3. GENDER ROLES, DOMESTIC LABOUR AND POWER RELATIONSHIPS Flashcards
Bott (1957) - 2 types of Conjugal roles
Segregated conjugal roles – where the couple have separate roles: e.g. one doing most of the housework and childcare, and the other focuses on paid employment. Their leisure activities also tend to be separate.
Joint conjugal roles – where the couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together. They also both do paid employment
Parsons – biology and ‘expressive female’
Expressive roles: The role is to provide emotional support, the housewife. Care, warmth, security too – a woman.
→Women’s biology meant that they gave birth + breastfed = naturally better at caring for children
Social construction
feature of society that most people take to be natural but which has actually been produced through social processes
Gabb - Conjugal Roles = Social Construct
.Women are taught to be mothers, not biological
.Feeling rules = informal rules in society about what you should feel in certain circumstances
.It’s a product of the culture of a particular society
Young and Wilmott (early 1970’s) - The Symmetrical Family
Symmetrical Family developing in Britain
.Strong bonds through marriage or cohabitation
.Equally balanced partnership
.Shared chores and household tasks
.Both partners are likely to be involved in paid employment
So conjugal roles were becoming increasingly similar and more equal
Conjugal Roles Definition
refers to relationships between male and female partners in intimate relationships
The Symmetrical Family Statistics
Symmetrical Family developing in Britain
In 72% of family households studied by Y+W = men contributed to the housework
Rise in Symmetrical Family reasons
.Increased employment opportunities for women
.Increase geographical mobility
.Reduced number of children increased women’s opportunity for work
.Dual earner families created a more attractive home
Young and Willmott Evaluation
Oakley argues that their claim of increasing symmetry within marriage is based on inadequate research
e.g. 72% figure accounts for men just doing helping on 1 day of the week
→ not representative
Ann Oakley (1974) Housework Findings
15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework
25% high level in childcare (but only in the more pleasurable aspects)
Men take on the more pleasurable household tasks
Domestic Division of Labour
The organisation of tasks such as housework and childcare is known as the domestic division of labour
British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) - Household Tasks
Prepares the meals - 55% always/ usually the women
Does the Laundry - 70% always/ usually the women
Make small repairs around the house - 75% always/ usually the men
Beanpole Family Definition
a multi-generation extended family, which is long and thin, with few aunts, uncles and cousins, reflecting fewer children being born in each generation, but people living longer
Crompton and Lyonette (2008)
Found that between the 1960s and 1990s, there was a significant shift towards men doing a greater share of housework
→But this has not really increased since the 1990s…
Oxfam (2016) Research - Time and Gender Roles
Women in a partnership spent 31% more time caring for children and 28% more time doing housework than men = they have less time to do other things e.g. careers/leisure
Office for National Statistics (2015) Research - Time and Gender Roles
men did an avg of 16 hours per week on unpaid work every week, whereas women did an avg 26 hours
Crompton and Lyonette (2008) - Unequal Division of Labour Theories
. Economistic or Material Theories
. Normative or Gender Construction Theory
Crompton and Lyonette (2008) - Economistic or Material Theories
. Women generally earn less than men means it’s economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare whilst men spend more of their time earning money
Crompton and Lyonette (2008) - Normative or Gender Construction Theory
The division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles in our culture.
Women perform more domestic labour simply because that is what society expects them to do and has socialised them to do.
Boulton (1983) - Childcare
.argue that studies have exaggerated the extent of men’s involvement in childcare
.believes that although men might help with particular tasks, it’s their wives who retain primary responsibility for children
→It’s the wives who relegate non-domestic aspects of their lives to a low priority
Braun, Vincent and Ball - Fathers and Childcare
.Half of the 16 working-class fathers were classified as ‘active fathers’ who were highly involved fathers although 4 of these still displayed a tendency to refer to the mothers for ‘instruction and reassurance’ .The others were classified as background fathers who did not spend too much time with the children and saw the other as primarily responsible for them .The partners of the 4 active fathers were the breadwinner and the fathers tended to feel that ideally they as the man of the house should be the main earner
Many men also discussed how uncomfortable they felt looking after their child or children in public places
Arber and Ginn (1995) - Childcare
full day childcare is essential for many women to stay in employment
Ramos (2003) - Housework
suggests that in households with an unemployed male and female in full-time employment do the same amount of housework (19 hours per week)
Kan and Laurie (2016) - Gender Construction Theory
statistic link between attitudes to gender and gender inequality in domestic labour
→ the more traditional the attitude of men was towards gender roles, the lower the proportion of housework they do. Younger men do more domestic work – generational shift?
Ethnic differences?
Man-Yee Kan and Heather Laurie (2016) - Material Theories
found that inequality in gender roles was reduced when women were employed + when they had a degree (increases their earnings)
Gershuny (1994) - Paid work + Gender Equality
.Women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home
.His studies showed how women did LESS domestic work than other women
British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) - Paid work + Gender Equality
1984 – 45% of men and 41% of women thought that it is the man’s job to earn money and the woman’s job to look after the family.
In 2012, only 13% of men and 12% of women agreed
Sullivan (1975, 1987, 1997) - Paid work + Gender Equality
Trend towards equality in the home. Men are taking on more traditionally female tasks (similar to the ‘symmetrical family’ theory).
British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) - Paid work + Gender Inequality
In 2012 – men did 8 hours of housework a week compared to the women’s 13.
Household tasks divided by gender roles
Hochschild (2013) - Paid work + Gender Inequality
Women also required to perform ‘emotion work’
Graham Allen (1985) - Paid work + Gender Inequality
Women’s tasks such as washing and cleaning are less intrinsically satisfying
Dunne - equal division of labour?
studied 37 cohabiting lesbian couples with dependent children. Found they were more likely than heterosexual couples to:
Share childcare and housework equally.
Ascribe equal importance to their careers.
view childcare positively.
Hardill, Green, Dudleston and Owen’s - Power
Examined power in dual-earner households
19 households = man’s career came first
5 households = woman’s career came first
6 households = neither was clearly prioritised
Treas and Tai’s study -Power
.There has been a widespread move towards greater apparent equality
.75% of couples across 31 countries made joint decisions on how to bring up children, what to do on weekends + expensive purchases
Jan Pahl - patterns of money management
.interviewed 102 couples:
Husband-controlled pooling - 39 couples
Wife controlled pooling - 27 couples
Husband control - 22 couples
Wife control -14 couples. Most common in W/C (burden)
Common View of Domestic Violence
.That it is the behaviour of a few ‘disturbed’ or ‘sick’ individuals
.That its causes are psychological rather than social
Women’s Aid Federation (2014) - Domestic Violence
domestic violence counts for between a sixth and a quarter of all recorded violent crime
Coleman and Osborne (2010) - Domestic violence
2 women victims a week are killed by a partner of former partner
Mirlees-Black - Domestic violence
99% of all incidents against women are committed by men.
Nearly one in four women has been assaulted by a partner at some point in her life time, and one in eight repeatedly so.
→Majority of victims are women
It doesn’t just happen once - repeated
Domestic Violence Definition
Physical, psychological, sexual or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. It may involve partners, ex partners, household members or other relatives.”
