At this point in early history women had a huge role as the provider. According to Boulding (1976), "In hunting and gathering societies, males contribute to one-fifth of the food of the clan, females the other four-fifths." Page 236 describes the virtuous women in the Old Testament. The woman in this proverb was the "very model of a good provider." Women soon lost the role of "good provider." Page 237 states that "The good provider as a specialized male role seems to have arisen in the transition from subsistence to market-especially money-economies accelerated with th

Men assuming the "good provider" role has come with problems. The book states that "some men resented the burdens the role forced them to bear." If a man was having problems fulfilling the role he would sometimes take it out on his family. Marriages suffered because of the frustration felt by both men and women. According to the book some men did quite well with the role, but providing men would concentrate on little else. This would lead to lack of intimacy in the marriage. Later readings suggest that the family has suffered when the mother re-enters the work force. Page 260 states, "The two job family is suffering from a speed-up of work and family life." This page goes on to say that working mothers are the primary victims.

Parenthood is a transition that unites or divides families. Jay Belsky and John Kelly state that, "Behind this common husband-wife perceptual gap lay some profound differences in biology, upbringing, and perhaps even evolutionary programming." The book says that some women experience a feeling of "love at first sight

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 717
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)