Couples Flashcards
What is the domestic division of labour
Role men and women play in relation to housework, paid work and childcare.
What roles did parsons believe men play?
The instrumental breadwinner role
What role did parsons say women play?
Expressive role
What did parsons say about the domestic division of labour
It was due to bio differences and benefits men, women and society
How did Young and Wilmott disagree with Parsons?
They said men are taking on more domestic roles and women are becoming wage earners.
Feminists argue it only benefits males.
What did roles did Bott propose?
Segregated conjugal roles- couples have separate roles and leisure activities
Joint conjugal roles- couples share tasks and leisure time
What is the symmetrical family?
Roles are similar
Common in younger couples
Due to:
Geographical mobility
New tech
Higher standards of living
What is the feminist view of housework?
Reject ‘March of progress’ view
Oakley: men do the ‘fun’ things
What is the March of Progress view?
The view that couples are becoming more equal
Feminist view on responsibility for children
Boulton: usually mothers who take care of child’s wellbeing
Only 1% fathers took care of sick children
Women have triple shift
Feminist view of Responsibility for quality time
Southerton: mothers organise quality time
Men get uninterrupted leisure time while women’s leisure time involves childcare- double burden
Explanation for gender division of labour
Cultural/ ideological explanations
Material/ economic explanations
Cultural/ ideological explanation
Division determined by patriarchal norms and values - gender roles
Gershuny- couples with parents with equal relationships had more equal relationships themselves
Material/ economic explanation
Women earn less so is therefore economically rational for women to do more housework
Sullivan- women working full time - more equal division of labour
Resources and decision making
Men gain more in domestic labour than women do in financial support as it is unpredictable and comes with strings attached. Men decide about spending on important items.
Two types of control of family income
Allowance system- man gives women allowance and budget
Pooling system- both have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure
Personal life perspective
Emphasis on who controls money
Gay couples don’t place importance on who controls the money
Domestic violence
Any incident of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse .
Social not psychological
Too widespread - 2 mil people reported DV - CSEW(13/14)
Doesn’t occur randomly - Dobash & Dobash women experience abuse when they challenge authority
Gender Differences in DV
Women - 7.3%
Men - 5%
Women more likely to face DV
Official Statistics
Underestimate extent of violence:
Unwillingness to report
Police may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute.
Radical Feminist Explanation of DV
DV due to patriarchy in family and marriage
Male domination of state institutions explains reluctance of police
Evaluation of Radical Feminist Explanation.
Elliot - rejects idea that all DV benefits men as not all are violent and most oppose it
Fails to explain female violence
Doesn’t explain why women are more likely to be victims
Materialist Explanation of DV
Result of stress on family by social inequalities and low incomes.
Evaluation of Materialist explanation of DV
Helps explain class differences in DV
Doesn’t explain why women are the main victims
Not all low income families face DV
