Source:

Sweet, Stephen, Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Joshua Mumm, Judith Casey, and Christina Matz. 2006. Teaching Work and Family: Strategies, Activities, and Syllabi. Washington DC: American Sociological Association.

Type: Other

Author: Christine McKenna, Regis College

Purpose:

1. To understand and be able to articulate historical trends in occupational segregation and reproductive labor by race and gender
2. To analyze your family’s lived experience of balancing work and family in the context of historical trends across three generations
3. To analyze summary demographic data about your classmates’ family histories of balancing work and family in the context of historical trends across three generations

Prior Learning:

The core text for this Introduction to Women’s Studies course is Estelle Freedman’s No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women (New York: Ballantine Books, 2002). Leading up to this assignment, students have read chapters one through three, which describe the development of family and economic arrangements from ancient times through the rise of capitalism and also highlight international developments over time in feminist theorizing about gender differences and to what degree woman’s place “should” be in the home. Just before assigning this project, they have read chapters six and seven, entitled “Never Done: Women’s Domestic Labor” and “Industrialization, Wage Labor, and the Economic Gender Gap.”

 

Summary:

This is a two-part project. First, students write a five- to six-page paper answering the questions “How did your family’s previous three generations balance work and family?” and “How is that similar/different from societal trends?” Second, the professor tallies the occupational information about class members to bring in an anonymous format to the following class for group work to determine the trends in the population of the class’s extended families. In course evaluations, students wrote that they liked this project the most, that they enjoyed involving their families in their studies, and that they had learned new things about their family members.

Click on the document below to view the entire assignment (in PDF format). Document will open in a new browser window.
http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/downloads/class_activities/FamilyHistories.pdf

Available document:
FamilyHistories.pdf