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Changes in Family Dynamics
Changes in Power Relations between the Spouses
The traditional African family economy in which husbands were the chief breadwinners has
collapsed
...
Unfortunately, the transition to wageearning households has occurred without corresponding shifts in power relations between the
sexes
...
Consequently, tensions develop that can destabilize the family
...
As a result women’s main role as daily
household and farm managers remains in close conformity with the traditional expectations and
thus they have been better able than men to achieve the social values embedded in their gender
roles
...
Consequently:
 Men have felt a loss of power, and, inability to provide for their families
...

 Child abuse and neglect has become common
...
These effects are also suffered by children who witness domestic violence
...
This heightens poverty and marital stress
...

The quality of parent's work and the satisfaction one gets from it affects parents and in turn their
effectiveness in parenting
...
This has resulted from:
(i)
The reduction in the size of the family
...

(iii) An increase in women’s level of education
...

(v)
A change on societal perception on the roles of women
...
Let us briefly examine how each of these aspects is related to
maternal employment
...
For example, although maternal employment has been
directly related to daughters' views that women are competent in activities generally seen as male
activities, higher father involvement also increases this effect
...
In addition, when mothers are
employed, girls view women as more competent and this view mediates the girls' own higher sense
of efficacy and their academic performance
...
While men normally do outdoor
work such as clearing places for farming, plowing, fencing, cutting trees, or being active in
businesses, women have a triple workload in the home, earning an income, and participating in
community work
...
Consequently, they are often overburdened
and have little time to organize resources for reasonable gain
...
Thus,
they are able to determine both the size and quality of the future stock of human resources in
Kenya
...
They are responsible for most of Kenya’s food
crop production and a variety of other farming activities, yet their contribution to national
development is hardly recognized (KENGO, 1994)
...

Employed mothers also have lower scores on stress indicators and measures of depressive
...
For working-class women, studies show that the satisfactions from employment are not
from the job per se but from the increased social support and stimulation provided by co-workers,
the marked advantages that their wages bring to their families, and the greater sense of control they
feel over their lives
...
So a viable hypothesis
is that the greater advantage of maternal employment for working-class children is because of its
more positive effect on the mother's sense of well-being
...


Working class employed mothers have also been found to use authoritative parenting style while
full-time homemakers are more likely to use either authoritarian or permissive parenting styles
...
In addition, employed mothers in the
working class indicated a higher frequency of positive interactions with their children than did the
full-time homemakers
...
Furthermore, the parenting
variables were related to child outcomes
...

Childrearing Patterns
Mother's employment status can also affect outcomes for school-aged children through differences
in childrearing
...
Researchers
have suggested that the childrearing dimension which includes encouragement of independence,
maturity demands, and autonomy granting contributes positively to the development of well
adjusted individuals
...
The
encouragement of independence is consistent with the situational demands of the dual role since it
enables the family to function more effectively in the mother's absence
...
The encouragement of independence and autonomy
in girls, on the other hand, would have a positive effect since they are traditionally given too little
encouragement for independence
...
Across social classes, employed mothers in contrast with full-time homemakers,
show less differentiation between sons and daughters in their discipline style and in their goals for
their children
...
Mothers who cite the goal of
obedience, or the goal "to be feminine", are more likely to have daughters who were shy, nonassertive in the classroom, and who have a lower sense of efficacy, while citing the goal of
independence has the opposite effects
...
Further, boys in dual-wage working class
families were found to be more likely to be left unsupervised and unmonitored
...
Being left unsupervised, but monitored by phone,
showed no negative effects, but being left unsupervised and unmonitored showed negative effects
among lower income children
...
However, employed mothers are higher
in expressed overt affection toward their children, across class and marital status
...

In brief, studies on effects of maternal employment on child development have revealed that:
- Full-time employed mothers spend less time with their infants and preschoolers than parttime and non-employed mothers, but this effect diminishes with maternal education and
with the age of the child
...
Data indicate that employed mothers tend to compensate for their absence
in the proportion of direct interaction and in the amount of time with the child during nonwork hours and on weekends
...

- The quality of the mother-child interaction, and particularly her sensitivity to the child's
needs, affects the security of the attachment
...

- Daughters of employed mothers have higher academic achievement, greater career success,
more non-traditional career choices, and greater occupational commitment
...

- Children of employed mothers obtain higher scores on achievement tests for language,
reading, and math, across gender, socioeconomic status, and marital status, middle-class
...
Q)
...

