Are gender roles equal Flashcards
Yes because of march of progress view
Willmott and Young- They believe that the family today is egalitarian. Over time the family has moved from segregated conjugal roles to joint conjugal roles where both women and men share all responsibilities equally. In a symmetrical family both the wife and husband:
-work outside the home
-Share housework and childcare tasks
-Spend their leisure time together
+c= Boulton argues that Willmott and Young exaggerate men’s contribution. Men will carry out some childcare tasks, but the care of children is still the woman’s
Responsibility. If the care is still the responsibility of women then it means that the family is not symmetrical
Yes because of death of housewife role
Silver and Schor- Burden of the role of housewife has been reduced because of two reason:
1)Housework has been commercialised. In other words introduction of ready made meals and microwaves take the burden of women
2)Women working- so they can afford these goods and services.
Furthermore Gregson and Lowe say the same thing as commercialisation of housework has helped middle class women as they can hire nannies and cleaners so that wife doesn’t suffer dual burden +C= Arber and Ginn argues that better paid, m/c women can buy these commercialised products and hire other people to look after children and clean. So w/c tend to lose out on this. Also m/c women that hire cleaners and nannies tend to hire w/c women which means they will suffer more from the dual burden.
Yes because of Biological differences
Functionalists believe that men and women’s roles in the family are biologically different but equally important. Parsons argues that due to the domestic division of labour men have the instrumental role whereby they are the breadwinner and financially support the family. However women have an expressive role whereby she is a housewife and supports the family emotionally. These roles are based on biological differences as women are biologically suited for the caring role. Therefore Funct believes that the segregated division of labour benefits everyone in society.
No because men cherry pick tasks
Oakley- Family is not symmetrical as men do not carry out equal amounts of housework. She interviewed 90 housewives and found that 15% of husbands participate in housework and 25% help out in childcare. Also men cherry pick tasks so they tend to pick enjoyable tasks such as playing or day trips. Therefore this means that women still do more housework and the family is not symmetrical as gender roles are socially constructed as women tend to do most of the housework. Furthermore even if they do work, their jobs are low paid extensions of the housewife role such as nursing. +C=Gatrell says that fathers are now more than ever involved in childcare due to the fact that relationships may not work out and end in divorces. They also wanted to be better fathers than their own as their fathers were involved in their childhood. They are now fully involved as they do things such as feeding, bathing and school runs.
No because men think housework undermines their masculinity
Morris- studied families where women worked and men were unemployed to see who would do more housework. She found that men saw housework as women’s work. They felt they had lost their masculinity as a result of being unemployed and refused to do housework as this would undermine their masculinity even more. +c=Ramos recently found the opposite and claims that unemployed men do more housework than their wives and try to support them as much as they can.
No because men make important decisions
Edgell- Interviewed 38 m/c couples and found that men make fewer decisions in the family but more important decisions such as finance but women make more decisions but these are less important such as food. Edgell argues that it’s not the fact that who makes more decisions has power but it depends on the importance of the decision being made. So although women make more decisions, ultimately it is men who have the power in the family as they make important decisions. Furthermore Pahl and Vogler go on to say that the reason why men have power is because they earn more and some may still have traditional roles instilled in them. They also say that if men don’t have power in the family then their masculinity gets threatened.
No because of domestic abuse
Firestone and Millet-all societies are patriarchal and as a result men tend to exploit and oppress women. Therefore relationships between men and women are not equal as one has power over the other. Firestone and Millet argue that it is through family that men dominate women and this is done through domestic abuse or the threat of it.Furthermore men control aspects of society which is why police are reluctant to get involved in domestic abuse cases. +C= Robertson-Elliot says that not all men are violent as some are opposed to domestic abuse. Furthermore women can be abusers of men and children.Radical Feminists fail to explain why some women are at a greater risk of domestic abuse
