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?
