Assignment 1 Due Feb 9, 2017

Loretta Jacob is a twenty-five year old African immigrant in the United States. She is married to Kunte, a computer engineer and together they have two children ages two and four. Loretta is also enrolled in the local community college and wants to be a nurse. Increasingly, combining care of the children, spousal responsibilities and school work are proving to be difficult for Mrs. Jacobs. Her husband firmly believes in the traditional gender role and constantly reminds her that childcare in their indigenous culture is the responsibility of the mother. When Loretta reminded the husband that living in America robs them of the help of relatives that living in the homeland provides he simply replied “I don’t care”. Mr. Jacob maintains that his wife has been corrupted by the influence of television in the United States and has refused to be “a real wife and mother”. Mrs. Jacob’s school work is suffering and so she spoke with a pastor about divorce and he referred her to you, the social worker.

Discuss this case in a 5 – 7 page paper. In your response include the following:

a. Assessment and issues involved in the case.

b. Plan of action and relevant cross cultural perspectives and theories.

c. Household labor and marital conflict: Sherry Ortner (1981) maintains that male dominance is universal and has nothing to do with culture, do you agree? Why or why not? Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman (2016) on the other hand maintain that gender role socialization varies according to culture. Where do you stand? Cite to support your position.