Financial Responsibilities in American Families

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Financial Responsibilities in American Families

Financial responsibility is an integral part of family resources management that must be discussed between husband and wife. Some individuals firmly believe that they are not supposed to do certain things, while others must do something. An example is a husband who might firmly believe that it is his prerogative to provide for the family while the wife does not need to provide. Financial responsibility is defined by Kennickell et al. (1997), as the financial provision role each family member takes and performs. Therefore, the conflict of who should provide and who should be provided is a thin line, and there are no established standards for this. Therefore it is an intricate part of financial resource management within the family. This choice is because it is the most significant family resource management issue in the current society. This paper discusses the role men and women play in financial provision in families alongside the theory of feminism, financial resource management and financial stress theories.

According to Parker & Stepler (2017), two-thirds of married or cohabiting couples are financially provided for by the man. However, women in the other a third of the population provide approximately 50% of the total financial requirements of the home. These statistics communicate a fundamental issue regarding financial stability, provision and duties in a family. This also shows how American norms place man as the primary financial provider at home and how this is an essential factor to consider when dealing with the issues of family finances and analysis. According to parker and Stepler, 71% of Americans firmly believe that it is essential for a man to provide financially for him to be a good husband or father to his kids. This proves the firm belief of Americans that the man is the provider of the family. However, this is not new in America and other parts of the world.

Since the union was founded, men were always at the top of society, and everyone believed that men were better than women in several ways. According to Bonfield (1983), women were considered weak and unable to defend themselves, which was why they were never recruited into the army or any other policing departments. Women were also not allowed to vote, and they were not given many other benefits they are given today. This trickles down to family responsibilities. Some of the responsibilities of women in families back were cooking, looking after children, and making sure that the family was organized. The ladies were well taught on good behavior and everything about cleanliness and how to treat men. On the other hand, men were supposed to go out and look for food in terms of money or even physical food and bring it to their families (Bonfield, 1983). The man was seen as the protector of the family, and if the family lacked financial ability the woman was not blamed but the man was blamed.

However, this firm belief that men should provide is not the norm nowadays and a lot is changing and this brings conflicts to the family unit. The change began with the women trying to be equal or even better than men when the feminism theory came into place around the 1990s developed by Dr. Maxine Baca. With this theory, the belief that men should provide began getting lost and in fact some couples tried to have the man and the women play equal roles in the family. this was the turning point of the norms which had been held that men are to provide.

Even though it is true that change is happening and there is no longer the firm belief that men should provide, most people tend to lean on the old ways of thinking and it is very difficult to convince some people that men should not provide everything in terms of finances at home. Even though feminism tries to advocate for equality and equity it is evident that there are challenges when a woman is the sole provider in most families. However, this does not always happen and in fact some women provide everything in a family and it works out very well. Quentin Fottrell (2019) gives a good example of how a family was devastated when the woman became the sole provider and how this led to the death of the sex life between the husband and the wife. The husband who was a lawyer lost his job and upon losing the job the wife remained as the sole provider.

According to the bureau of labor of statistics, approximately 38% of women in America earn more than men. This shows how the life of the men and women financially is important and how for some reasons women earning more than men tend to control everything at home. A good example is the above one about Dave Peters (Fottrell (2019). When the wife began earning more than him after losing his job, the wife wanted to control everything in the house including vacations and everything else. Dave peters gives an example of how the wife behaved when the children needed money. He states that when the children needed money, they were to ask directly from her and when she said she did not have they replied that they were to go and ask from their dad. When the children stated this, she snorted and said “yeah sure!”. Therefore, this is just an example of one of the things that happens when the woman earns more than the man. However, it does not always happen in this manner even though there is a high chance that women who earn higher than men tend to treat men negatively.

Feminism after being founded was the supposed to make men and women equal in that woman were not supposed to be discriminated and were supposed to get similar rights and privileges which men enjoyed. However, with the provision of such rights and privileges, some women have gone overboard of how they should treat men while others have remained good people who respect not only their fellow women but men in equal manner and even if they are socially above some men, they do not try to show off and make the men fee bad about themselves. It is a complex situation and even though it is not possible to go back and have women come second in the society, it is possible to have respectful equality whereby men and women are treated equally and the society blooms with good people who value each other despite their differences in ability and power.

Even though feminism has played a big role in changing the perspective of the world when it comes to women, some things like family financial provision remain an unclear path since 71% of Americans support men being the providers as they state that men being providers makes it possible for them to be good fathers and husbands. This leads the question of whether equality is really attainable. This question comes in as a result of the thought of whether men and women can be really equal in power, responsibilities and other aspects. Even though researchers like Kroska, (2008) support the fact that men and women should have a balance or equity when it comes to family resources management, the concept of being equal is not very clear and some researchers explicitly state that it is not possible and even if it happens it will no be good for the society. One of such researchers is Quentin Fottrell (2019).

Some of the other related problems which are usually discussed alongside this problem include; factors that favor men or women either in work place, educational institutions among others. Another issue related to financial stability and provision include the place of children in marriage and how they influence the financial expenditure patterns of their parents. In the desire to have equality, the society has placed some factors in place to enable women to have more success in the work place and education. This includes mentorship and financial grants for education among other opportunities. This acts to put women at the top and women being at the top or being above men means that they will have equal fighting ability. Children are an important part of any marriage and therefore children having been used to the father providing might be alarmed that the other is the one providing after sometime. This causes conflicts and it is important to discuss matters of finances before marriage and even before children so that they do not become an issue which t cannot be solved.

References

Bonfield, L. (1983). Marriage, Property & the ‘Affective Family’. Law and History Review, 1(2), 297-312.

Dollahite, D. C. (1991). Family resource management and family stress theories: Toward a conceptual integration. Lifestyles, 12(4), 361-377.

Kennickell, A. B., Starr-McCluer, M., & Sunden, A. E. (1997). Family finances in the US: Recent evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances. Fed. Res. Bull., 83, 1.

Kroska, A. (2008). Examining husband-wife differences in the meaning of family financial support. Sociological Perspectives, 51(1), 63-90.

Moore, T. J., & Asay, S. M. (2017). Family resource management. Sage Publications.

Urbanik, J. (2016). Husband and Wife. The Oxford Handbook of Roman Law and Society, 473-486.