Intergenerational And Gender Relations In Transnational Families Analysis

The idyllic image of a nuclear family, although indistinct at first, comes to take a firm grasp on a myriad of different types of families, as gendered language seeps into their thoughts and actions. Through historical pressures and Western influence, one can view the significance of gendered ideologies in the Philippines having to be contoured and contorted in order to satisfy the restructuring of economy and politics from colonization; ultimately favoring a patriarchal reign in all political sectors. In order to establish the idea that the nuclear family ideology was indeed prevalent in my own multigenerational family, one can perceive that a necessary male OFW (overseas foreign worker) needed to provide for a total of six children embodies …show more content…
Through the intersection of race and class, many can understand the ways in which social institutions and laws crystallized the push for men to be seen as more independent and suitable for work. Within Rhacel Salazar Parrenas’ article, “Intergenerational and Gender Relations in Transnational Families”, she describes the heart-aching distances and emotional stringency that Filipino families had to endure when one parent left in order to make their lives exponentially better. Throughout, the article she frequently mentions the pain that the parents had to face, highlighting the notion that parents often negotiated their struggle in order provide more materialistically for their family. My family was surviving purely off of remittances and material gain in order to properly survive in their own times. This illustrates how my grandfather’s “productive” work was in fact a result of the prevailing conventional structures of patriarchy, as he was virtually molded into thinking that his tough output and meritocratic mindset was to be the ultimate source of income. Accordingly, the promotion of heteronormativity in my family was increasingly shocking, as when I was growing up I was always told to cut my hair short and asked if I were to marry a white girl or a Filipino girl. These piercing questions during socialization lead to another intricate web of how the nuclear family ideology has pervaded into the values of my parents and grandparents in their own socialization process. Throughout Pawan Dhingra’s chapter, “Family and Personal Relations”, she expands on how Asian American families view homosexuality as deviant and disgraceful due to their effeminate and unassertive role in a family. When hearing it with my own ears beforehand, I was unphased,