Couples

Functionalism: Parson idetifies two conjugal roles: instrumental (males) and expressive (female). he argues the division is functional for the family and wider society. The division is biologically based. The New Right agree with Parsons.

The 'march of progress' view: sees conjugal roles becoming more equal in modern society. Bott identifies two types:Segregated conjugal roles: are separated in sharp division of labour and leisure.Joint conjugal roles involves couples sharing domestic tasks and leisure.

Young & Willmott found segregated roles in wc extended families in Bethnal Green in 1950s The symmetrical family: Young & Willmott (1973) see a long-term trend towards joint conjugal roles, roles and symmetrical family with more similar and equal roles (the 'new man'). Reason: major social change (20th century) of higher living standards, labour-saving devices, better housing, women working and smaller families

Feminism: reject the march of progress. The family is patriarchal, not symmetrical or equal.The housewife role Oakley (1974) is the primary role for women. It is the result of industrialisation and factory production in the 19th century. Women were excluded from the workforce and confined to the home. The housewife role is socially constructed.

Oakley found no evidence of symmetry. Young & Willmott exaggerate men's role.

Boulton (1983) argues that we need to look at who is responsible for tasks, not just who performs. The wife is seen as responsible for children's welfare, even when men 'help'. <1 in 5 husbands took a major part in childcare.

Evaluation:

Feminists reject the functionalist view - the division of labour is not 'natuarl' (e.g. it is not found in all socities) and it only benefits men.

Kempton (1994) found that women in low-come families denied their own needs to make ends meet. But even in households with adequate incomes, resources are often shared unequally, leaving women in poverty.

Unequal shares of resources are often the result of who controls the family's income and who makes the decisions about spending it - usually men.

Decision making and paid work:One reason men take greater share of resources and demand a bigger say in decision making is because they earn more. Pahl and Vogler (1993) identify two types of control over family income:The allowance sytem: men work and give their non-working wives an allowance from which they budget to meet family needs.Pooling where partners work and have joint responsibility for spending e.g. a joint bank account. There has been a big increase in pooling but Vogler found men still tend to make major decisions due to greater earnings.

Professional couples and decision making:Edgell's (1980) study of decision making where both partners work full-time found inequalities. Very important decisions made by the man. Important made equally and and less important made by the wife. Two explanations for inequalities:Economic: Men earn more so have more say and power. Women are economically dependent, so have less say.Patriarchal socilisation: some feminists argue that gender role socialisation in patriarchal society instils the idea that men are the decision-makers.

Domestic violence is too widespread to be just th behaviour of a few 'disturbed' individuals. British Crime Survey (BCS) estimated there are 6.6 million assults per year.Nearly 1 in 4 women is assulted by her partner at some time. Police statistics under-estimate its extent:

Under-reporting: the least likely violent crime to be reported to the police. BCS estimated under a third are reported. Yearnshire (1997) found that on average a women suffers 35 assults before reporting abuse. Under-recording: police are often unwilling to record, investigate or prosecute because they are reluctant to become involved in the 'private sphere'. They take the view that individuals are free to leave but they are financially dependent.

The radical feminist explanation: see it as a result of patriarchy

Men oppress women, mainly through the family, benefit from women's unpaid domestic labour and sexual services which enables control.Men also dominate the state so explains why police and courts fail to take domestic violence seriously.

Dobash & Dobash found violence was triggered when husbands felt thier authority was being challenged. Marriage legitimates violence by giving power to men.

Domestic violence and inequality:Women are not the only group at risk others are: children/young people, the poor/lower class, and alcohol/illegal drug users

Lack of resources Wilkinson (1996) argue that these patterns are a result of stress on the family caused by social inequality. Families that lack resources - e.g. low income, poor housing - suffer more stress and this increases the risk.

Evaluation:

Radical feminism explains why most violence is by men against women. It doesn't explain violence by women against men, children or lesbian partners. Elliot (1996) argues that not all men benefit from it.

Wilkinson shows how inequality causes higher levels of stress and violence. However, he doesn't explain why women rather than men are the main victims.

Women are in paid work which is argued that is leading to a more equal division of domestic labour.

Gershuny (lagged adaption) found that:Men whose wives worked full-time did more domestic work (though only 27% of it). This is a result of a change in values and role models or 'lagged adaption': couples are adapting to women working full-time but domestic tasks are still sex-typed.

The commercialisation of housework: Couples can now buy in goods and services instead of women having to produce them at home which cut the amount of domestic labour needed. Schor (1993) argues this has led to the 'death of the housewife role'.

The dual burden - women in paid work has not led to equality but to the dual burden:Ferri & Smith (1996) found that women working has had little impact on the division of labour - <4% men main child-carer.Morris (1990) found that even where the wife was working and the husband unemployed, she still does housework. suffer a crisis of masculinity.The triple shift Duncombe & Marsden found that women had a triple shift: emotion work, domestic work and paid work.

Same-sex couples & gender scripts: Radical feminists argue that heterosexual relationships are patriarchal - even with paid work. Dunne's (1999) study of 37 lesbains couples with children found more equal division of labourHeterosexual were socialised into gender scripts that set out different masculine and feminine roles and gender identitiesLesbains did not link households tasks to gender scripts, so they were more open to negotiation and thus more equal.

Crompton argues that change has been due to econommic factors, not values. Women's increasing earning power means men have to do more in the home - but men still earn more, so the division of labour is still unequal.

However, Dunne found that where one partner did much more paid work, they also did less domestic work - i.e. paid work was still an important influence on the division of labour.