Women’s role in Parenting
Posted on : May 13, 2024Author : Borus Thongam
Parenthood is the state of being a parent or one who is either a father or mother. A parent is responsible for the well-being, education and care of a child while the child is a minor, or under the age of 18. Parenting is a process of raising, promoting, and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development of a child to adulthood and across the lifespan. First of all, Mothers are life givers, they are the ones who are there to hold our hands when we take our first steps, they help us understand the world around us but most of all a mother plays the role of a child’s teacher. “The first teacher of the child. The message she gives that child, the child gives to the world”. A mother is a protector, disciplinarian and friend. Napoleon Bonaparte the great French Emperor said- “Give me good mothers and I shall give you a great nation”. Mother has a major role to play in the physical, psychological and social development of a child. Parents have a significant role to play in inculcating, preserving and enhancing the values of children to assimilate into their family, which is one of the most important institutions for socialization and development of personality.
From the perspective of traditional view, people believe that women play an irreplaceable role in raising children because they have instincts as mothers while men just take responsibility for working to earn money. However, others suppose that men also become good parents as well as women. Many people believe that women are better parents than men and that is why they have a greater role in raising children in most societies. Others claim that men are just as good as women at parenting. Parental responsibilities and roles are very important for parents to make their children prepared for the future. The way a father or mother treats a child affects greatly his/her future growth both mentally and physically. Every mother and father loves his/her children more than anything in this world and they expect them to be great persons and well-established in future. Throughout human history, mothers mainly take care of the children and do most of the work for the children. On the contrary, men are mainly busy outside the home to earn a living for the whole family.
This is not to say that men are not of importance in children caring and they do not know their kids. They are most necessary if children are to appreciate fully the roles of both sexes. But women have proven themselves superior parents as a result of their condition, their less aggressive natures and they are generally better at communicating with kids. Men remain busy at their work and have to stay outside the home most of the time, but women have lots of spare time to share with their children. Obviously, in raising children, a more patient, gentle manner is preferable to a more aggressive one. Although there certainly exists gentlemen and aggressive women, by and large, females are less likely to resort to violence in attempting to solve problems.
But if we consider that all women are good for their children and men can not raise a kid properly then perhaps it would be a partial judgment. Is there any family where the mother has died or is not present and it’s the father who takes care of kids as well as does jobs outside? Certainly, there are lots. In third-world countries, fathers are comparatively more educated than mothers and they take care of the kids’ education greatly. A kid needs the affection and caring of both father and mother.
Mother and father both play a crucial role in the upbringing of children. Some people assert that women triumph over men to make better parents. To irony this, others claim that men are as good as women. This is very perplexing for anyone to choose one. According to me, women are better parents. In support of my point of view, the mother is one of the first persons who gets attached to a child from birth. A child spend most of the time, in’s childhood with their mother. So the child is more influenced by the mother. Secondly, the mother is the only person who takes care of the child like feeding, bathing etc. Thus, the mother occupies most of the child’s time. This makes a strong bond between them.
When a child becomes a little older and starts to go to school, a mother takes care of the child’s studies like homework, study, and projects. By this, the mother plays a crucial role in a child’s education. In addition, the child learns moral values which are the main ingredients to become a good human from the mother only. In our society, usually, we find that women spend most of their time at home and men are only breadwinners. But in the case of a single-parent family, the man has become a breadwinner and a housewife. In our society, commonly, the person who can spend a chunk of the time on the child for its nourishment is a woman. Thus, women can keep their eyes on every small activity of a child. Apart from that, owing to a closer relationship children share their emotions and problems with their mother first. Thus, it creates a closer bond between a mother and her Child.
Moreover, from the time they are little girls, females learn about nurturing. First with dolls and later perhaps with younger brothers and sisters; girls are given the role of career. Girls see their mothers in the same roles and so it is natural that they identify this as a female activity. Boys, in contrast, learn competitive roles far removed from what it means to nurture. While boys may dream of adventures, girls’ conditioning means they tend to see the future in terms of raising families. The reason that men are usually not present at children’s bedtime is because of one simple fact: money. The single most important contribution the majority of men believe they can make to the well-being of their family is to be an effective financial provider. They try to earn money to make sure that their family has a prosperous life, and their children are educated well. Men have been more responsible to their families financially, so they can transfer their experience to their children far better than women can.
Gender is one of the most significant factors influencing human development from conception to death, particularly in Indian civilisation. This factor comes into play even when parenting. The reason behind the importance of this in Indian society is we have a collectivistic culture that has set roles for males and females. These roles have long been embedded in Indian society, with women serving as primary carers and men serving as breadwinners. Gender roles are the cultural expectations and standards allocated to people based on gender. When this intersects with parenting, it can have a significant impact on the child’s formative years. It has an impact on their values, beliefs, and general development.
