1.Couples Flashcards
changing division of labour
-Changes in women’s position, married women going to work
-Geographical mobility, more couples living away from the communities in which they grew up
-New technology and labour saving devices (does not take as much time)
-Higher standard of living (demand more from your partner)
Parsons
-In Parsons’ functionalist model of the family there is a clear division of labour between spouses based on biological differences.
-The husband has an instrumental role (geared towards achieving success at work so that he can provide for the family financially)
-The wife has an expressive role (geared towards primary socialisation of the children and meeting the family’s emotional needs/homemaker)
-Parsons found that women were naturally suited to the nurturing role and men to that of the provider. He believed this division of labour is beneficial to both men and women, to their children and to wider society.
criticisms of parsons
-Young and Willmott argue that men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are becoming wage earners.
-Feminists reject Parsons’ view that the division of labour is natural. This model only benefits men.
-Bott - joint and segregated conjugal role
-Segregated conjugal roles - couple have separated roles (male breadwinner and female homemaker). leisure activities also tend to be different.
-Joint conjugal roles- the couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and share their leisure time together.
Young and Willmott study of extended families -found segregated conjugal roles
-Men were the breadwinners, played little
part in home life and spent leisure time with
workmates in pubs and working men’s clubs.
-Women were full-time housewives with sole
responsibility for housework and childcare,
helped by female relatives.
Their limited leisure time was also spent with
female relatives.
the symmetrical family
-Young and Willmott take a ‘march of progress’ view. Family life is gradually improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic. There has been a long-term trend away from segregated conjugal roles and towards joining conjugal roles and the ‘symmetrical family’:
-Women now work.
-Men now help with housework and childcare.
-Couples now spend their leisure time together instead of separately with workmates or female relatives.
-Their study of families found that the **symmetrical family **more common among; younger couples, those geographically and socially isolated and the more affluent.
-Rise in the symmetrical family is due to
● Changes in women’s position
● Geographical mobility
● New technology and labour saving devices
● Higher standards of living
feminist view of housework
-Feminists reject this ‘march of progress’ view.
-They argue that little has changed: men and women remain unequal within the family and women still do most of the housework.
-Inequality as stemming from the patriarchal society
Oakley
-The ‘symmetrical family’ is exaggerated.
-The men Y & M interviewed** ‘helped’** their wives at least once a week but this could simply be taking the children for a walk or making breakfast on one occasion.
-She found husbands more likely to share childcare than housework but only the more pleasurable aspects e.g. playing with the kids in the evenings or taking them off their hands on a Sunday morning- no evidence of symmetry.
the march of progress view
-Women are going out to work & men are becoming more involved in housework and childcare
-leading to a **more equal division of labour at home.
-Gershuny** argues that women working full-time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home.
-Sullivan - Her analysis also showed an increase in the number of couples with an equal division of labour and men participating more in traditional ‘womens’ tasks.
feminist view of the march of progress
-Women going into paid work has not led to greater equality in the division of labour.
-Women** still carry a dual burden. **
-On average, men did 8 hours of housework a week whereas women did 13 hours.
-Men spent 10 hours on care for family members whereas *women spent 23 hours. *
-Overall, women did twice as much as men. **
-60% of women felt this division of labour was unjust** because they were doing more than their fair share.
-Couples continue to divide household tasks along traditional gender lines
responsibility for children
-Boulton - although fathers may help by performing specific childcare tasks, it is usually the mother who takes responsibility for the child’s security and wellbeing.
-Ferri and Smith - fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families.
-Dex and Ward - although fathers had quite high *levels of involvement *with their three y/o’s (78% played with their children), when it came to caring for a sick child, only 1% of fathers took the main responsibility.
-Hochschild - says ‘emotion work’ is taking responsibility for other family members.
-Feminists- women are often responsible for managing the emotions and feelings of family (jealousies and squabbles between siblings while conttroling their own emotions)
-Duncombe - women have to perform a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work and emotion work.
responsibility for quality time
-Southerton - another responsibility which usually falls to mothers is that of coordinating, scheduling and managing the family’s ‘quality time’ together.
-organising quality time for family members has become increasingly difficult in recent times as they juggle their own work schedules, social life, and their family social activities.
-Although some studies now show that men and women have more or less equal amounts of leisure time, they **have different experiences **of it e.g. men are more likely to have uninterrupted blocks of leisure time whereas women’s leisure time is usually dictated by childcare.
gender division of labour
-Crompton and Lyonette identify two different explanations for the unequal division of labour:
● The cultural explanation of inequality- in this view the division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape the gender roles in our culture.
● The **material explanation **of inequality- women generally earn less than men means it is economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare while men spend more of their time earning money.
cultural explanation for division of labour
-Gershuny-couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally themselves- parental role models are important.
-Social values are adapting to the fact that women are now working full time and men should do more domestic work.
-Man Yee Kan - younger men do more domestic work. Most men claimed to do more housework than their father and most women claimed to do less than their mother which suggests a** generational shift.**
-Dunne - lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of the** absence of traditional gender scripts.**
material explanation for division of labour
-Kan- for every £10,000 a year a woman earns, she does 2 hours less housework per week.
-Arber & Ginn- better paid M/C women were more able to **buy commercially produced products and services **such as labour-saving devices, ready meals, domestic help and childcare rather than carrying out labour-intensive tasks.
conclusion for the division of labour
-Evidence that a woman being in paid work leads to more equality in the division of labour.
-Many** feminists argue** that in reality the extent of this is limited- women still continue to shoulder a dual/triple burden.
-Feminists argue that the root of the problem is patriarchy
resources in households
-Barrett and McIntosh - note men gain more from women’s domestic work then they gain from his financial support
-Research shows family members **do not share resources equally
-Kempson** - in low income families women deny their own needs (eating smaller portions)
