Transcript I*m Pregnant!

I’M PREGNANT!
Examining the Past, Present, and Future Roles of Childbearing in Canada
Becoming a Parent
• The decision to become a parent is a major life transition for adults.
• Canadians value children so much that over 90% of the population
states that they intend to one day become a parent (Wheeler, 2008).
• From a Life Course perspective, parenthood is the last step in the transition to adulthood – a
transition that is a major, lifelong commitment. No matter how you become a parent –
through childbirth, surrogacy, or adoption – parenthood is an irreversible step that changes
your life forever.
• Unlike a spouse or a job, you cannot divorce or leave a child. As stated by the University of
North Carolina researcher Ronald Rindfuss (2004),
“The transition to parenthood involves much change in people’s lives, and it is highly significant
because it is associated with permanence and obligation. One can have ex-spouses and exjobs, but not ex-children.”
Past Attitudes: Children in Our European Heritage
In Europe during the 1500s and 1600s, the purpose of children differed by a family’s social class.
Upper Class Families
• An upper-class family took great care to ensure that
their son married a suitable girl who could continue
the family lineage by producing children to inherit the
family name, wealth, and property.
• Once born, children served little purpose as children,
and the parent-child relationship was unimportant.
• Children spent their infancy being nursed by a
woman who was hired to breastfeed them, their early
childhood with a tutor to instruct them, and, for boys,
their school years at boarding schools, who would
return home as young adults expected to marry and
take their place in society.
Lower Class Families
• In contrast, lower class families needed children to
economically contribute to the family unit through
labour, so their membership in the family was highly
valued.
• Once born, children were breastfed by their own
mothers, and, from the time they could walk,
accompanied an adult to learn their chores.
• Some children would work in the community and still
reside with their families, while others would be sent to
another community to live and work.
• While a sentimental, emotional attachment to children
was discouraged in the past, history suggests that
parents, particularly in the lower classes, loved their
children, and were very affectionate towards them.
Past Attitudes: Children in Our European Heritage
• In all social classes, families had more children than today to ensure that some
children would survive when so many infants died in the first years.
• Also, few loving married couples wanted to end their sexual relationship,
which would have been the only effective way to prevent additional
pregnancies.
• Unfortunately, the high maternal mortality rate meant that many women –
regardless of whether they were rich or poor – died giving birth to their last
child.
• In Europe at this time, fathers had absolute rule over the household, and
children – and women – would sometimes suffer harsh treatment at the hands
of the male figurehead. Additionally, children – who were seen as property,
just as women were – could even be sold.
• Customs such as swaddling – wrapping infants tightly in cloth to keep them still
– or beating a child to prevent the temptation to misbehave, were
recommended for raising a healthy and moral child.
Past Attitudes: Children in Our First Nations Heritage
• First Nations people represent the first families of Canada.
• They were generally nomadic, lived in groups, and travelled together.
They survived by maintaining a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
• Comparatively, women and children tended to have a higher status
within the family and community than their Euorpean counterparts.
• Although, as a family unit, they were egalitarian, since the contributions
of all members of the family were valued by the entire band, the
division of labour was still primarily based on gender.
• Young boys would accompany the men to hunt in the forests, while
older girls and young children worked in the clearings with the women,
tending to plants and the few domesticated animals.
• The labour performed by the children was an important part of the
family’s success, but it took many years for the children to learn and
become skilled at obtaining food for the family.
Past Attitudes: Children in Our First Nations Heritage
• By the 1500s, many groups of First Nations peoples no longer lived a
nomadic way of life.
• There were two types of First Nations communities in Ontario:
migratory hunter-gatherers in the north, like the Ojibway, and
agricultural communities in the south, such as the Huron and the
Iroquois.
• Those in agricultural communities lived in extended families in
villages, cultivating the land. Family groups within the large group
were nuclear, but families worked together co-operatively, sharing
most duties, including childcare.
• Women and younger children took primary responsibility for growing
and gathering food, while men and older boys were often away
from the village, hunting, trading, or engaging in warfare.
• As a result, relationships between mothers and daughters were very
strong.
Past Attitudes: The Impact of Colonization
• The arrival of the Europeans in North America between 1500 and
1700 meant the end of their former way of life for many First Nations
communities.
• Before the arrival of the Europeans, First Nations societies hunted
only what they needed. However, when the European traders
offered goods in exchange for fur, First Nations men began to hunt
more to meet the European demand, so they were away from
their families for longer.
• The Europeans traded alcohol to the First Nations peoples in
exchange for furs, which resulted in negative consequences arising
from an increase in drunkenness and, eventually, alcoholism.
• European contact also spread infectious diseases that killed many
people in First Nations communities.
• As there were few European women in North America at this time,
many European men lived with, or married, First Nations women,
thus blending two cultures that differed greatly in their family values
and customs.
• The livelihoods and family systems of Canada’s First Nations
peoples were irrevocably damaged by contact with Europeans.
Past Attitudes: The Impact of Colonization
• First Nations peoples had a very different sense of family than the
Europeans, whose society was male-dominated.
