Are Couples Becoming More Equal? Flashcards
What are the two questions about the impact of paid work?
. Is it leading to a more equal division of domestic tasks, with a ‘new man’ taking responsibility and doing an equal share of the housework and childcare? This is a march of progress view.
. Or does it simply mean that women now have to carry a ‘dual burden’ of paid work as well as domestic work? This is a feminist view.
What is the march of progress view?
. They argue that women going out to work is leading to a more equal division of labour at home. In this view, men are becoming more involved in housework and childcare just as women are becoming more involved in paid work outside the home.
. Gershuny (1994) argues that woman working full-time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home. Using time studies, he found that these women did less domestic work than other women.
. These trends reflect changes in attitudes to the traditional division of labour.
What is the feminist view?
. In the view of feminist sociologists, women going into paid work has not led to greater equality in the division of domestic labour. There is still little sign of the ‘new man’ who does an equal share of housework and childcare, while women now carry a dual burden.
. British Social attitudes survey shows- how much do men do? The survey found that in 2012 men on average did 8 hours of housework a week, whereas women did 13 hours. 10 hours on care for family members vs 23 hours
. Who does what? The survey also found that couples continue to divide household tasks along traditional gender lines. For example, women were much more likely to do laundry, care for sick family members, cleaning, prepping meals etc. whereas men did small repairs around the house.
Outline taking the responsibility for children.
. A problem with such surveys is that they often focus only on easily quantifiable aspects such as who performs which tasks or how much time they spend doing them. While useful, this tells us nothing about who takes responsibility for ensuring that the tasks are done. Boulton, points out that although fathers may help by performing specific childcare tasks, it is usually the mother who takes responsibility for the child’s security and well-being.
Taking responsibility for children- what did ferri and smith say?
Found that fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families
Taking responsibility for children- what did dex and ward find?
Found that, although fathers had quite high levels of involvement with their 3 year olds (e.g. playing with them), when it came to caring for a sick child, only 1% of fathers took the main responsibility.
What is emotion work and the triple shift?
. Hochschild (2013) calls ‘emotion work’ for taking responsibility for other family members.
. 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, such as handling jealousies and squabbles between siblings, ensuring everyone is kept happy, while at the same time exercising control over their own emotions.
. Duncombe and Marsden argue that women have to perform a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work and emotion work.
Taking responsibility for ‘quality time’
. Another responsibility is that of coordinating, scheduling and managing the family’s ’quality time’ together - a responsibility that usually falls to mothers, according to southerton (2011).
. This has become more difficult in today’s late modern society with recent social changes such as the emergence of the 24/7 society and flexible working patterns. These changes have led to people’s time being more fragmented and ‘de-routinised’.
Summary of impact of paid work pgs 168-170.
. Suggests there may have been some movement towards an equal division of labour, but perhaps not very much. There is conflicting evidence on how much time men and women spend on domestic tasks- some findings, such as Gershuny’s suggesting a move towards greater equality, whereas other evidence indicates continuing inequality. When it comes to responsibility for housework and especially for childcare, however, equality appears to be some way off.
Explaining the gender division of labour- what is the cultural or ideological explanation of inequality?
(Crompton and Lyonette). In this view, the division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape the 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.
Explaining the gender division of labour- what is the material or economic explanation of inequality?
In this view, the fact that 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.
What is the evidence for the cultural explanation?
From this perspective, equality will be achieved only when norms about gender roles change. This would involve changes in men and women’s attitudes, values and expectations, role models and socialisation.
Gershuny- found that couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally themselves. This suggests parental role models are important. He argues that social values are gradually adapting to the fact that women are now working full-time, establishing a new norm that men should do more domestic work.
Man Yee Kan- found that younger men do more domestic work. Similarly, according to the Future Foundation (2000), most men claimed to do more housework than their father and most women claimed to do less than their mother. This suggests a generational shift in behaviour is occurring.
Dunne- found that lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of the absence of traditional heterosexual ‘gender scripts’, that is, norms that set out the different gender roles men and women are expected to play.
What is the evidence for the material explanation?
From this perspective, If women join the labour force and earn as much as their parents, we should expect to see men and women doing more equal amounts of domestic work.
Kan- found that for every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework per week.
Arbor and Ginn- found that better paid, middle class women were more able to buy in commercially produced products and services, such as labour-saving devices, ready meals, domestic help and childcare, rather than having to spend time carrying out labour-intensive domestic tasks themselves.
Ramos- found that where the woman is the full-time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much domestic labour as she does.
What are the conclusions of paid work?
. There is some evidence that a woman being in paid work leads to more equality in the division of labour, especially if she is in full-time work.
. Many feminists argue that, in reality, the extent of this is limited: women still continue to shoulder a dual or triple burden. And even if men are doing more in the home, domestic tasks themselves remain gendered. Furthermore, it is women who are expected to take responsibility for housework and childcare.
. Feminists argue that the root of the problem is patriarchy. Patriarchal norms and values shape society’s expectations about the domestic roles that men and women ought to perform. Patriarchy also ensures that women earn less at work and so have less bargaining power in the home. Until patriarchy is successfully challenged in the home and in the workplace, therefore, the domestic division of labour is likely to remain unequal.
