I am a college student researching a paper on the significance of role reversals within the family unit, over the past 50 yrs. In your professional opinion what do you feel is causing many women to assume what used to be known as masculine roles ie. Sincerely, Melissa Gayle Peterson Gayle Peterson, MSSW, PhD is a family therapist specializing in prenatal and family development. It is often the case that men and women who both hold down careers outside of the family still defer more of the running of the family to the women. In these situations, women who divorce often report having more time to themselves and less work to do, once divorce has forced an equalization of the work through division of the caretaking responsibilities in the family.
Women become vulnerable to over-compromise because they are already primed to care for others.
So when they come to the negotiating table, they are more likely to accede for the sake of others, while men are traditionally more likely to represent their sole interests as primary. This is one reason why mediation is often an unequal process for women, because it focuses on what the couple will agree to, and the woman is often more likely to compromise her needs for those of her children, than is the man. Particularly with the growing interest that men have in achieving a nurturing role to their own children which may help them forego their own needs more often for their children's sake. And women's ability to realize their potential and talents for other areas of work and career which lie outside of the home is a natural human desire that blossoms once given the opportunity and support to do so. This is a very complex and exciting time in the development of women in today's society.