Evolution of families

Agriculture

________ allowed more food but required more manual labor (tending the animals and land) Concept of private property developed, land had to be defended and food surpluses had to be controlled and distributed.

Women

gentle, more patient, and loving, so better for emotional nurturing of children

Men

aggressive, perseverant, and tough so better for the workplace

What were the first family groupings?

Hordes

Agricultural Family

Concept of private property developed, land had to be defended and food surpluses had to be controlled and distributed
Got wealthier by selling food to those who didn’t produce
Men and women’s roles became more defined and focused

Urban Industrial Families

As the economy shifted from one based on agriculture and commerce to one based on factory production in towns and cities, work became something done outside the family home to earn a wage to provide for the family’s subsistence Role of consumer remained but as producer was lost

Which type of family influenced gender stereotypes?

The Modern Consumer Family

Which structure of family used notion of inheritance of property was established through birth rights?

Patriarchal Families

Child Labour

Children were an economic necessity during a time when less than 50% of them reached adulthood Survival of economic family depended on all family members working, including children Notion of childhood did not exist By 7 or 8, kids assisted in economic activities of the family , and work was dictated by their gender. Young adults left home tlive an dork in other families (boys on farm, or as apprentice; girls did housework or domestic servants)

Stay-at-home Mothers in the Industrial Nuclear Family

However, by the beginning of the 20th century it was unusual for married women to work outside the home and the ones who did received 1/3 less than the family wage earned by men for the same work Only about 5% of women worked outside the home, and it was out of economic necessity Women who worked “threatened” the role of men as the providers therefore demeaned by society.

Early 20th Century Family

Delayed marriage until they could afford their own home Children had to be supported until they finished school Husband as provider, head of home, link between family and society Consumer family was formed – hubby exclusive provider and link between family and society, wife was homemaker, kids played under supervision of moms and went to school

The Modern Consumer Family

Gender stereotypes at its highest point
Women: gentle, more patient and loving, so better for emotional nurturing of children
Men: aggressive, perseverant, and tough so better for workplace
Children were disciplined but protected from the hardships of the adult world
Adolescence emerged as a distinct age because of extension of schooling into the teenage years Stereotypical modern family was the nuclear family

The Contemporary Canadian Family

The past 50 years – significant changes to family structure Transitional family – mother temporarily leaves the workforce to look after kids Dual income family – both parents work full-time Blended family – divorced, with kids, and remarry

European settlers

came to Canada at the start of the 17th cent and brought this preindustrial family system with them. Gov officials military personnel, merchants, crafts people all lived in villages/towns but many spread out across the country side and lived in self sufficient homesteads These new Canadians had monogamous marriages, but love was not usually the basis for marriage – economic necessity , as there was no work for single women and no housekeepers for single men

Pre- Industrial Families

While the majority of people continued to live on family farms, the population increase that an agricultural economy allowed meant that families outgrew the land Male family members without land moved with their wives into towns and cities, became artisans, builders, merchants, soldiers and politicians. Merchants and artisans work in the family home where whites and kids could help with the work – called cottage industry Father(head of the household), wife, kids, and servants, apprecticies learning craft.

What stopped child labour?

Mandatory education laws

Hunter-Gatherer Families

The earliest families (Canadian First Nations people were hunter-gatherers) 99% of human history, hunting and gathering was the major means of subsistence Driven by a daily quest for food (both men and women)

Researchers in today’s hunter-gatherer societies suggest that women routinely supply 2/3’s or more of the calories consumed by the group
• Women's roles essential to survival of societies
• Both men a women had a relatively high status within the group

What factors influenced the evolving structure of families in Canada?

Economic, Social, Political and Technological

How did development happen in families in Canada?

Development has happened over hundreds of years but at a different paces

When was the patriarchal family established?

Around Agricultural families