Couples

The domestic divisions of labour

1 of 67

Parsons 1955 functionalist model of the family

Husband has an instrumental role: geared towards success at work so he can provide for the family Wife has an expressive role: geared towards primary socialisation, meeting needs of the family.

2 of 67

Parsons argues that divisions of labours are based on biological differences.

Criticisms:Young and Willmott & Feminist Sociologists

3 of 67

Bolt 1957: 2 types of roles

Segregated conjugal – separate roles as couples Joint conjugal – couples share tasks

4 of 67

Young and Willmott

identified patterns in segregated conjugal roles; traditional working class extended families in 1950’s – men were breadwinners, spent leisure time with work mates, women were full-time housewives.

5 of 67

Young and Willmott 1973 March of Progress view.

See family life as gradually improving for its members becoming more equal and democratic. Roles of husbands and wives are becoming much similar: Women now go out to work Men no whelp with childcare Couples spend leisure time together

6 of 67

Young and Willmott found that symmetrical families were more common among younger couples who were better off.

Symmetrical family rising because of changes in the past century: Changes in women's positions Geographical mobility New technology Higher living standards

7 of 67

A Feminist view on housework Reject March of Progress view.

Little has changed – men and women still remain unequal – women doing most the housework. Society is male-dominated or Patriarchal.

8 of 67

Anne Oakley 1974

. Oakley’s own research found that 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework and only 25% had a high level of participation in childcare.

9 of 67

Bouton 1983

Found 20%of men had major role in childcare and argues Young and Willmott exaggerate men’s contribution.

10 of 67

Warde and Hetherington 1993

Found sex-typing of domestic tasks still strong. Wives 30 times more likely to do the dishes whilst men are 4 times more likely to wash the car. Men only carry out ‘female’ tasks when the woman is not around to do them. O

11 of 67

Are couples becoming more equal?

12 of 67

Oakley’s study

Most women in Oakley’s study were full-time housewives, today more women go out to work full or part time.

13 of 67

Both partners working raises 2 questions...

Is it leading to more equal division of domestic tasks, with a ‘new man’ taking responsibility and doing an equal share of housework and childcare? Women now have to carry the dual burden of paid work as well as domestic work?

14 of 67

The Feminist view

Women going into paid work has not led to greater equality in divisions of domestic labour. Still little sign of ‘the new man’ who does an equal share of housework and childcare, whilst women carry the ‘dual burden’.

15 of 67

'Dual Burden'

Describes workload of women who work to earn money, but who are also responsible for significant amounts of unpaid domestic labour.

16 of 67

2012 British Social Attitudes survey found...

men on average did 8 hours of housework a week, where as women did 13 hours. Men spent 10 hours on care for family members whilst women spent 23 hours.

17 of 67

Hochschild 2013 ‘emotion work’.

Feminists have noted that women are often required to perform emotion work, where they are responsible for managing the emotions and feelings of family members: handling jealousies, squabbles, whilst controlling their own emotions.

18 of 67

Duncombe and Marsden 1995

Argue that women have to perform a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work and emotion work.

19 of 67

The March Of Progress View: Young and Willmott

Argue that women going out to work is leading to a more equal division of labour at home. Men are becoming more involved in housework and women are ore involved in paid work outside the home.

20 of 67

Gershury 1994

Argues that women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home

21 of 67

Sullivan’s 2000

Analysis of nationally representative data collected in 1975, 1987 and 1997 found a trend towards women doing smaller share of domestic work and men doing more. Her analysis also showed an increase in the number of couples with an equal division in l

22 of 67

Southerton 2011

Coordinating, scheduling and managing the family’s quality time together usually falls to the mother.

23 of 67

Southerton notes...

Although some studies now show that men and women have more or less equal amounts of leisure time, they have different experiences of it. Women’s leisure time is often punctuated by childcare whilst men have uninterrupted leisure time.

24 of 67

Boulton 1983

Athough fathers may help out by performing specific childcare tasks, it’s usually the mother who takes responsibility for the child’s security and well-being.

25 of 67

Ferri and Smith 1996

Found that fathers to responsibility for fewer then 4% of families.

26 of 67

Dex and Ward 2007

Found that although fathers had quite high involvement with their 3 year olds, only 1% took care for the child when he / she were sick.

27 of 67

The cultural or ideological explanation for inequality

Divisions because of patriarchal norms and values that shape the gender roles in society.

28 of 67

Gershuny 1994

couples who’s parents had more equal relationships are more likely to share housework equally.

29 of 67

British Social Attitudes survey 2013

Less than 10% of under 35’s agreed wit traditional divisions of labour – long term changes to norm, values and attitudes reflecting gender roles changing.

30 of 67

Materialist or economic explanation of inequality

Women generally earn less than men meaning women do more housework and childcare whilst men spend time at work

31 of 67

Arber and Ginn 1995

better-paid, middle class women were more able to buy in commercially produced products and services e.g domestic help and ready meals instead of carrying out the domestic tasks themselves

32 of 67

Ramos 2003

Found that where women are the breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much domestic labour as she does.

33 of 67

Evidence that women being in paid work leads to more equality in the division of labour especially full-time work.

Feminists argue that in reality the extent is limited and women continue to have a duel or triple burden. Women still have the responsibility of childcare and housework.

