The relationship between men and women in the family

• Challenging the traditional role of women in society by taking a greater role in paid employmen.
• Challenge their traditional role in society.

• Changing roles of husbands and wives in the family.

• Do not agree there are changes in conjugal roles and relationships.

• Women are naturally suited to the expressive role and men more suited to the instrumental role.

• In 1941 only 15% of the work force was female
• In 2010 this figure was 50%

• along side a move of women entering paid emplyment, the traditional segregated division of labour in the home - men as breadwinners and women as housewives/mothers - this is breaking down.

• time-budget analysis of detailed diaries kept by respondents on a day-to-day and weekly basis.
• examined cross-cultural evidence from European and Canadian studies - men carry out more routine domestic activities in greater proportionsparticularly when wives go out to work - there is support for the idea of the symmetrical family. 
• when women go out to work their total working hours, including domestic activities, still remain greater than men's.
• Gershuny concludes there is evidence of 'a really very substantial social change over the last couple of decades - and (trends) provide the basis for a not unhopeful view of the future of the household'. 
•  Young and Willmott also saw the symmetrical family as a trend, and many sociologists would agree that some changes have occurred in the way domestic and childcare tasks are arranged between husbands and wives. 

• notes that in the postmodern age, fathers can no longer rely on jobs to provide a sense of identity and fulfilment increasingly.
• they look to their children to give them a sense of identity and purpose. 
•  However it is important not to exaggerate men’s role in childcare.
• This is still overwhelmingly the responsibility of mothers rather than jointly shared with fathers.

The quantifiable evidence indicates that women are still likely to have a ‘dual burden’ – they are expected to be mainly responsible for the bulk of domestic tasks despite holding down full-time jobs. 

Women are also responsible for the emotional well-being of their partners and children.

The hard work involved in trying to please all parties in the home may lead to the neglect of their own psychological well-being and have negative consequences for their mental and physical health. (taken from Moore et.al.)

Since the early 1970s there has been a wealth of research on the topic as well as discussion in the popular media. 

 At times it is said that the 'New Man' has emerged, who shares the household chores equally, or that there are a growing number of 'househusbands' who have done 'role   swaps' with their partners.

However, the bulk of evidence continues to show that, despite more than thirty years of feminism, women (and sometimes children) do the bulk of the cooking, caring, shopping and washing that goes on in families.

Furthermore, it seems that, while more women have taken on 'male' roles of breadwinner, painter/decorator and so on, they still do more housework than men.

• found evidence that middle aged women are becoming part of a ‘sandwich generation’ where they are sandwiched between caring for their own dependent children as well as their (or their partners’) elderly parents.
• Grundy and Henrietta note that the society expects women to take the lead in caring for older family members and this work is often unrecognised or ‘invisible’.
• This also links into the debate on how an aging population is affecting the family.

• examined power in dual earner households in Nottingham using semi-structured interviews.
• The households were classified into those where the husband’s career took precedence in making major household decisions (such as what part of the country to live in), those where the wife’s career took precedence, and those where neither career clearly took precedence over the other.
• In 19 households the man’s career came first, in 5 households the woman’s career took precedence, and in 6 neither career was clearly prioritized.
• It was most likely to be the man who decided where the couple were to live, and men tended to make decisions about cars.
• However, husband and wife usually made a joint decision about buying or renting a house.
•  Although men dominated in most households, this was not the case in a significant minority of households where there appeared to be more egalitarian relationships.

• was the first British sociologist to conduct detailed studies of how couples manage their money.
• Her study was based upon interviews with 102 couples with at least one child under 16. The sample, although small, was fairly representative of the population as a whole in terms of employment, class, housing and ownership of consumer goods.
• However, the very rich were under-represented.
•  Pahl’s study found four main patterns of money management and concluded that although in some households women did control the purse strings, particularly when families were dependent on state benefits, in most cases men are the main beneficiaries.
• Where women did have most control of the finances they tended to use their control for the benefit of husbands and children, often doing without food or new clothes for themselves

Many of the women felt that their sameness as women and the lack of different gender roles made it easier to share tasks equitably.

One of the women said, ‘I suppose because our relationship doesn’t fit into a social norm, there are no pre-set indications about how our relationship should work. We have to work it out for ourselves.’

•  concludes that the boundaries between masculinity and femininity and the hierarchical nature of gender relationships, with men being dominant, help to produce conventional domestic divisions of labour in heterosexual households.
• The best way to change this is to give greater value to ‘feminine’ tasks such as childcare and housework.
• Many middle-class women have avoided the consequences of men’s lack of involvement in housework by employing other women to help with domestic tasks.
• Their career opportunities have been gained at the expense of low-paid, exploited, working-class cleaners, nannies, childminders, and so on.
• To Dunne, this is not an acceptable solution, since it helps to perpetuate the exploitation of women in what she sees as a patriarchal society.

 Marxists such as Zaretsky see the traditional division of labour in the home as part of the oppressive capitalist system, exploiting women, alienating men and dividing people into privatised families which keeps them from unifying as one community.

Murray, a New Right theorist, argues that society needs strong families with male heads in control.  Those who share this perspective see the traditional nuclear family being undermined by 'alternative living arrangements' that do not adequately perform the functions needed for the 'smooth running' of society or, as feminists would interpret it, the 'smooth running of a patriarchal society' which rests on the unequal treatment of women.

Liberal Feminists argue that women have made real progress in terms of equality within the family and particularly in education and the economy. They believe that men are adapting to change and the future is likely to bring further movement towards domestic and economic equality.

 Marxist-Feminists argue that the housewife role serves the needs of capitalism in that it maintains the present workforce and reproduces labour-power.

Radical Feminists believe that the housewife role is a role created by patriarchy and geared to the service of men and their interests.

Family government policy refers to laws or policies which effect family life.

Governments have an impact in our families by using taxes and laws to manipulate our behavior.

For example, present government policy allows women to take up to a year off in maternity leave (not all paid but employers are obliged to keep the job open for women) whilst men are allowed up to two weeks.

This clearly effects family life since it assumes women to be the primary child carer and reinforces the traditional division of labour in parenting.

However, the coalition government of 2012 announced intentions to change policy in order to allow mothers and fathers to swap their parental leave after the birth of their children.

Parents will be allowed more flexible leave to care for their children with mothers being able to return to work earlier and transfer the time off to their partners.

This could indicate a move in policy towards helping make families more symmetrical.