The Roles of Men & Women (WJEC Eduqas GCSE Religious Studies): Revision Note

Roles & responsibilities in the family

• The term “role” refers to the position of a person, such as teacher, police officer, father or mother

  • It also refers to the characteristics expected of a person

• Responsibilities are the actions or duties a person is expected to perform as part of their role

• Within a family, different members have different roles and responsibilities

• These could include:

  • Caring for children

  • Caring for other family members, for example elderly relatives

  • Cooking, cleaning and maintaining the family home

  • Earning an income to support the family

• Every adult in a family has the responsibility to care for and support everyone in that family

• Adults have a particular role to play in the upbringing of their children

  • They must love, comfort, protect and support their children

  • They serve as educators and role models for their children, ensuring that they grow up to become responsible adults

Traditional views on men & women's roles

• Historically, men have held positions of greater power in society and have had more rights than women

  • For example, in the UK, women could not vote or choose to divorce their husbands for many years

  • The Sex Discrimination Act (1975) made gender discrimination illegal in the UK, but it still occurs in many situations

• Within the home, the roles of men and women have traditionally been seen as different

  • Women have the role of bringing new life into the world and have traditionally been seen as the child’s main carer

  • A man may help and support his wife in the child’s upbringing

    • Traditionally, this would have meant going out to earn money for the household

• This kind of society is known as patriarchal, a society controlled by men, (rather than matriarchal, a society controlled by women)

Changing views of men & women's roles

• Society has changed, as have the traditional roles of men and women

• Now each individual family decides for themselves how to divide up family roles and responsibilities fairly

  • The responsibilities of men and women within the family are more likely to be shared

• It is much more common for women to continue to work after they have had children

• It is also becoming increasingly common for men and women to share the upbringing of their children, with fathers taking on a greater share of childcare rather than leaving it to mothers

• An increasing number of men are taking the lead in raising their children as a stay-at-home parent or “house husband” while their wives or partners go to work

  • According to the Office of National Statistics data, stay-at-home dads numbered around 141,000

  • This number increased by a third since the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it is still very small compared to about 1.2 million women in the same role

  • This does not tell the whole story, and many families have parents with flexible working arrangements, including working from home. This allows them to be more involved in their children’s upbringing

• UK law is changing to reflect the changing roles of men and women

  • In 2015, it became possible for men and women to share parental leave, rather than it automatically being for the mother

Religious views on the roles of men & women

Christian views on the roles of men and women

• Although men and women were both made in the image of God, the creation story in the book of Genesis in the Bible suggests that God made women to be a “helpmate” for men

• The roles of men and women within the Christian faith have historically tended to support these traditional views, based on the literal interpretation of Bible teachings that reflect the role of women at the time they were written

• For example, St Paul wrote:

• St Paul is suggesting that men should take on the leadership roles in their own homes, and that women are subject to his authority. Some traditional Christians still believe that men are the head of the family and women must stay at home and care for the children

• However, more liberal Christians would regard these views as outdated, reflecting the attitudes of the time in which St Paul composed his writings. They do not reflect the changes that have occurred in society

• Generally, most Christians today take a modern approach to roles within families, seeing marriage as an equal partnership between men and women who work together to make a successful family

• They might point to another teaching of St Paul:

• Because Christianity teaches that all people are created by God and therefore equal, many think that these values should be upheld within the family

  • Other Christians may still interpret this teaching in a more traditional way, saying that although men and women are equal, they are different and have different roles

Muslim views on the roles of men and women

• Within the family in Islam, the roles of men and women tend to be traditional

• Several teachings of Islam encourage women to take on traditional roles within the family

  • Mothers are greatly valued within Islam, having a valuable role in bringing up children

  • A mother’s role is based in the home, managing the household, looking after her husband and raising children in the religion of Islam

• Men are also expected to have the traditional role of the “head of the household”

  • The father is the protector of the family and should act as a role model for his children

  • Muslim fathers have a duty to attend the mosque,share in raising their children as Muslims and educate them about the Islamic faith

  • The father is the one who goes out to work to financially provide for the family, as the Qur’an teaches:

• Although many Muslims believe it is acceptable for women to work in jobs, some Muslims think that this should only be within professions more traditionally suited to women, for example, becoming a midwife