couples Flashcards
domestic division of labour
- parsons; instrumental and expressive
- joint and segregated conjugal roles
- symmetrical family
- a feminist view of housework
instrumental role
husband has an instrumental role, geared towards achieving success at work so he can provide for the family financially, a breadwinner
expressive role
wife has expressive role geared towards primary socialisation of the children and meeting the family’s emotional needs. she is the homemaker, a full-time housewife rather than a wage earner
criticisms of parsons instrumental and expressive roles
- young and willmott; argue men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are becoming wage earners
- feminists reject parsons view that the division of labour is natural. they also argue is only benefits men
bott: segregated conjugal roles
where the couple have separate roles; a male breadwinner and a female homemaker/carer. their leisure activities also tend to be separate
joint conjugal roles
where the couple shares tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together
young and willmott; symmetrical family
see family as gradually improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic:
- women now go out to work, although this may be part time rather than full time
- men now help with childcare and housework
- couples now spend their leisure time together instead of separately with workmates or female relatives
young and willmott see the rise of the symmetrical nuclear family as the result of major social changes that have taken place during the last century:
- changes in womens position, including married women going out to work
- geographical mobility (more couples living away from the communities in which they grew up)
- new technology, and labour saving devices
- higher standards of living
feminist view of housework
- reject march of progress view
- argue little has changed
- see this inequality stemming from the fact that the family and society are male-dominated or patriarchal
oakley (against young and wilmott)
found some evidence of husbands helping in the home but no evidence towards a trend of symmetry
- only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework
- only 25% had a high level of participation in childcare (only its more pleasurable aspects)
boulton (1983)
found that fewer than 20% of husbands has a major role in childcare.
- argues y&w exaggerate men’s contribution by looking at the tasks involved in childcare rather than the responsibilities
- a father might help with specific tasks, but it was almost always the mother who was responsible for the child’s security and wellbeing
warde and hetherington (1993)
- sex typing of domestic tasks remained strong. e.g wives were 30x more likely to be the last person to have washed the dishes, whilst husbands were 4x more likely to be the last person to wash the car
- men would only carry out routine ‘female’ tasks when their partners were not around to do them.
- they did find evidence of a slight change of attitude among younger men. they no longer assumed that women should do the housework, and were more likely to thing that they were doing less than their fair share
march of progress view on couples becoming more equal
gershuny
sullivan
gershuny (1994)
women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home. using time studies, he found that these women did less domestic work than other women
sullivan (2000)
analysis of nationally representative data. found a trend towards women doing a smaller share of the domestic work and men doing more. her analysis also showed an increase in the number of couples with an equal division of labour and that men were participating more in traditional ‘womens’ tasks
BSA (march of progress view)
found a fall in number of people who think it’s mans jobs to earn money and womans to look after home and family
1984: 45% of men, 41% of women agreed with this view
by 2012: only 13% of men, 12% of women agreed with this view
BSA (feminist view)
on average men did eight hours of housework a week whereas
women did thirteen hours,
60% of women felt this was unfair
allan
argues womens tasks, such as washing and cleaning, are less intrinsically satisfying
ferri and smith
found that fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families
dex and ward
although fathers had quite a high level of involvement with their 3 year olds (78% played with them), when it came to caring for a sick child, only 1% of fathers took the main responsibility
braun, vincent and ball
in only 3/70 families studied was the father the main carer. most were ‘background fathers’ (helping with childcare was more about their relationship with their partner than their responsibility to their children)
- most fathers held a ‘provider ideology’ that their role was as breadwinners, while the mothers saw themselves as primary carers
hoschchild
emotion work - women required to perform where they are responsible for managing the emotiosn and feelings of family members
duncombe and marsden
triple shift
- housework, paid work, and emotion work
southerton
women take on responsibility for family quality time
difficult in modern society due to flexible working hours
crompton and lyonette
identify two different explanations for the unequal division of labour;
- cultural/ideological explanation of inequality
- material/economic explanation of inequality