Women have historically been assigned the position of primary carers in Indian society. They are supposed to be in charge of nurturing and rearing children, as well as guaranteeing their well-being and handling household issues. From infancy to puberty, women are expected to offer physical care, emotional support, and guidance to their children. They are in charge of tasks such as feeding, bathing, and consoling the child, as well as educating and instilling values in them. Women are frequently in charge of home chores such as cooking, cleaning, and household organisation. They often take care of ageing parents, in-laws, and other relatives in addition to their family. All of this adds to their responsibilities and places more demands on their time and energy.
Girls are socialised from a young age to believe that their primary function in life is to become brides and mothers. The role of women as primary carers in Indian society is heavily impacted by cultural and societal conventions. Indian society has traditionally followed a patriarchal system in which men hold dominating positions and decide household decisions. The reason behind the curtain of the patriarchal system is Gender stereotypes reinforce the notion that women are inherently more loving, compassionate, and suited to caregiving responsibilities. These misconceptions impede women’s prospects for personal and professional development outside of the home.
Asia’s largest women’s market(Ima Keithel, Imphal ):
Let’s take a case study about the role of women in parenting from a region of northeastern India. In Northeast India, there is a forgotten kingdom in South East Asia, that is, Manipur, a sovereign kingdom from 33CE until its annexation into Indian territory in 1949. In the state of Manipur, manipuri women play a principal role in parenting as both a housewife and a breadwinner. In manipuri society, women are symbolized by tradition as Mother figures in society and placed in high esteem by the title, ‘Eema’ and Yumburembi’ (female head of the house). She takes care of the family as a mother, wife, daughter, sister and daughter-in-law in such a way that bringing up children, inculcating proper value in their minds, looking after the comforts of the husband, children, and relatives, and helping them to find fulfilment in the family life. As a wife and mother, the woman carries the infant feeds it for nine months, derives joy in the suffering involved and engages in childbearing and child-rearing. She transmits social heritage to the child. It is from the mother the child learns the law of the race, the manner, moral code, and ideals. Proper breastfeeding for the infant, proper immunization, health care during illness, feeding home-based supplementary diets, encouraging children and adolescents not to consumption of junk food or fast food, dietary diversification through consumption of protective food, nutritionally enriched foods among family members, and reproductive health care, etc. are all major responsibilities of women. These are not only the things that a manipuri woman does for parenting. Manipuri women also play a breadwinner role in the family welfare.
The women of Manipuri are involved in the daily requirements of the family by cooking, cleaning, collecting fuel, and fetching water but they also help to look after poultry cattle, raise crops, and often contribute to family income. Moreover, they do not completely depend on man for their living condition and financial support. Manipuri women are engaged in different areas such as doing small trades and business in the market, weaving, engaging themselves in handloom and handicrafts, pottery, mat making, construction work, cultivation, etc. There is a Manipuri Proverb, “A man who does not go to Loishang (Office), and a woman who does not go to Keithel (market) both are worthless”. The three Emma Keithels or Women’s Market of Manipur is a glaring example that women took a vital financial role in the management of income. Thus women play a significant role in parenting both a housewife and breadwinners in Manipur society.
References:
1)The impact of Gender roles on raising children
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-gender-roles-raising-children-aljanat-sanni
2)Women’s Role and Responsibility in the family: A Manipur perspective
https://globaljournals.org/GJHSS_Volume22/5-Womens-Role.pdf
3) Women’s role in parenting
https://www.ipl.org/essay/Women-In-Parenting-PJECV8Z5VVU
4)Women as a symbol of Motherhood, Love and Peace : The Manipur Narrative
https://www.renupublishers.com/images/article/IJPEDv7n2c.pdf
5)Impact of Gender Roles on Parenting in Indian society
https://www.psychologs.com/impact-of-gender-roles-on-parenting-in-indian-society/?amp=1#origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&cap=swipe,education&webview=1&dialog=1&viewport=natural&visibilityState=prerender&prerenderSize=1&viewerUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Famp%2Fs%2Fwww-psychologs-com.cdn.ampproject.org%2Fc%2Fs%2Fwww.psychologs.com%2Fimpact-of-gender-roles-on-parenting-in-indian-society%3Fusqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%25253D&_kit=1
Borus Thongam
Intern, Asia in Global Affairs
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, in his personal capacity. It does not reflect the policies and perspectives of Asia in Global Affairs.