34 of 67

Resources and decision-making in households

35 of 67

Barett and McIntosh 1991

Men gain far more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support The financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with ‘strings’ attached Men usually make the decisions about spending money

36 of 67

Elaine Kempson 1994

Found that among low income families women denied their own needs and ate small portions of food or skipped meals all together in order to make ends meet.

37 of 67

Cultural versus material explanations

Gursury and Laurie’s findings provide support the economic and material explanation of gender equality described earlier by Crompton the Lynette.

38 of 67

Cultural versus material explanationsecision-making are not simply result of inequalities in earnings. They argue that in patriarchal society the cultural definition of me

Feminists argue that in patriarchal society the cultural definition of men as decision makers is deeply ingrained in both men and women and instilled through gender role socialisation.

39 of 67

Pahl and Vogler in 2007

Found that even when they was pooling the men usually made more financial decision.

40 of 67

Irene Hardill’s 1997 study

32 dual-career professional couples found- important decisions ; usually taken by the man alone or jointly weather to move house for a new job. This supports Janet Finch’s 1983 observation that women’s lives structure around their husbands job.

41 of 67

Stephen Edgell’s 1980 study

Very important decisions - involving finance, change in job or moving house were either taken by the husband alone or taken jointly with the husband having final say .

42 of 67

Stephen Edgell’s 1980 study

Important decisions like children's education or where to go on holiday would be taken jointly and seldom by the wife alone

43 of 67

Stephen Edgell’s 1980 study

Less important decisions - home décor, children's clothes or food purchases will usually made by the wife.

44 of 67

Edgell argues...

The reason men are likely to make decisions is that they earn more than women.

45 of 67

Laurie and Gursuny 2000

By 1995 70% of couples said they had equal say in decisions. They found that women who are well qualified professionals are more likely to have equal say.

46 of 67

Feminist sociologists Jan Pahl and Caroyln Vogler 1993 identify 2 main types of control over family income:

Allowance system - when male give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the family needs with the man retaining any surplus income to himself

47 of 67

Feminist sociologists Jan Pahl and Caroyln Vogler 1993 identify 2 main types of control over family income:

Pooling - partners have access to income and responsibility for expenditure like a bank account

48 of 67

The meaning of money ...

Pooling doesn't necessarily mean there is equality for example if a man earns twice as much as his wife but both have the same amount from a joint account, does this count as equality?

49 of 67

Volgar et al found...

cohabiting couples less likely to pool their money – maintain independence. Evidence suggests cohabiting couples more likely than married couples to share domestic tasks equally.

50 of 67

Newman 2003

Money has no automatic fix all natural meaning in different couples can define in different ways this reflects the nature of the relationship.

51 of 67

Smart 2007

found that some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to who controlled the money and were happy to leave it to their partners – didn’t see the control of money as meaning equality or inequality in a relationship.-greater freedom

52 of 67

Weeks et al 2001

The typical pattern was pooling some money for household spending, together with separate accounts for personal spending – ‘co-independence’ where there is sharing but also own control over some money with independence.

53 of 67

Crompton and Lyonette identify 2 explanations of domestic violence

Radical feminist explanation Family and marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal society and the main source of women’s oppression. Within families: med dominate women through domestic violence or the threat of it.

54 of 67

Crompton and Lyonette identify 2 explanations of domestic violence:

Materialist explanation Domestic violence focuses on economic and material factors such as inequalities of income and housing to explain why some groups are more at risk.

55 of 67

Elliot 1996

Rejects the claim that men benefit violence against women – not all men are aggressive and most oppose domestic violence.

56 of 67

Radical Feminists also fail to explain female violence such as...

child abuse.

57 of 67

Wilkinson and Picket 2010

see domestic violence as the result of stress on family members. Some families have fewer resources than others. Low income is more likely to bring on stress which reduces a stable, caring relationship.

58 of 67

Fran Ashely 1972

wives are “takers of ****” – domestic violence is the product of Capitalism which helps explain why women are more vulnerable than men.

59 of 67

Dobash and Dobash’s research

In Scotland found that violent incidents would set off when the husband saw a challenge to his authority by the woman.

60 of 67

Walby and Allen 2004

Found women were much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse and sexual violence.

61 of 67

Ansara and Hindin 2011

Found women suffer more severe violence with more serious psychological effects.

62 of 67

Dar 2013

States that it can be difficult to count several domestic violent attacks because abuse may be continuous and occur very often.

63 of 67

Domestic violence statistics

On average women suffer 35 assaults before making a report. The least likely violent crime to be reported.

64 of 67

Cheal 1991

Believes police and protectors are reluctant to record, investigate and prosecute due to the fact they do not want to be involved in the family

65 of 67

. They make 3 assumptions...

Family is a private sphere so access to it by the state should be limited. Family is a good thing and so agencies tend to neglect the ‘darker side’ of family life Individuals are free agents so women can leave at any time when experiencing abuse

66 of 67

Office of National Statistics 2014

suggest women of social groups face a greater risk of domestic violence: Young women Lower social classes / low income

67 of 67

Get Revising

Couples

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Back

Card 3

Front

Back

Card 4

Front

Back

Card 5

Front

Back

Comments

Similar Sociology resources:

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Back

Card 3

Front

Back

Card 4

Front

Back

Card 5

Front

Back

Comments

Related discussions on The Student Room

Similar Sociology resources: