Relatable: Society should embrace female breadwinners - Izzy Chan

SHAH ALAM - There has been a shift in gender stereotypes and norms at home and at the workplace where more women have become the breadwinners of their families while their spouse takes care of the house and children.

Filmmaker Izzy Chan said however there was resistance from the society in accepting the shift since it went against the “designated” roles of men as the breadwinner and women as the caretaker.

She said this was to the point that documentaries were made in order to prove that point.

Chan who directed award-winning documentary “The Big Flip: Stories from the Modern Home Front” said people find it hard to accept the shift in roles as they feared that what they have always been doing was wrong and that they also feared change.

“Changes are always hard. I think people resist because they are afraid that it means that something they have always done is wrong.

“It is a mix of things since women who happened to be breadwinners now also grew up in a time where women were at home taking care of the house and the children, so some people have this turmoil which made it hard for them to accept and make changes,” she said.

She hoped that this (shift in roles) would become a norm for the next generation and people would not bat an eye when they see a mother who was a breadwinner.

She added that she would be glad if nobody had watched the documentary in the next 10 or 20 years since the issue would have become a norm that they would not bother to watch something about it.

Chan was speaking as a guest on Sinar Daily’s talk show, Relatable entitled “When The Role Flips” which was broadcasted at 11am on Tuesday on all Sinar Daily digital platforms.

The show moderated by Tasnim Lokman and Syahirah Mokhtazar discussed on the shift in norms at home and workplace following more women now becoming the primary breadwinners for their families as well as the need for couples to navigate the new power dynamics.

Chan’s documentary “The Big Flip: Stories from the Modern Home Front” is a story about four American families where they share the trials and triumphs of breadwinner moms and stay-at-home dads.