Kinship

Women are more likely to help out their parents than men when they are children and once they are adults. One theory is that men are more tied to their jobs that are better than jobs women have, and therefore they are pushed away from family-time. But other theories account for this gender gap in family work, blaming psychological, social, and cultural differences. The amount of domestic work is tied to aspects of employment, and differences in paid employment explain some part of the gender gap in family work. The gap is usually reduced by dual employment, although not fully. Women’s employment is directly linked to domestic work. As women spend more time at work, they spend less time at home and with child care. Some research found that differences in amount of help women and men provided that employment status had no significant relationship to help to parents. The gender gap persisted even when number of hours of work was controlled for. Research has suggested that African Americans, especially women, even when employed, are much more likely than Euro Americans to help their parents. In a study it was found that women provide about 3.8 hours of help per week to parents while men provide 3.0 hours. The men are more likely to be employed than women. Employment status is associated with a reduction in the gender gap in help to parents, and when combined with controls, makes insignificant the marginal effect of gender on help to parents. If all things were equal, employed men and women give the same amount of help to parents. But, on average, women and men different in employment characteristics, and therefore the amount of help given to parents differs as a direct result. It was found that parental characteristics—especially parents’ proximity, physical and financial need, and marital status—are important factors in explaining the amount of help given to parents. Because women are concentrated in less lucrative jobs and are less likely to be self-employed, they are more likely to take on the load of assistance to parents.
Childcare arrangements are necessary with parental employment. In the last thirty years, childcare through relatives has seen a significant decrease, even though parents continue to express a strong preference for care by relatives. Relative care correlates with the belief that parents should be caring for their own children. The rate of relative care is higher for Black and Hispanic families than for White families. A cultural explanation of this is that these practices are products of differing cultural preferences. The structural explanation conceives of them as adaptive responses to structural constraints. The integrative explanation argues that they are due to intersection of culturally-specific values and practices, structural contraints, and the social organization of gender. Anglo American mothers described kin- based child care as inappropriate and even problematic, whereas African American and Mexican American mothers viewed using kin for child care as an appropriate practice even when they preferred other types of arrangements. This study discovered that one of the major reasons that Mexican American employed mothers gave for using kin-based child care was their sense of responsibility to the economic needs of their relatives. This study suggests that the economic needs of those relatives who provide care and their lack of better formal labor market opportunities also contribute to why racial ethnic families continue to be entrenched in childcare arrangements made with relatives.
Women are involved in three types of work: housework and child care, work in the labor market, and the work of kinship. Kinship work includes the conception, maintenance, and ritual celebration of cross-household kin ties. This includes visits, letters, phone calls, cards, and gathering organization. These obligations tend to lie on women’s plates, and men tend to rely on women for it. Women usually negotiate and coordinate among other women when dealing with kinship things. Women end up with dealing with kin relationships because of the self-interest/altruism dichotomy. Since unpaid labor at home is a way for many women to gain human satisfactions and power, they carry out kinship work.
Minority individuals are more likely to live in extended family homes than whites. They’re also more likely to help out their aging parents, grandparents, adult children, and other kin. They are also more likely to visit and live near relatives. Whites are more likely to give and receive large sums or money, but minorities are more likely to be supportive, giving with household work and childcare as well as errands. Even though cultural reasons are usually stated as the cause of these differences, research has shown that class is the key to understanding the differences in extended family ties and behavior. Because blacks and Latinos have less income and education than whites, extended family ties are a result of these social class disparities. Minorities need to rely on kin more often since they are economically less wealthy than whites on average. Reliance on extended kin and lack of marital ties are linked, as marriage actually diminishes ties to kin. Married people become less involved with their parents and siblings. This is usually accompanied by support from spouses instead of kin. At the same time, people who are deeply tied into kin relationships may be less likely to marry, or put marital ties first. People tend to view Black and Latino family life as disorganized and dysfunctional, and try to encourage marriage as a way to make life better. Policy is made in a way that favors and encourages marital relationships, believing that this would solve many problems. But minorities get support from other ties outside of marriage. Policy should be changed to recognize and support this. It is not a moral or cultural problem but an economical one.
I think that relative child-care can be a very good thing. In my own experience, my parents would occasionally leave me with my aunt who lived nearby when they couldn’t watch me. This allowed for quality time to be spent between us and I was able to develop a better relationship with her than with my other aunts and uncles. She never looked at it as a burden and didn’t need to be compensated for it. My older sister also depends heavily on my parents for child care. My parents are retired and use it as a way to spend quality time with their granddaughter. Three times a week my sister takes 1 year old Kate to my parents’ house. Not only is this economically suitable for my sister, but she is more comforted knowing her daughter is with someone who she fully trusts. It also allows for a good relationship to begin developing between my parents and Kate. I was never that close with one of my grandmas because I rarely saw her, but I wish I was able to spend time with her like Kate is able to. My parents do not see it as a burden when Kate is with them. They are more than happy to help out because they feel it is part of being a family.
I definitely thing policy should be changed to better suit kin relationships, not just marital ones. A family friend of mine has to take care of her autistic brother ever since both the parents died. She just got married and within a couple of months her autistic brother had to move in with them. She cares for him now but is not able to use leave time for him, or any other benefits she gets from work. While she is doing a very nice thing by taking him in, policy does not make it easy for her to balance her work and family obligations and it has been very stressful for her lately.