• According to Mandel (1995), their “family relationships baffled
Europeans [because of their] personal autonomy, lack of
hierarchy, spousal interdependence, abundant love for their
children, [and] abhorrence of inflicting corporal punishment,
fear, or humiliation on children” (p. 22).
• First Nations peoples placed a high value on their children, and
raised them with care, using democratic practices to discipline
and guide their offspring.
• Early French missionaries felt that First Nations peoples “spoiled”
their children and allowed them too much freedom; as a result,
they made it their goal to correct what they believed were poor
parenting practices.
Past Attitudes: The Impact of Colonization
• Governance by Europeans changed the First Nations peoples’
way of life from one of equality, caring, and understanding to
the European way of male dominance and control by
punishment.
• Because of the strong kinship ties and the great love of children
characteristic of First Nations society, First Nations husbands
readily accepted the wives and children abandoned by
European settlers who were returning home.
• However, the European acceptance of devaluing women and
children caused role confusion in the First Nations communities,
resulting in a shift from matrilineal and matrilocal family systems
to a patrilineal and patrilocal one.
• From a Systems Theory perspective, this change in the roles of
women and children greatly affected the entire family system,
altering the entire social fabric of First Nations communities.
Past Attitudes: The Expanding Families of European Immigrants
• In the 1600s and 1700s, marriage and family patterns in
Canada varied greatly.
• In the middle and upper classes, marriages were arranged
based on the size of the bride’s dowry, as well as her
potential to bear children.
• Men were concerned with maintaining biological ties to
their families, continuing good lineage, and protecting the
family wealth through inheritance.
• Children were an important part of continuing the family
legacy, and they were valued as a means of passing on
family traditions.
Past Attitudes: The Expanding Families of European Immigrants
• In farming and peasant families during this time, marriage and children
were viewed as economic necessities.
• Women were valued for their ability to work and contribute to the
family, and marriages were more equal partnerships.
• Children were necessary to provide enough labour to run the farm. As
they grew up, they were expected to be producers for the food of the
entire family.
• Family tasks were differentiated by sex, with the boys working farther
from home, and the girls working closer.
• The home was the centre of all domestic, economic, and social
activity.
• Families tended to live closer together, and extended relatives would
reside in the same community.
• Children were raised and educated by this extended family, but not
necessarily in the same house.
• Many families cared for older relatives, and children were valued for
their future contributions to the family for this purpose.
Past Attitudes: The Expanding Families of European Immigrants
• Schooling was not compulsory for children during this time.
• Education was supplied through religious groups, with only upper-class boys likely to
be given formal instruction.
• However, among farmers and peasants, girls were much more likely than boys to
acquire literacy skills, as they did not work in the fields.
• Children were often sent away from home to serve as apprentices.
• Girls apprenticed in household tasks and usually left home around the age of 10,
staying with their employer’s family until they married.
• Boys apprenticed for a wider variety of trades, usually leaving home between the
ages of 9 and 10.
• In many working-class families, older siblings acted as role models, and were
responsible for helping their younger brothers and sisters move into the workforce.
• Children were only allowed to marry when their families could afford to live without
their incomes.
Past Attitudes: The Expanding Families of European Immigrants
• Difficult conditions existed during this time, including poor
sanitation, disease, inadequate housing, and a lack of medical
knowledge.
• This led to higher infant mortality rates, as well as a higher maternal
death rate, and a shorter life span for adults.
• Many children were orphaned at a young age, and, children who
still had one living parent were sent to live with relatives or
stepfamilies, or sent away as servants.
• Due to parental death, as well as the wide range and number of
children in a family, older siblings frequently played a role in raising
younger children, as they had more contact with them than their
parents did.
• Due to shorter life spans, most grandparents did not live to see all
their grandchildren grow up.
Past Attitudes: Children and Families in the 19th Century
• Until the beginning of the 1800s, Canada’s economy was
based mainly on farming, fishing, lumbering, and some fur
trading.
• Homes were still centres of production, and the labour of all
family members was still highly valued and necessary.
• However, the 19th century brought a number of societal shifts
that impacted Canadian family life.
• First, the economy changed from an agricultural base to an
industrial base.
• Second, people moved from small farms to the city to find
work, meaning that cities expanded at a rapid pace.
• Third, the West opened up, and immigrants were brought to
Canada to settle the land.
Past Attitudes: Children and Families in the 19th Century
• Family members went out to work instead of working together on the farm.
• When families moved to urban areas, every family member was sent out to work,
and children turned over their wages to their parents.
• Women and children were often exploited in the workplace, labouring for long
hours in poor conditions.
• Later in the 1800s, labour laws were changed, and children were no longer sent
out to work.
• Men in unions fought for a family wage – that is, enough money to support a wife
and children.
• Mandatory schooling was introduced to occupy children who could no longer
work.
• Consequently, at this time, only about 5 percent of married women worked at a
paid job; the rest stayed at home to provide a nurturing environment for their
growing children.
• Additionally at this time, Canada’s birth rate began to decline.
Past Attitudes: Expanding Families Since 1900
• During the 1900s, especially for the middle classes, few women were involved in
the workforce because earning the family wage was a man’s responsibility.
