Answer 12

Family is typically a middle-class construct that reproduces white privilege and ideology and neglects racialized families, older families, and working-class families

Question 13

What are the three main elements of domestic labour?

Answer 13

1. maintaining the household
   ex. cooking, gardening, shovelling
2. caring for adults and children
   ex. affection, responsibility for others well-being
3. the processes involved in consumption or making ends meet
   ex. wages, social assistance, retirement pensions
   - all three are part of the reproductive processes

Question 14

Which groups of individuals do domestic labour researchers not study?

Answer 14

Younger, unmarried, and childless Canadians

- they probably purchase the three elements or do it on their own

Question 15

How has the average hours of paid work and housework on a daily basis changed, based on gender, across generations?

Answer 15

Late baby boomers (1946-1964):
- Men: 5hrs of paid work, 0.7hrs of housework
- Women: 3.6hrs of paid work, 1.9hrs of housework
Generation X (1960-1980):
- Men: 5.3hrs of paid work, 0.9hrs of housework
- Women: 4hrs of paid work, 1.8hrs of housework
Generation Y (1980-2000):
- Men: 4.6hrs of paid work, 1hr of housework
- Women: 3.5hrs of paid work, 1.4hrs of housework

Decrease in average hours of housework for women, and increase for men, but men are still not on average with women.
Women tend to take primary responsibility for meal preparation, dish washing, and cleaning (everyday tasks), while men do household maintenance (sporadic tasks).

Question 16

What factors will change how much women vs men spend doing domestic labour?

Answer 16

Household work seems to vary based on employment and parental status:

• husbands and wives do more based on hours their partner spends in paid labour; the more hours women work for pay, the fewer hours they spend doing housework
• among younger and middle-aged men, married fathers do twice as much unpaid work (including child care and volunteer work) as unmarried, childless men
• married mothers do twice as much unpaid work as childless mothers, regardless of marital status
• when housework is distributed equally, men are more likely to feel dissatisfied, believing that they are doing an “unfair” amount

Question 17

Who is mostly responsible for child-care? What has changed regarding child-care in recent years?

Answer 17

Women are largely responsible for children. Compared with past generations, more preschool-aged children are being cared for by babysitters and child-care facilities.
However, even though men and other caregivers are getting more involved. The amount of time women spend with their children is not decreasing.

Question 18

Define the empty nest vs. the cluttered nest.

Answer 18

Empty nest: the life stage in which all children have left their parents’ home
- mothers seem to enjoy their lives after their children leave
Cluttered nest: the situation facing parents when children return to live with them after the parents have experienced an “empty nest” phase

Question 19

How does childcare affect women’s employment.

Answer 19

There are many more middle-aged mothers working for pay, than in past decades, but it still much lower than the rate of working-age fathers.
When children are sick or childcare is unavailable, mothers are the ones who stay home with their children.
Childcare has resulted in lower pay, fewer promotional opportunities, and small pensions, for women. Leaving them dependent on men.

Question 20

After a child is born, what are the rates of leave between men and women?

Answer 20

More men are taking leave after the birth of their child than ever before, but it remains much lower than women.

• 27% of men take leave vs. 90% of women
• Men take an average of 2.4 weeks vs. women take an average of 48 weeks

Question 21

Which province has an above average paternity leave?

Answer 21

Quebec;

- 72% of working fathers take leave for an average of 5.5 weeks, much above average

Question 22

What is the Parental Benefits Program (PBP)?

Answer 22

Allows men to take 10 weeks of paid paternity leave. Promotes gender equality by encouraging mothers and fathers to share benefits between them.

Question 23

What is the sandwich generation?

Answer 23

The generation in which adult children, usually daughters, are “caught” between caring for their young children and their elderly parents.

Question 24

How does social class interact with domestic work?

Answer 24

High-income Canadians tend to do 20 minutes less housework, 12 minutes less of meal prep, and 12 minutes less childcare per day than low income Canadians
- middle class white women reproduce white and middle-class privilege by hiring working-class, racialized, and immigrant women to do their domestic work

Question 25

How does race interact with domestic work?

Answer 25

Black women do disproportionately more housework and childcare than white women; probably because black families are more likely to be working class and there are three times as many female, lone-parent families among black Canadians than all other ethnic groups.

Question 26

How does the nuclear family reproduce white privilege in Canada?

Answer 26

The nuclear family has served to promote the morality of the white middle-class and the colonization and nation-building projects of the state

Question 27

Who are at heightened risk of experiencing violence within a family?

Answer 27

Gender and age structure increase the likelihood of experiencing violence in a family; women, children and the elderly are most at risk

Question 28

Who is most often the perpetrator of violence against men vs. women?

Answer 28

Men: strangers
Women: intimate partner

Question 29

What is Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)?

