Couples Flashcards
What Does the domestic division of labour mean?
Refers to the roles men and women play in relationship to housework, childcare and paid work.
What are Parsons two roles for the husband and wive
There is a clear division of labour between spouses in Parsons functionalist model of the family.
Expressive role- Women as the homemakers and focus on the primary socialisation of children and caring for families’ emotional needs.
Instrumental role- Men as the breadwinners to provide for their families.
How does persons explain/ justify this division of labour
He argues this division of labour is based on biological differences as women are naturally suited to the nurturing role and men as the provider.
He believes this division is beneficial for both the man and women, the kids and wider society.
Cristsisms of Parsons and his two roles.
Young and Wilmot- men now take greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are going to work.
Feminists argue that this division of labour only benefits the man not the women.
What are joint and segregated conjugal roles and who suggests them
Bott
Segregated conjugal roles- men and women have separate roles - make breadwinner and female carer/housekeeper.
^ linked to Parsons’s two roles men- instrumental and women expressive,
Joint conjugal roles- where the couple shares tasks eg housework and childcare and spends their leisure time together.
What is the symmetrical family and who suggests it
Young and will not- take a march of progress view
That Families are becoming more symmetrical
There is a trend towards joint conjugal roles
Eg more women go to work then ever before, men help more with childcare and housework, couples spend more leisure time together.
They did a study on families in London- they found the symmetrical family was more common among young couples. This rise in the symmetrical nuclear family can be due to.
study to support the symmetrical family and reasons for the trend towards the symmetrical family
They did a study on families in London-
they found the symmetrical family was more common among young couples. This rise in the symmetrical nuclear family can be due to:
Changes in women position- eg women are encourages to go out and work
New technology- meaning domestic labour becomes easier and quicker.
Higher standards of living.
Critisms if young and willmots- March of progress view
-feminsit view of coursework
Feminists reject the march of progress view and argue men and women remain unequal within the family and women still do the majority of the housework.
Oakley- argues Young and Willmots’s claims are exaggerated and even though husbands reported helping their wives this could be doing the bare minimum of domestic chores. Eg making breakfast on one occasion.
In her own research she found husbands helping their wives but no evidence of a trend towards symmetry. Only 15% of husbands had high participation levels in domestic work and 25% in childcare.
And when men do help out it’s the ‘fun’ parenting tasks like taking their kids to the park or domestic work like washing the car.
Are couples becoming more equal?
The March of progress view- yes couples are becoming more equal.
Women going into paid work is leading to a more equal division of labour at home and more men helping with housework and childcare just as women become more involved in paid work.
Gershuny found- the longer women have been working and if theyre full time, the more domestic work their husbands did.
This shows although families may not be symmetrical yet there is a clear trend towards equality.
Are couples becoming more equal?
The March of progress view- what has led to this increase in equality
4 reasons
1- improved status and rights of women in society- encouraged to work and make money, there are more role models for women that are in positions of power in society, which encourages men to not view women as just mothers and housewives but instead as independent assertive women.
2-increased women in paid work- increased their dependence and authority in the family as they have their own income so less dependent on their partners. This gives them more respect in the home they shouldn’t have a dual burden and domestic labour should be shared.
3- the commercialisation of housework- improvements in technology make domestic labour easier, less skill full and less time consuming making it more accessible for men. Eg washing machines, dishwashers, hoovers, ready meals, irons etc.
4-Weaker gender identities- postmodernists
Men and women have more choice and freedom in how they see themselves and their role. Couples are now free to pick n mix roles based on personal choice. There is less control of traditional masculine and feminine gender roles.
Are couples becoming more equal ?
The feminist view - No
Dual burden, triple shift, British social attitudes survey.
The entrance of women into the workforce led to increase in fuel-incime households. However this doesn’t mean it led to symmetry in the household.
Oakley- women working has not led to greater freedom instead it has caused women to suffer a DUAL BURDEN. As well as paid work they also have to continue with the domestic labour. Her study showed that most working mothers still performed majority of domestic chores and childcare.
Other feminists have argued women not only have a dual burden but actually work a triple shift as they do paid work, housework and childcare as well as the emotional work- emotional support for family.
British social attitudes survey- women do 2x as much housework and care for family members than men.
Are couples becoming more equal ?
Feminist view - no
Childcare and emotional work
Childcare-
Smith- Fathers take responsibility for children in less than 4% of families, however fathers will play with them but only 1% looked after them whilst sick.
Women still take responsibility for children’s well-being and security.
Emotional work (triple shift)
Women are responsible for managing the emotions of family members. Eg soothing arguments between siblings, making sure everyone is happy, hugging family members, buying presents
Family benefits from mums emotional work but mothers rarely do.
Men are more satisfied in marriages than women who express emotional loneliness and men are unaware of their wives unhappiness.
What are the two explanations of the gender division of labour
Cultural explanation
- division of labour is due to patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles. Women perform expressive role and men instrumental simple because this is what society has taught them to do.
> Support- couples who’s parents shared domestic chores were more likely to share them themselves- shows importance of socialisation.
Material explanations-
women generally earn less than men so it makes more sense for women to do the housework and men to be the breadwinner.
> support- when women work full time the man does more domestic work.
Decision making in the family
What are the basics
Husbands tend to control money and decide how it is spent in the family.
This is primarily because they tend to earn more so women are often financially dependent on their husbands.
-men gain more from women’s unpaid domestic work than they give back in financial support
-men usually make important decisions eg spending decisions
-financial support from husbands is often unpredictable.
What is the division in decision making
Men make more of the important decisions as they tend to have more financial power, so they have more power in major financial decisions.
-Very important decisions- finance, moving house etc either taken by husband alone or jointly but with husband having final say.
-Important decisions- eg children’s school, holiday etc jointly or by wife alone.
-less important decisions- home decor, clothes etc usually wife.
