couples Flashcards
instrumental and expressive roles
Parsons
husband has an instrumental role - achieving success at work, breadwinner
wife has an expressive role - carer and nurturer of the family, housewife
joint and segregated conjugal roles
Bott
segregated - male breadwinner and female homemaker, separate leisure activities
joint - couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend leisure time together
criticisms of Parsons instrumental and expressive roles
Young and Wilmott say men are taking a greater share of domestic tasks and wives are going to work
feminists disagree that the division of labour is natural, only benefits men
symmetrical family
Young and Willmott take a ‘march of progress’ view, they argue there has been a long term trend towards joint conjugal roles and symmetrical family
women go out to work
men help with housework and childcare
couples spend leisure time together
reasons for the rise in the symmetrical family
major social changes:
more women in paid work
new technology (labour saving devices)
higher standards of living
what did Young and Willmott find in their study of families in London?
symmetrical family was more common among younger couples, those who are geographically and socially isolated and the more affluent
how does Oakley criticise Young and Willmott?
says their claims are exaggerated, most of the husbands they interviewed ‘helped’ their wives at least twice a week, not evidence of symmetry
what does Oakley find in her research on housewives?
found evidence of husbands helping in the home but no evidence of symmetry
15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework, 25% had a high level of participation in childcare
only pleasurable aspects of childcare e.g. playing with children
what does Boulton say?
Young and Willmott exaggerate mens contribution by looking at mens contribution rather than who’s responsible
a father might help with specific tasks but mother usually responsible for child’s security and well being
what is the march of progress view?
Young and Willmott - women in paid work is leading to a more equal division of housework
Sullivan - analysis of data found a trend towards women doing a smaller share of domestic work and men doing more
what do feminists think about couples becoming more equal?
women in paid work has not led to greater equality, there is little sign of a ‘new man’ and women now carry a dual burden
how does the British social attitudes survey support the feminist view of couples becoming more equal?
2012 men did 8 hours of housework a week, women did 13, men spent 10 hours on care for family members whereas women spent 23
evidence to support Boulton’s view of mother taking responsibility
Dex and Ward found only 1% of fathers took the main responsibility for caring for a sick child
Braun et al found most fathers were background fathers, they held a provider ideology: their role was breadwinner, not primary carer
what is the triple shift?
Duncombe and Marsden found women were required to carry out emotion work creating a triple shift: emotion work, domestic labour and paid work
what are two explanations for the gender division of labour?
Crompton and Lynette:
the cultural or ideological explanation
the material or economic explanation of inequality
what is the cultural or ideological explanation of inequality?
patriarchal norms shape gender roles, women perform more domestic labour because this is what society expects and has socialised them to do
what is the material or economic explanation of inequality?
women earn less than men, so it is economically rational for them to do more domestic labour while men spend more time earning money
evidence for the cultural or ideological explanation of inequality
equality will be achieved only when attitudes, values and expectations change:
- Gershuny argues that couples are adapting to women work full-time establishing a new norm of men doing more domestic work
- british social attitudes found a long-term change in attitudes, 10% of under 30s agreed with a traditional division of labour
evidence for the material or economic explanation of inequality
if women earn as much as their partners couples should do more equal amounts of housework:
- Arber and Ginn found better paid women could buy in products and services rather than carrying out domestic tasks themselves
- Ramos found where women is the breadwinner and man is unemployed they do equal amounts of domestic labour
what did Dunne find in her study of lesbian couples?
heterosexuals were socialised into gender scripts that set out different masculine and feminine roles and gender identities
lesbians did not link household tasks to gender scripts, so they were more open to negotiation and thus more equal
criticisms of Dunne
Dunne found that where one partner did more pairs work, they also did less domestic work so material factors still influenced division of labour
what did Barrett and Macintosh find?
men gain more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support
what did Kempson find?
women in low income families were denied their own needs to make ends meet e.g. skipping meals
what are the two types of control over family incomes?
Pahl and Vogler
the allowance system - men give their wives an allowance and keep any surplus income
pooling - where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure (on the increase)
