Family Structure and Feminine Personality she examines the development of genderidentity and personality. Except for the stereotypical examples I have given above whichagain are e stablished by the parents, Chodorow states that the development of a child isbasically the same for boys and girls until the age of three. During those first three yearsthe mother is the dominant figure in the childs life. The father plays a limited role untilthe child reaches the so called Oedipal period (beyond age 3). It is at this stage thatchildren begin to try to separate themselves from the clutches of their mother and establishtheir own identity. Chodorow examines how different this is for boys and girls. KFRCradio disk jockey Ron Parker recently reported that out of a survey of one hundred fourthgrade boys and one hundred fourth grade girls, the boys receive an average weeklyallowance that is approximately 50% higher than the girls receive. On the average, theboys receive $4.18 as compared to the $2.67 paid to the girls. To look even further, thesurvey reported that the boys only perform three household chores to earn their weeklyallowance whereas the girls are performing twel ve or more. Why are the girls expected todo four times as much work around the house than the boys are? Chodorow writes that ayoung boy is usually unable to identify with his masculinity through his father. The fatherisnt as readily available to th e boy as the mother. Without the father to follow example,Chodorow concludes that a boy will identify masculine characteristics be doing that whichis not feminine. This could be an explanation for the big difference in the number of choresthe girls d o versus the boys. Though you might disagree with the morality of thisstatement, you have to admit that it is socially accepted that household chores are feminineduties. Young boys are bound to realize this and following Chodorows theory, willrefuse to perform a lot of chores in an attemp...