Answer 29

IPV refers to intentional, controlling, and systematic behaviour in intimate relationships that causes physical, sexual, or psychological harm

• power and control are central dimensions
• tactics include physical, sexual and emotional abuse, isolation, economic deprivation, intimidation, and the use of social status to reinforce power and control

Question 30

How many women experience IPV?

Answer 30

29% of Canadian women who are or were married who are over 18 have experienced IPV
- immigrant “mail-order” brides are particularly vulnerable
40,000 arrests each year as a result of domestic violence
IPV costs Canadians millions of dollars per year, making it a serious public health issue

Question 31

How does gender influence experiences of IPV?

Answer 31

Similar proportions of Canadian men (6%) and women (7%) report that they experienced some form of IPV in the 5 years preceding the 2004 General Social Survey of Canada, but this can be misleading.
More research needs to be done on intimate violence against men, but it is known that violence inflicted on women is more severe.
Female victims are more likely to have been:
- beaten
- chocked
- threatened with a gun or a knife
44% of women are injured from spousal violence, compared to 19% of men
Four times as many wives than husbands are killed each year in Canada by their spouse (this number is declining)

Question 32

How does age interact with IPV?

Answer 32

Spousal violence is higher in those aged 15 to 24 than among any other age group

Question 33

How does social class interact with IPV?

Answer 33

Wives are more likely to be abused in poor families; and partners are more likely to be abusers if they have not graduated from high school or are unemployed

Aboriginal people experience spousal sexual and physical abuse three times as often as non-Aboriginal people

Question 34

What is the CIS and what are it’s findings?

Answer 34

The CIS is the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect; conducted in 2008 to estimate the prevalence of child abuse in Canada.
Findings from the 235,843 child maltreatment investigations in 2008 (significant increase from 1998)
- 36% were substantiated by child welfare workers; 77% of these involved abuse or neglect
- 34% were suspicious but unsubstantiated
- 30% reported no child maltreatment
- 0.4% of Canadian children physically/sexually abused
- 0.4% neglected
- 0.2% suffered emotional maltreatment

Boys and girls equally life to experience maltreatment, but boys more likely to be physically abused and girls more likely to be sexually abused.
Older boys and girls more likely to experience abuse than younger children, except in the case of homicide.

Higher risks of abuse in poor families, and those in risk of poverty (ex. lone-mother families)

These statistics are likely very underrepresented.

Question 35

Who is most often the perpetrator of violence in children?

Answer 35

Strangers and acquaintances, rather than relatives

• however, it is become more likely for family members to be the abusers
• family members are the perpetrators in 23% of cases, and it is most likely the parents

This does vary with age. Children under age 5 are more likely to be assaulted by relatives. Children 6 and older, more likely by someone who is not related to them.
Infants are most likely to be killed by mothers, and older children and young people by their fathers.

Question 36

What is the rate of elder abuse?

Answer 36

Only 2% of non-institutionalized adults over 65 reported elder abuse in 2012 (and this is probably abuse that has been happening for many years)
Adults aged 65 and older experience lower rates of violent crime than those under 65, but the rate of violence against them has increased by 20% between 1998 and 2005.

Question 37

Who are the victims and perpetrators of elder abuse?

Answer 37

Elderly men are more likely to be abused than elderly women, but older women are more likely to be abused by family members than older men.
Children are most likely the abusers, especially against mothers.

Question 38

How many abused leave their abusive husbands?

Answer 38

Only 43% of abused wives leave their husbands, and three-quarters of them return after leaving.

• 33% return for the sake of their children
• 25% want to give their husband another chance
• 17% believe their husband will change
• 9% cannot support themselves

Question 39

What has been the most effective way of dealing with family violence?

Answer 39

Individual agency is not enough, collective action is much more effective. Social supports and movements help the victims the most.

Question 40

According to Rich, what is compulsory heterosexuality?

Answer 40

The lack of freedom women have to decide whether they will be heterosexual or homosexual. Also refers to the pressures that confront lesbians when they are forced to act as if they were heterosexual or risk facing discriminatory actions.

• the organization of productive relations to capitalism reinforces this notion because women must be perceived as feminine to be successful
• heterosexuality is not natural but is a mechanism through which men maintain their powerful and privileged status in society

Question 41

How are processes of production, reproduction, and distribution evident in dating experiences?

Answer 41

• Boys and men are often older than their partner and tend to pay for the date, in exchange for kissing and intercourse; we accept this and think it is traditional and normal

Question 42

How does McMullin explain inequalities in families?

Answer 42

McMullin takes both structure and agency into account and recognizes that through those structures, families are often oppressive institutions. Ambivalence characterizes family ties; individuals experience ambivalence when social structural arrangements collide with their attempts to exercise agency when negotiating relationships, including those with family members.

Ambivalence: the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

Question 43

What is the main conclusion in regards to IPV?

Answer 43

Taken CAGE together, findings suggest that women who are involved with men who have relatively little power on the basis of age, class, race or ethnicity are more likely to experience IPV.