Blocked Opportunities and Gendered Power: Inability to Attain Preferred Gender Roles

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter explores which factors women see as limiting their ability to achieve preferred traditional and egalitarian gender roles.Design/methodology/approach – Data from 25 in-depth interviews and questionnaires with Black and White wives in same-race and interracial Black/White marriages are used. Analysis relies on an intersectional framework to illustrate how gendered power, race, and resources create obstacles in realizing gender ideology.Findings – Wives who were unable to fulfill egalitarian ideals faced gendered power issues. Wives who desired “traditional” gender roles encountered structural limitations related to class position and racial discrimination in the workplace.Research limitations – This study is limited to the perspectives of Black and White women living in the Atlanta, GA metropolitan area. Future research should look further at how socialization that gives men greater power than women affects intimate relationships while taking into account how the experiences of gender are influenced by other aspects of status, including class, race, and location.Originality/value – Findings from this study add to sociological knowledge of gender by conveying the intersectional nature of race, class, and gender in the family and by further illustrating the importance of applying theories of intersectionality to empirical research in this area.

Citation

Sweeney, K.A. and Aldridge, D.P. (2013), "Blocked Opportunities and Gendered Power: Inability to Attain Preferred Gender Roles", Kohlman, M.H., Krieg, D.B. and Dickerson, B.J. (Ed.) Notions of Family: Intersectional Perspectives (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 17), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 29-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-2126(2013)0000017005