From a Functionalist perspective, these changes influenced the development of
effective roles for men, women, and children.
• A man’s contribution to the family unit was the wages that he earned from his
employment outside the home. His contribution to running the household was
diminished, and his parenting role changed from one of high involvement to one
of provider of leisure activities and money.
• Women were seen to possess the characteristics more suited to child rearing,
such as being gentle, patient, sweet, and comforting. They gained sole
responsibility for the functioning of the household, and assumed primary
responsibility for childcare.
• Now that children were no longer needed for labour, they became cherished
for sentimental reasons, and it became the mother’s responsibility to ensure that
her children were raised properly.
Past Attitudes: Expanding Families Since 1900
• From a Systems Theory perspective, the changes in the family
system that made it the norm for men to be the sole provider
had long-lasting effects on the nature of the contemporary
family.
• The mother in the middle-class family was now valued for her
contribution to the social and moral upbringing of her children.
• Families became smaller, as there was no longer the need for
women to bear many children.
• The mother-child subsystem developed as a key component of
the family.
• As families became smaller, the age difference between
parents and children lessened, as did the age difference
between children.
• This, in turn, changed the nature of sibling relationships, and the
sibling subsystem strengthened.
Past Attitudes: Expanding Families Since 1900
• Homes evolved from a place for performing social,
economic, and domestic activities to a private retreat
away from the rest of the world.
• Households became smaller, more specialized, and
more isolated, as only the father had regular contact
with the outside world.
• Clear boundaries defined the nuclear family, and
reduced contact with the extended family.
• Many middle-class families moved farther away from
relatives to seek work, so children did not get to spend
extended time with grandparents, even though they
were living longer.
Past Attitudes: Expanding Families Since 1900
• The experience of the working classes were somewhat
different from those of the middle classes.
• Children of working parents were often cared for by the
extended family.
• Working-class women employed outside the home were
considered to be economically productive wives, but not
good mothers, since they were not at home providing
proper guidance for their children.
• The boundaries of the working-class families were more
open to extended family and the outside world, as they
were more dependent on kinship groups for the social
and economic support of the family unit.
Past Attitudes: Expanding Families Since 1900
• Before the 1950s, the size of the Canadian families had been in a
century-long decline.
• After World War II, there was an unanticipated increase in the birth rate
– ie;, the Baby Boom.
• In the 1960s, there was such a high value placed on the parent-child
family that married couples who did not have children were
considered selfish.
• Most women did not work outside the home after they were married.
However, they did have a social support system in the community,
since the majority of women were at home with their children during
the day.
• Those who did work did so out of necessity, and were often seen as
incompetent mothers since they spent less time with their children than
the average woman did.
• From an Exchange Theory perspective, the exchange of services
between the male breadwinner and the female homemaker was
deemed fair, and so this became the norm for the majority of couples
at this time.
Past Attitudes: Children of More Recent Immigrants
• As a multicultural society, the role of children, along with child-rearing practices,
have necessarily been influenced by the role of children in immigrant cultures in
Canada.
• What one culture considers the norm today may have been the norm centuries
ago in another culture.
• Both Chinese and Greek immigrants have had a significant impact on the family
system in Canada today.
• Read pages 291 to 294 in your textbook to learn about how children are treated
and valued in each of these cultures. Then, answer the following questions
about each culture based on the information presented:
1.
Why did members of this culture immigrate to Canada?
2.
How is the family traditionally organized in this culture?
3.
What value is placed on children in this culture?
4.
How are children raised in this culture?
5.
How have current attitudes and cultural changes impacted the modern
family in this culture?
Current Attitudes: Having Children in Canada Today
• Today, children are valued for emotional and social reasons,
such as passing on the family name and family traditions, sharing
values, and passing down a particular way of viewing the world.
• According to Exchange theories, couples expect to receive
something back from their children in exchange for the time,
energy, and money they put into raising them – that is,
emotional fulfillment and love from the parent-child relationship.
• Today, parents want fewer children, investing heavily in those
they do have.
• Despite a decline in Canada’s birthrate, it is important to note
that families produce the citizens of the future – a valuable social
and economic contribution to future Canadian societies.
Current Attitudes: Having Children in Canada Today
• Canadian society has changed significantly in the past century, which has had
a direct impact on childbearing in Canada. Such changes include . . .
social norms related to gender roles and the equality of women
marriage rates vs cohabitation rates
increases in – and then decreases in – divorce rates
lengthened periods of emerging adulthood (e., delayed transition to work and
independent living)
• legalization of – and access to – contraceptives
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• Using information found on pages 294 to 303 of your textbook, as well as the
article “Fertility: Fewer children, older moms” produced by Stats Canada,
answer the following questions:
How have fertility trends evolved since the 19th century?
What are Canada’s current fertility rates?
How has an increase in cohabitation affected fertility rates?
Why are many individuals choosing to delay parenthood? What are the consequences
of this decision?
• Does infant mortality and maternal mortality remain a concern in 21st century Canada?
Why or why not?
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