Male Headship Research Articles

EDITOR's CHOICE

Books reviewed:David Blankenhorn, Don Browning and Mary Stewart van Leeuwen (eds), Does Christianity Teach Male Headship? The Equal‐Regard Marriage and its Critics

Molly Mormons, Mormon Feminists and Moderates: Religious Diversity and the Latter Day Saints Church

Based on data from life history interviews with 28 Latter Day Saints women, this paper considers the process of boundary negotiation on two key sites. First, how do Mormon women maintain their autonomy and agency in the context of institutionalized patriarchy. Secondly, how do women make sense of church prescriptions on male authority both within the family and in the church hierarchy. The study reveals that LDS women are not monolithic in their response to these issues, and that they tend to fall into one of three groups - Molly Mormons, feminists, or moderates. The paper reviews strategies used by Mormon women to negotiate boundaries within their families, the church, and society around four issues: participation in the paid labor force, male headship, the priesthood, and the separation of their faith from decisions made by the male hierarchy of the church.

SYMBOLIC TRADITIONALISM AND PRAGMATIC EGALITARIANISM

Drawing on Connell's notion of gender projects, the authors assess the degree to which contemporary evangelical ideals of men's headship challenge, as well as reinforce, a hegemonic masculinity. Based on 265 in-depth interviews in 23 states across the country, they find that rather than espousing a traditional gender hierarchy in which women are simply subordinate to men, the majority of contemporary evangelicals hold to symbolic traditionalism and pragmatic egalitarianism. Symbolic male headship provides an ideological tool with which individual evangelicals may maintain a sense of distinctiveness from the broader culture of which they are a part. At the same time, symbolic headship blunts some of the harsher effects of living in a materially rich, but time poor, culture, by defusing an area of potential conflict, creating a safe space within which men can negotiate, and strengthening men's material and emotional ties to their families.

The Relation of Migration to Changing Household Headship Patterns in China, 1982–1987

Theories of family development posited by Goode suggest that increased economic opportunities and more efficient agricultural production which leads to very high levels of migration in China increases the number of nuclear families. However examination of headship rates in China during 1982-87 suggests a process of family fusion. Fertility and the household size declined and the number of adults in the household increased from 2.9 in 1982 to 3.0 in 1987. Households with three generations or more increased from 18.8% to 20.0% of all households. Age standardized headship rates declined among all households marital households and in both rural areas and cities. The major explanatory factor is attributed to in-migration that is policy-based. 1) Youths who moved to rural areas during the Cultural Revolution were encouraged to return to cities. 2) Couples were reunited after separation due to job assignment. 3) The army was demobilized. Many had been housed in collective households. A detailed analysis of a marital population whose first marriage occurred before July 1 1982 (identified in the 1987 survey) reveals that many males migrated due to job transfers connected with family reunification. Other major reasons for migration are reunification with a relative or friend and retirement. Womens reasons focus on marriage and reunion with spouses. Data from the 1987 survey support the view that in-migrating males are absorbed into existing households. Female migration patterns refute the assumption that spousal reunion and male headship is a result of migration. Analysis reveals that only a small proportion of all male household heads live apart from wives in 1982 and 1987. However a large percentage of female household heads are living apart from husbands (21% in urban and 84% in rural areas in 1987). Male headship in cities declined from 10.5% in 1982 to 3.1% in 1987. Female headship declined from 44.7% to 21.1%. Age specific rates show different geographic patterns. A large impact on family structure is due to temporary or unauthorized migration to cities into group quarters or within families. Future trends will depend on migration policy elderly social supports and unknown factors.

Household headship and child nutrition: A case study in Western Kenya

The effect of female household headship on child nutrition has been hypothesized by some to be negative, based on the assumption that mothers alone will be poorer and will have greater demands on their time and resources. On the other hand, there is some evidence in Kenya that the nutritional status of children of female heads may be better than that of children of male heads, suggesting that when women have more control over resources, more goes to the children. In Kenya, de facto female headship is common due to male labor migration. This study examines the relationship between child nutrition and de facto female vs male household headship in western Kenya through the examination of family income and decision making patterns. Women in male-headed households had greater financial responsibility for household maintenance. Female heads assumed more farming responsibilities and had higher remittances from husbands. Husbands of female heads purchased food and other goods in the city for use by the household. Male headed households produced more food crops and used a larger proportion of them for home consumption. In this study, children of female heads consumed a greater variety of foods. Despite a greater prevalence of stunting, there was a lower prevalence of low weight for age among children of female heads. However, in statistical analyses, headship did not relate significantly to nutritional intake or status. In attempting to understand the possible factors influencing the relationship between headship and nutritional status, we found trade-offs in the ways families were coping, which appeared to balance some of the negative and positive effects of each situation.

Recent patterns in downward income mobility: Sinking boats in a rising tide

This paper employs four measures of downward income mobility and 1984–1986 PSID data to examine the extent and possible causes of downward mobility. Despite modest economic growth during this period, a substantial number of Americans experienced downward income mobility, roughly 5% to 20%. The majority of the downwardly mobile initially lived with a nonelderly, Caucasian, male, less-educated, working household head. Logit analysis indicates that the following factors significantly increase the odds of downward income mobility: Male headship; minority headship; family dissolution; nest-leaving; and having a head who works in mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation, trade, or farming. The following factors significantly lower the odds of downward income mobility: Retaining the same household head; having a college-educated head; having a head who works in a professional, technical, or operative occupation; and having a head in the finance, insurance, and real estate industry.