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LatAm: Gender Struggles and Achievements - for Men
 Marcela Valente - Inter Press Service
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August 25, 2010
Buenos Aires - Men in Latin America are increasingly engaged in raising their children, a change that has been largely forced on them by women's self-development. However, men are still a long way from taking on a more equal role in housework, and they are still burdened with the obligation to be the main providers.
"The predominant model of masculinity demands that men be economically successful, strong, rational, powerful and heterosexual," Argentine social psychologist Hugo Huberman, who coordinates masculinity workshops in several Latin American countries, told IPS.
This deep-rooted cultural stereotype "is a risk factor for men's physical and mental health, because it encourages a sedentary lifestyle and demands that they keep their feelings to themselves," he said. But so far there is no movement of men determined to change, like the women's movement in its time.
"It is still commonplace to hear that men who cry are sissies, and that being a man means acting tough," he said. These expectations are still current, and translate into lower life expectancy for men. According to the United Nations, the average lifespan of Latin American men is five years shorter than that of women.
"Men are expected to be risk-takers, so they drink and drive, and accept greater risks at work, like climbing up scaffolding without a helmet on," he said. This behaviour leads to many accidents, heart attacks, bouts of depression and sexual dysfunction, which Huberman calls the "costs of the hegemonic model."
A Boston College research study published this year found that in many middle-class families in the United States, a "quiet revolution" is under way as men struggle for a greater role in the home, whereas women have long been active in the workplace.
Over the last 30 years women have fought for, and gained, legitimacy in the workplace. Now it is men’s turn to find their place not just at work but in the home: men are looking for jobs with more flexible hours, and are spending more time on child-rearing and housework, says the Boston College study titled "The New Dad".
However, they have not been able to shake off the breadwinner role, which is still part of men's identity within the family. A similar pattern can be seen in middle-class sectors in Latin America, according to a study published in Argentina in July.
The study, "¿Padres de hoy, varones de antes? Decisiones reproductivas, familia y trabajo en varones de estratos medios de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires" (Modern Fathers, Old-Fashioned Men? Reproductive decisions, family and work among middle-class men in Buenos Aires), suggests that although men are more involved in housework and childcare, a paradigm shift in basic assumptions is still a long way off.
"There are small changes occurring, not silently, because one can see many men at playgrounds and schools, but it's not a revolution," sociologist Liliana Findling of the Gino Germani Research Institute, one of a team of women who co-authored the study, told IPS.
Twenty middle-class fathers aged between 28 and 40 were interviewed for the study, which concludes that men today take paternity very seriously, but inequality persists within the home. Men are less involved than women in domestic duties and continue to bear the burden of being the breadwinners.
Findling said that in general, new fathers "enjoy their paternal role" and "help" with housework, but women still take more responsibility for bringing up children and cleaning the house.
"I feel I do a lot, and my wife feels that what I do isn't enough. No doubt it isn't enough, but I think that for a guy it's quite a lot," 33-year-old Álvaro, married with two children, whose wife works outside the home, said in one of the study interviews.
Martín Marotta, a graphic designer, delayed settling into a stable relationship until he met a professional woman; they are both established in their careers. Now 40, they have two children, a two-year-old boy and a newborn baby girl.
He told IPS that he spent his early youth travelling and having fun, later on he focused on his career, and now he is changing nappies and doing other chores.
"Thanks to the internet, I can work at a distance, with no restrictions on the hours or days I work, so I can spend a lot of time at home, take my older son to and from school, have lunch with him and play with him," he said.
However, according to the study, none of these men can totally escape from the traditional responsibility of supporting the family economically, as laid down in the hegemonic model, even if their wives are working and earning good incomes.
"The role of father and provider is a central category in the respondents' discourse. This cultural mandate is deeply rooted and appears to be an absolutely essential duty for some of the men interviewed," the study says.
In an informal conversation with IPS, a 42-year-old woman who has just returned to work after time exclusively spent taking care of her home and children, complained that her husband wants her to contribute towards their rent payments with the money she is starting to earn.
"Now that I have money, I want to buy things for myself, for the house, or presents for the children. I don't want to use it to pay the rent. If he doesn't make enough, he should work longer hours," she protested, although she was happy that her husband was doing more of the cooking and cleaning.
In Huberman's view, this shows that so far the change towards greater gender equity does not go very deep. "Although men get more involved, they do so not out of a desire for change but because their family life demands it of them.
"The former authoritarian, distant father figure is changing, and many more men change nappies nowadays, but I think that's because they have no option but to adapt themselves to the changes that women have made," he said.
There are "small seeds" germinating where stereotypes are being broken down, but so far they are only cracks in the hegemonic model, rather than a real desire for change, such as women experienced decades ago, he said. |
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