The issues of the relationship between the sexes, the positions of women and men in the family were relevant at all times, from antiquity to today. This problem is reflected in works of art such as art, sculpture, design, literature and theater, and especially in the works of great thinkers-philosophers. Social norms that regulate the behavior of the sexes in society and the social stereotypes of masculinity and feminism define the ideas about what men and women should differ in terms of physical, social, mental qualities and behavior in society.
With the attainment of independence by the Republic of Uzbekistan, the issues of gender equality have attracted the attention of specialists from various fields. This was facilitated by rapidly changing living conditions, actualizing the problems of adaptation to them, demographic issues, the rejuvenation of female and male diseases, the problems of child-parent relations, the growth of the number of single-parent families. In particular, the first president of our state Islam Karimov said at the solemn meeting devoted to the nineteenth anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan: “We clearly realize that the fulfillment of the tasks facing the family depends, first of all, on the solution of material, moral, and extremely important educational issues. It must be remembered that the solution of these issues is inextricably linked with the creation of even more ample opportunities for women, our dear sisters, who are the keepers of the home, who, without complaining about life’s difficulties and cares, bear the main burden of preserving and strengthening the family. In other words, we all need to firmly understand that helping the family is a help to our women, who bear the main concerns about the family”.
However, these problems within the framework of the theory of paradigm changes in civilization are to some extent characteristic not only of our state, but are inherent in all developed and developing industrial countries. An explanation of this phenomenon is given by philosopher and political scientist Alvin Toffler. Describing the characteristics of the development of mankind, he distinguished three types of civilization according to the mode of production: the agricultural, industrial and the third type of civilization, the feature of which are computer and information technologies. With the spread of industrial civilization, according to Toffler, production and consumption, fulfilling the function of life-support, were divided. This was also manifested in the gender stereotypes of industrial society, which define men trained from childhood to their role in the enterprise as «objective», and women as «subjective», with a self-generated birthmark aimed at performing reproductive functions, raising children and the home work. Women were often considered to be devoid of the capacity for any rational analytical thinking. Those women who joined the production were often accused of not being women, and the stereotypes of gender differences and gender roles became even sharper. The features of the new civilization, which is replacing the industrial or third wave by Toffler, are still unclear, it is only clear that its influence is already manifested in many spheres of public life, for example, in the crisis of the modern family, in the confusion of ideas about men and women. The latter include both old stereotypes inherited from patriarchal times and modern ones, which are a bizarre mixture of old and new. Former representations were a set of dichotomous qualities: that which is inherent in one sex, there should not be another. Now, as before, a woman, on the one hand, needs tenderness and gentleness, and on the other — the ability to make decisions and show some aspects of the old ideas about masculinity. With the requirements that are presented to the man, there have also been some metamorphoses. He, like in patriarchal times, should be the earner and head of the family, and, at the same time, gentle, attentive, caring that is to exhibit typically feminine qualities. It is clear that these representations are formed both in the family and in society.
In the Second wave of the development of civilization, Toffler, speaking of the relationship of man and woman, emphasizes the special place of the nuclear family. According to Toffler, we live in a turning-point when there is a partial collapse of the family system of the Second wave, which “assumes that all families are striving for an idealized family-cell model. We observe how various types of family appear in its place. Just as we made our mass media and production already non-mass, we are doing a non-family family system in the transition to the Third Wave civilization” [1, с.148]. But this does not mean that the nuclear family completely disappears, but other types of families and relations in the family will arise. But there are questions: To what consequences of the development of society will the relations in new types of family lead? How will this affect the values, traditions and morals of the people?
These problems are also associated with single people of different ages. Do they choose such a way of life voluntarily or are they the negative results of the destruction of the nuclear family? Toffler in the work “The Third Wave” mentions a certain census specialist Arthur Norton, who called the lonely lifestyle “the traditional life phase”, it “becomes an acceptable part of the life cycle of a person” [1, с.149].
Today, men and women often face a difficult choice between a career and children. In the future, many couples will solve this problem, postponing the process of birth and upbringing of children before retiring from work.
It should be noted that Toffler’s The Third Wave talks about new types of family. Since many forces influence the structure of the family — communication models, values, religious movements, demographic, even environmental changes — the relationship between the type of family and the organization of work is very strong. Thus, as the nuclear family was supported by the construction of factories and work in the office, any movement from the factory and from the office would have a strong impact on the family. “It is impossible within one chapter to name all the ways in which changes in the labor force and in the nature of labor can affect family life. But one change is so potentially revolutionary and so alien to our experience that it needs much more attention than it has been given to this day. This is a moving of the work from the office and from the factory to the house” [1, с.152]. Toffler also emphasizes that for many, the family will become electronic and expanded.
In our opinion, issues of family values, traditions, relations between “fathers” and “children”, as well as the problems of correct education of the younger generation, will remain especially relevant during the development of the Third wave, since spirituality affects the state of moral health of a person and society. The path to the future today lies through the moral-spiritual upbringing of the individual and the upbringing of children requires truly universal mastery and a special approach.
References:
- Тоффлер Э. Третья волна. М.: ООО «Фирма «Издательство ACT»», 1999.
