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
cultural explanation of inequality
division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape the gender roles in our culture.
women perform more domestic labour simply because that is what society expects then to do and has socialised them to do
material explanation of inequality
in this view, the fact that women generally earn less than men means it is economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare while men spend more of their time earning labour
evidence for cultural explanation
gershuny
couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally themselves. suggests parental role models are important. argues that social values are gradually adapting to the fact that women are now working full-time, establishing a new norm that men should do more domestic work
evidence for cultural explanation
kan
found younger men do more domestic work
evidence for cultural explanation
future foundation
most men claimed to do more housework than their father and most women claimed to do less than their mother - suggests a generational shift in behaviour occurring
evidence for cultural explanation
dunne
found that lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of the absence of traditional heterosexual ‘gender scripts’
evidence for material explanation
kan
found that for every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework
evidence for material explanation
arber and ginn
found that better-paid, mc women were more able to buy commercially produced products and services, such as labour-saving devices, ready meals, domestic help and childcare, rather than having to spend time carrying out labour-intensive domestic tasks themselves
evidence for material explanation
ramos
found that where the woman is the full time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much domestic labour as she does
barrett and mcintosh
- men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support
- the financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with ‘strings attached’
- men usually make the decisions about spending on important items
kempson
found that among low income families, women denied their own needs, barely going out, and eating smaller portions of food or skipping meals altogether in order to make ends meet
pahl and vogler
- the allowance system
- pooling
allowance system
where men give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the family’s needs, with the man retaining any surplus income for himself
pooling
where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure e.g a joint bank account
– however, even when there was pooling, the men usually made the major financial decisions
hardill
- study of 30 dual-career couples
- found the important decisions were usually taken either by the man alone or jointly and that his career normally took priority when deciding whether to move house for a new job
finch
womens lives tend to be structured around their husbands careers
edgell
study of professional couples
- very important decisions: e.g finance, moving house/change of job, were either taken by the husband alone or taken jointly but with the husband having the final say
- important decisions: e.g childs education, where to go on holiday were usually taken jointly, and seldom by the wide alone
- less important decisions: such as choice of home decor, childrens clothes or food purchases were usually made by the wife
- the reason men are liklet to take the decisions is that they earn more
laurie and gershuny
by 1995, 70% of couples said they had an equal say in decisions. they found that women who were high earning, well qualified professionals were more likely to have an equal say
vogler - meaning of money
cohabiting couples were less likely to pool, perhaps from a desire to maintain their independence
nyman
money has no automatic, fixed or natural meaning and different couples can define it in different ways
smart (plp)
found that some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to who controlled the money and were perfectly happy to leave this to their partners. they did not see the control of money as meaning either equality or inequality in the relationship
weeks et al
found that the typical pattern was pooling some money for household spending, together with separate accounts for personal spending. this money management system thus reflects a value of ‘co-independence’ - where there is sharing, but where each partner retains control over some money and maintains some independence
womens aid federation
domestic violence accounts for between 1/6 and 1/4 of all recorded violent crime
crime survey for england and wales (2013)
found that 2 million people reported having been victims of domestic abuse during the previous year
coleman et al
women were more likely than men to have experienced ‘intimate violence’ across all 4 types of abuse - partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault and stalking
coleman and osborne
two women a week are killed by a partner or former partner
1/3 of all female homicide victims are killed by a partner of former partner
dobash and dobash
based on police and court records and interviews in women’s refuges
- found that violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority
- marriage legitimates violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives
walby and allen
women were much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse and of sexual violence `
dar
it can be difficult to count separate domestic violence incidents, because abuse may be continuous (e.g living under constant threat) or may occur so often that the victim cannot reliably count the instances
- victims less likely than victims of other forms of violence to report the offence because they believe that it is not a matter for the police or that its too trivial
yearnshire
on average a woman suffers 35 assaults before making a report. domestic violence is the violent crime least likely to be reported
cheal
police are reluctant to investigate, record, prosecute because they are not prepared to become involved in the family:
- view it as a private sphere
- think the family is a good thing, so agencies neglect the darker side
- view individuals as free agents, so is assumed that women are free to leave
millett and firestone
argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy.
men are the enemy: they are the oppressors and exploiters of women
radical feminist explanation of domestic violence
men use domestic violence or the threat of it to dominate women
evaluation of radical feminist explanation of domestic violence
- elliot; not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence
- r.f fails to explain female violence, including child abuse by women and violence against male partners and within lesbian relationships.
- fail to explain which victims are most likely to be victims
official national statistics (2014) suggests that women from some social groups face a greater risk of domestic violence;
- young women
- those in lowest social class/living in the most deprived areas
- those living in shared or rented accommodation
- those with high levels of alcohol consumption or using illegal drugs
- those with a long term illness or disability
men who suffer d.v are also likely to belong to these groups
materialist explanation - wilkinson and pickett
see d.v as the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality
- those on low incomes or living in overcrowded accom are likely to experience higher levels of stress which reduces their chances of maintaining stable, caring relationships and increases risk of conflict and violence e.g worries about money, jobs and housing may spill over into domestic conflict as tempers become frayed
evaluation of materialist explanation - wilkinson and pickett
- does not explain why women rather than men are the main victims
ansley (evaluation of materialist explanation)
sees inequality as cause of domestic violence
- wives as ‘takers of shit’ and argues d.v is the product of capitalism: male workers are exploited at work and they take our their frustrations on their wives
- helps to explain why d.v is male violence against female but fails to explain why not all male workers commit accounts of violence against their partners and doesn’t account for cases of female d.v
