MOTHER-AN UNWITTING GATEKEEPER? EXPLORING THE TRANSMISSION OF GENDERED ATTITUDE WITHIN MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

Gendered divisions of household labour have been a talking point in Singapore in recent years, with many politicians and influential voices chiming in to admonish men and corporations to play a greater role in alleviating the burdens of full-time working mothers. An infrequently discussed facet of this issue is women’s complicit roles in internalizing and enacting gendered roles in the household; often assuming more responsibilities than are sustainable and being relatively unaware or accepting of non-egalitarian gendered expectations. Where mothers subscribe to unequal gender role ideology, there is potential for their daughters to acquire similar conceptions of female gender roles, and to go on to perpetuate inequality in their future families. This paper seeks to study the mother-daughter relationships of 6 middle-income mother-daughter dyads, with the objectives of understanding the intergenerational transmission of gender role ideology, and the conceptions of femininity held by young Singaporean women in the present-day. Through utilization of symbolic interactionist gender theory, socialization theory and family myth theory, this study uncovered nuanced findings, mainly revolving around Singaporean mothers’ influence over their daughters’ gender role ideology, Singaporean women’s enactment of various internalized gendered expectations in their roles as mothers and females, and Singaporean women’s retention of gender role ideology acquired from mothers.