Couples Flashcards
Young and willmott( march of progress)
Symmetrical family:
- women now work
- men help with housework and childcare
- couples spend their leisure time together instead of separately
Ann Oakley
Only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework and only 25% in childcare
Men only took part in pleasurable activities
Boulton
Fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare.
Argue that young and willmott over exaggerate men’s role by overlooking the responsibilities , husbands only focus on one task rather than. The child’s well being
Support MOP- Gershuny
Women working full time is leading to a equal division of labour, women do less domestic tasks
Support MOP- Sullivan
Trend towards women doing smaller share of domestic tasks and men doing more. Men are increasingly taking part in traditional ‘women’s’ tasks
Feminist view
Women going into paid work has not led to greater equality in the division of DL
There is still little sign to the ‘new man’
British social attitude survey-2012
Men did 8 hours of housework a week compared to 13 for women
Men spend 10 hours on care for family members compared to 23 hours for women
Women do twice as much as men
Supporting boulton- Ferri and Smith
Fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families
‘Emotion work’- Hochschild
Women are responsible for managing the emotions and feelings of family members while exercising their own emotions
Duncombe and marsden- TRIPLE SHIFT
Women have a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work and emotion work
Southerton
Another responsibility for mothers is coordinating, scheduling and managing family ‘quality time’ together
This has changed in todays society with a flexible society
Men are likely to have uninterrupted leisure time whereas women’s leisure time is spent with the child- women are carrying a dual burden
Gershuny vs British social attitudes
Gershuny suggested a move towards greater equality where as the British social attitudes show continuing inequality
Cultural/ ideological explanation for inequality
The division of labour is based on patriarchal norms and values shaping gender roles and our culture. Society socialises women into doing more housework
The material/economic explanation
Women earn less so it makes sense for the man to provide economically and the women doing housework and childcare
Men spend more of their time earning money
Cultural- Gershuny
Couples with parents who had a equal relationship are more likely to split the housework between them
Parental role models are important
Social values are changing because women are doing full time work and establishing new norms for men doing more domestic work
Material- Dunne
Lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because they go against the sense of traditional heterosexual ‘gender scripts’.
Material-kan
For every £10000 a year a women earns she does 2 hours less housework per week
Material- Sullivan
Working full time rather than part time makes the biggest difference in terms of how much domestic work each partner does
Compton- evaluation
There is no immediate prospect of a more equal division of labour if this depends on economic equality between the sexes
Conclusion:
- more evidence that women in paid work leads to more equality in division of labour (especially full time)
- feminists argue that this is limited because women carry a dual/triple burden and the tasks even if split are remaining gendered as women are expected to take care of childcare and housework
- feminists- patriarchy is the root of the problem, less pay and cultural explanation
Barrette and mclntosh
- men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support
- the financial support husbands give to their wives is unpredictable and comes with ‘strings’ attached
- men make the decisions about spendings on important items
Kempson- family members do not share food equally
Among low income families women denied their own needs and ate small or no proportions of food to make ends meet
The women is likely to see anything she spends on herself instead ought to be spent on her children - even in with high income houses women may be left in poverty
Pahl and vogler
Two types of control on family income:
The allowance system- men give their wives an allowance which has a budget to meet the needs of the family and the man spends the rest of the money for himself
Pooling- both partners have access to income and joint responsibilities like a joint bank account
Hardill
In his study he found the most important decisions were taken by the man or his work ( moving houses) which supports finch observation that women’s lives are structured on their husbands careers
Edgell found that:
Very important decisions like finance or housing were taken by the husband or he had the final say in a joint discussion
Important decisions about children or holiday were taken jointly and seldom by the wife alone
Less important decisions like home decor or clothes were usually made by the wife
Edgells argument
Men earn more and therefore make the decisions, women are dependant on their husbands so have less of a say
Evaluation- Gershuny
By 1995- 70% of couples said they had an equal say in decisions ( high earning women had more of a say)
Cultural vs material explanations - feminist
Feminist argue the inequalities in decision making is due to a patriarchal society, men as decision makers is culturally ingrained in both men and women through gender role socialisation
The meaning of money
Vogler- cohabitating partners were likely to have separate bank accounts for independence and shared tasks equally.
We need to understand the meaning of money for some couples
NYMAN- money doesn’t have a fixed meaning and couples define it differently
What’s the personal life perspective on money
Focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money
Smarts evidence
Gay men and lesbians attached no importance to who controlled the money and were happy to leave it to their partners. They did not see the control of money as equality or inequality in their relationships
There’s greater freedom in same sex couples to do what they want because of no cultural set back
PLP conclusion
Its important to start from the personal meanings of the actors involved in the situation
Domestic violence is too widespread
Too widespread:
The crime survey of England and wales in 2013 found that 2 million people reported having being victims of dv in the last year
Does not occur randomly:
Mainly against women
Coleman and Osborne- two women a week are killed by a partner or former partner
Dobash and dobash
Violence incidents be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority. Marriage legitimises violence against women by having power and authority on husbands and dependancy on wives
Walby and Allen
Women were much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse and sexual violence
Two Problems of official statistics
1.victims may be unwilling to report it to the police yearnshire found that on average women suffer 35 assaults before making a report
2.police and prosecutors may be unwilling to investigate the cases because state agencies don’t want to be involved in family.
What are the three assumptions cheal makes about family life
- That the family is a private sphere so the agencies have minimal access
- They ignore the ‘darker side’ of the family as the family is suppose to be good
- Individuals are free agents and they assume women can just leave however women are often dependant on their partner financially
Explanation of domestic violence
Radical feminist- emphasises role of patriarchy ideas,culture and institutions
The materialist explanation- emphasises economic factors like the lack of resources
Radical feminist explanation
See the family and marriage as the key institution in patriarchal society and the main source of women’s oppression. DV is widespread because of patriarchal features and male control over state institutions( agencies) which explains it sociologically
Millett and Firestone- societies are found on patriarchy and see the division of men and females in society. Men are the ENEMY who oppress and exploit women
Evaluation
1.Elliot- not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence
2.excludes child abuse by women and violence against male partners and within lesbian relationships
The crime survey for E and W found 18% of men suffered from DV since 16
DV- the office for national statistics(2014)
Women in social groups face higher risks of DV:
-young women
-low social class and deprived areas
-low income families
-shared or rented accommodation
- illegal drug/ alcohol
- long term illness/ disability
Materialist explanation
Wilkinson and Pickett- domestic violence is a result of stress on family members caused by social inequality the stress causes instability and an increase in conflict and violence
Material- increase in violence
- Worries about money, job and housing may spill into domestic conflict as temper increases
- Lack of money and time restricts people’s social circle and reduced social support for some
Wilkinson and Pickett explanation shows those will less power and money are at a higher risk
Evaluation of Wilkinson and Pickett
- do not explain why women rather than men are the main victims of
- Marxist feminist also see inequality causing DV ANSLEY says women are takers of shit and that DV is the product of capitalism where male workers are exploited at work and take it out on their wives
However it doesn’t account for why all male workers do it and why it doesn’t account for female domestic violence
