Conjugal Roles Flashcards
Conjugal Roles
The roles played by men and women within a married or co-habiting relationship with a particular reference to the domestic division of labour
Elizabeth Bott- first definition of conjugal roles
Elizabeth Bott was the first to discover conjugal roles. she found that there were two types of conjugal roles :joint conjugal role and segregated conjugal roles. Segregated conjugal roles show how men and women have separate role .The role of women nbeing the carer and the homeworkers and men have the role of breadwinner
Parsons- view on conjugal roles
Parsons believed that men played an instrumental role, meaning they were suited to breadwinner and provider. Women played Expressive Role, which saw them as ideal homeowners ,more emotional and nurturing. He argue that these differences are based on sexes they are based off biological determination
Evaluation of Parsons
The theory is based on the Americian middle class families in 1950s,not showing the domestic division of labour within other family and the modern era.
Ignores the dark side of the family
economic interdependence
Willmott and Young Symmetrical Family
They argued that the family had adapted and changed over time as society. They argued that the current day family is best described as the symmetrical family. They based their ideas on extensive research
The Key features of the Symmetrical Family
Women are more likely to be in paid work
Conjugal roles Of husband and wife are increasingly similar they share their time and domestic work
men help more with the chore
Men help praise children more although the responsibility lies mainly decisions about family life are shared
Why have these changes happened according to Willmott and Young
Changes in women’s position-more married women working
Geographical mobility -the ability to move around the country
New Technology
Higher Standard of living
Reduction in the number of children provided
Greater opportunities for wives to work
Dual earner families
Weaponized Incompetence
Refers to the deliberate use of incompetence or the feigning of ignorance as a strategy to maintain traditional gender power dynamics and resist gender inequality
this idea suggest that some individuals typically men,may pretend to be less capable than they actually are in certain domestic or workplace situations to avoid taking responsibilities that are traditionally associated by women. by doing so they perpetuate stereotypes and reinforce gender inequalities and women carrying the burdern
Gershuny
gershuny argued there was a gradual march of progress in families where women also worked
although he said they was still a way to go to head towards symmetrical that lagged adaption would means that men would eventually catch up soon there would be greater equality between gender at home
Ann Oakley’s Housewife Study (1973)
Wrote in the same year as Wilmot and Young and argued their view on conjugal roles were incorrect . She conducted interviews with 40 women with children under 5 and additional conducted historical analysis. She argued in pre-industrial society with people working in cottage industry women worked alongside men . They worked from home and children also worked due to no educattion system . Roles were therefore more shared
Finding from Ann Oakley’s Historical Analysis
women saw housework as their responsibility and received little to no support from men.
When husbands helped ,it was largely fun activities
Criticised 72% in Wilmott and Young as men only had to done one household activity per week to qualify
Kan (2001)
Kan surveyed 2,000 couples. Men largely play lip service to equal rights in the home letting women do 3/4 of the household chores. the women in her sample did on average 18+ hours, compared with about 6 for the average women more bargaining power.
Ramos
Women in his sample did 4 times as much work as men. Men Averaged 5 1/2 hours per week compared to women’s 19 hours,. He found that When both work full time they spend a similar amount doing a combination of paid employment and unpaid work ,they have a much higher total workload than their male partner-13 hours more
British Social Attitudes Surveys (2013)
Compton and lyonette used data from the british social attitudes survey and other sources and found that there was a greater share of housework between the 1960s and 1990s sinces the 1990s though men’s contribution has not increase to any great extent the change should not therefore be exaggerated but this evidence makes it clear that simply in the division of labour.British households come near together equality
