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Why Are Women More Effective Than Men at Taking Care of Families?

Women are the caregivers in most families worldwide. Most sociology scholars speculate

that the role taken by women in the family stems from the societal expectation of women to be

caregivers (Sharma, Chakrabarti & Grover 7). This theory suggests that society expects women

to be the primary caregivers in the family, and men are the economic providers. Other studies

propose that women are more prone to stressors arising from familial responsibilities and react

differently to these factors than men (Sharma, Chakrabarti & Grover 7). As a result, women have

grown into more proficient caregivers than men in the family. This viewpoint is provable by the

fact that most families rely on women to take care of children and household chores. This paper

explores the factors that have made women the more effective and efficient caregivers in the

family compared to men. It will seek to answer the question as to whether women have specific

physical or emotional traits specific to their gender that make then better caregivers in the family.

Is it a genetic, psychological, or emotional trait, and can men learn it too? This paper will try to

illuminate these factors based on the review of scholarly articles.

Literature Review

The role of women was traditionally confined to the household and had only recently

shifted with the advent of industrialization (Galick 1). In most traditional societies, women were
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limited to household duties and rarely made public appearances. Some scholars of sociology

have argued that this confinement of women to household responsibilities may have led to the

development of better caregiving instincts in women. Some of the roles played by women in the

family include relationship management, caregiving, housekeeper, and household scheduler

(Galick 1). These roles are naturally geared towards the provision of care to the young family

members while the male family members look after the overall welfare of the entire family. The

closeness fostered by the daily interactions between the female caregivers and the young

members of the family could give rise to traits more suited for care provision. We should,

however, note that there is a lack of consensus on the validity of this theory (Sharma,

Chakrabarti & Grover 12), and is based purely on the scholarly viewpoints of scholars of

sociology.

Some scholars have also suggested that the types of tasks involved in the provision of

care for the family, such as the personal care of children, were more suited to women (Sharma,

Chakrabarti & Grover 9). Men are less likely to help in individual tasks and prefer tasks that

offer some space between them and the family. In some regions, several jobs were considered

taboo for men due to certain reasons specific to the members of that community. These roles

were considered strictly for women, and most of them involved domestic chores and care

provision for the children. In modern society, the concept of gender inequality has come to

encompass all these concepts that were custom in traditional culture (Barker and Pawlak 11).

Their effects have, however, shaped how we see gender roles in the family and the interactions

between family members in the modern world. Scholars have argued that female family

members have exceptional "stress-coping" abilities to stressors arising from caregiving tasks and

can manage the challenges of these tasks more effectively (Sharma, Chakrabarti & Grover 12).
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This theory enjoys more support from scholars but lacks concrete evidence for determining the

stress-coping abilities and the different potentials.

Methods

The study presented in this paper seeks to ascertain the factors that make women more

effective caregivers in families than men. An analytical analysis of academic literature on gender

roles and factors that influence the role of women in the family provided the basis from which

we drew inferences and conclusions. We conducted a social scientific study on the factors that

determine the effectiveness of a caregiver in the family unit. The scholarly articles used provided

the core references for our main observations and conclusions. The ideas and concepts presented

are, therefore, supported by evidence from secondary sources, and most inferences in the paper

rely on the scholarly viewpoints of the researchers. The study also investigated the changing

gender roles in modern families and their effects on the effectiveness of women in taking care of

the family. These observations were used to provide evidence in support of the theories on the

efficiency of women in caregiving. The criteria used to identify these factors included physical,

psychological, financial, and social dimensions of life. We examined the differences in these

aspects between the two genders and tried to identify the factors that caused differences in

caregiving tendencies.

Analysis

Women place more emphasis on the success of their families and may sacrifice their self-

care to ensure that their family is perceived as successful (Galick 2). Scholars have noted this

dedication as the main difference between the women's perspective and men's. Women see

themselves as being judged based on their family, whereas men decide their successes on
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individual accomplishments (Galick 2). The difference between the two fundamental viewpoints

in both genders has been speculated to instill better caregiving qualities to women. This

viewpoint can find proof in the fact that women still take up more caregiving roles in families

regardless of the division in gender roles in the household. Evidence has shown that even in

societies where men take up most household roles, and women become breadwinners, women

still perform some caregiving tasks after work (Galick 2). Scholars theorize that the tendency for

women to be more effective, caregivers stems from a mindset geared towards the success of the

family unit rather than on personal achievement in most cases. This theory is under research, and

psychologists have not found concrete evidence of the universality of the family-oriented

mindset and its relation to gender.

The study found no evidence of any physical differences in men and women that would

explain the variations in caregiving tendencies and attitudes. Most scholars seem to point toward

social and psychological disparities between the genders. The traditional gender roles in most

families across the globe are responsible for impacting psychological traits in women that steer

them towards caregiving roles (Sharma, Chakrabarti & Grover 12). Some scholars have

explained the psychological differences by identifying social expectations and task

differentiation as the main factors that cause these differences. The lack of concrete evidence to

substantiate these theories has, however, been a significant hindrance to the formulation of an

argument that concisely explains the variations. Scholars from the twenty-first century have

condemned the traditional gender roles for subjugating women’s abilities and confining them to

household tasks (Herdiyanti 2). The tradition has received negative criticism for its gender

inequality, although some scholars viewed it as necessary at the time due to the physical and

psychological demands of the tasks available.

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The modern world has experienced a radical shift in the way people view families,

society, careers, and gender roles in all these dimensions of life. Career women are common in

most regions of the world in the modern era, with more developed countries experiencing the

increasing reversal of gender roles (Oláh, Richter & Kotowska 14). Studies into the impact of the

repeal of gender roles on the effectiveness of women in the provision of care to their families are

still ongoing. Preliminary studies, however, indicate that these shifts have had little impact on the

psychological viewpoints of women as career women still engage in caregiving activities after

work (Oláh, Richter & Kotowska 14). Even as men take up more household tasks and more

women become breadwinners, women still end up doing more work since they take up their

traditional roles after work. Studies into the physical differences between men and women that

would explain these differences are notably lacking. These studies may provide the missing link

between the gender and variations in caregiving abilities in the family.

Conclusion

In most regions of the world, women are the primary providers of care in the family and

have proven to be more effective than men in the task. This paper presents a study aimed at

investigating the factors that contribute to the variation between the quality of care provided to

the family by women and men. Women perceive more pressure from society to succeed in taking

care of their families, while men view their success based on individual merit. This difference in

viewpoints on achievement has stood as one of the significant factors influencing the ability of

men and women to take care of their families. Traditional gender roles in families have also

received criticism for gender inequality that could have given rise to these variations. There is,

however, no physical evidence of differences between the genders that can explain these

variations, and this paper recommends more research into this factor.
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Works Cited

Barker, Gary, and Piotr “Peter” Pawlak. Men in Families and Family Policy in A Changing

World. United Nations (UN). Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), 2011,

pp. 1-209.

Galick, Aimee. "Women's Roles in Families." Encyclopedia of Family Studies (2016): 1-3.

Herdiyanti, Herdiyanti. "Role of Career Women in Families:(Study of the Existence of Career

Women in Families in Balunijuk Village)." Society 6.1 (2018): 1-7.

Oláh, Livia Sz, Irena E. Kotowska, and Rudolf Richter. "The new roles of men and women and

implications for families and societies." A Demographic perspective on gender, family

and health in Europe. Springer, Cham, 2018. 41-64.

Sharma, Nidhi, Subho Chakrabarti, and Sandeep Grover. "Gender differences in caregiving

among family-caregivers of people with mental illnesses." World journal of

psychiatry 6.1 (2016): 7- 8.