- In the blue-collar class, sons of employed mothers do well academically but there is a strain
in the father-son relationship
...
The mother's employment is seen as a sign
that the father is an inadequate bread-winner, and if the fathers helped out with housework
and child care, they resented it
...

- Daughters with employed mothers, across the different groups, show more positive
assertiveness and less acting-out behaviour
...

- Boys also show more positive social adjustment when their mothers are employed
...

- Sons and daughters of employed mothers have less traditional gender-role attitudes
...


In short, available research strongly suggests that the mother's employment status has more
positive effects on families and children than negative ones
...
In addition, in twoparent families, the fathers take on a larger share of the household tasks and child care, and this
seems to have benefits for the children
...

Quality and stability of non-maternal care for infants and young also do not seem to have negative
effects on child development as earlier proposed
...


Changes in the Role of Fathers in Child Rearing
Fathers influence children’s development in various ways
...
They receive richer care
...

2
...
Through their fathers and mothers the child has access to a
vast network including grandparents, uncles, aunts and friends, as well as work colleagues
...

3
...
Often, mothers who can count on the
children’s father to help with house-keeping, repairs, child care and planning for the future are
happier and more effective in their parenting
...

4
...
Many families today rely upon the income of both fathers
and mothers
...
When there are two
incomes in a home, a child is better off than when there is only one bread winner
...
Indeed, fathers can be just as nurturing and sensitive to their babies as mothers
...

Before focusing on the changes that have occurred in the role of fathers let us briefly look at the
influence of fathers on their children’s development
...
As the baby
develops a relationship with his/her mother and father he/she develops attachment to them
...

In addition, psychologists agree that babies with secure attachment to both parents have better
chances to develop into happy successful and well-adjusted children and adults
...
However, babies also form attachment to
fathers who tend to be as responsive to their babies’ request for attention as mothers
...

This allows fathers to respond appropriately to their babies
...
For example, in a study on
primary school children, those with responsive fathers scored higher in terms of empathy and the
ability to see a situation from other person’s viewpoints than those who did not
...
Both mother and father encourage their babies
to explore the world and manipulate objects; however mothers and fathers have different styles of
relating
...
As babies grow older, many come to prefer
playing with their father who provides unpredictable stimulating and exciting interaction
...
Consequently, infants
whose father is involved in their lives tend to score higher on tests of thinking skills and brain
development
...
They should start supporting their toddler’s explorations and setting appropriate
limits for the child
...
Children learn from them how to share problems and how to get along with others
...

When fathers play with toddlers they provide a safe, yet challenging arena for the toddlers to learn
how to interact with the world and others
...

Toddlers must also learn how to express and regulate emotions, and acquire the ability to control
their behaviour
...
In addition, fathers influence children’s development through direct
teaching, that is, instructing children on what is right or wrong especially where it is an only child
...
The more actively
involved and interested a father is in his children’s care and education, the more intellectually
developed his children are
...
Children with better economic support have
access to more educational resources and have better opportunities to learn
...

Another reason is that fathers spend time with school going children and help them with their
homework/studies
...
Further, the influence fathers have
on the children’s intellectual development is not limited to helping with school work, but also
extends to positive influence on the children’s thinking skills
...
These are fathers that do not live with their children
...
Specifically, the
presence of fathers has the following effects on children:
1
...
As a result, their sons get a feeling of security and self confidence
...

c) Social emotional development – Nurturing and competent fathers raise sons with high selfesteem in elementary school, good personal adjustment in college age and successful
heterosexual
...
Girls raised in families with a loving and respected father are most likely to:
i)
Become healthy, well-adjusted young women
ii)
Feel a sense of pride in their femininity

iii)

Experience marital satisfaction (if they had a warm and close daughter-father
relationship)
As a result the absence of a father during a girl’s childhood has been linked to her:
 Negative attitudes towards masculinity later in life
 Insecurity in dealing with boys and men during adolescence
Absence of fathers is therefore likely to impact negatively on their children’s development
...
The fathers are
less available to nurture, guide and provide for their children
...
In doing so, they limit the gains that children would
get from the fathers
...
In addition, when the Geographical distances between children and their
fathers are large, close relationships are difficult to form and maintain
...
Thus in short, in
many cases the entire family enjoys a lower standard of living when they live part
...
The
most obvious ways of influence is by providing adequate financial support
...
They
may for example play with the children, help them with homework, set and enforce rules and
supervise their children whenever possible
...

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...
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...
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