Couples Flashcards
Identify four social changes that have encouraged the rise of the symmetrical family
Changes in women’s position
Geographical mobility
New tech
Higher standards of living
Why do feminists reject the march of progress view on housework
Little has changed. Still inequality. Women do most of housework. Occupy subordinate and dependant position in society
Which 2 feminists criticise young and wilmott
Ann Oakley and Mary Boulton
Young and Wilmott AO3 - Ann Oakley
Exaggerated claims
“Helped” at least once a week could be making breakfast or taking kids on a walk
15% high participation in housework 25% high participation in childcare only in pleasurable aspects
Mother often loses rewards of childcare and left with more housework
Young and wilmott AO3- Mary boulton
Supported Ann oakleys findings
Exaggerate men’s contribution by looking at tasks rather than responsibilities
Mother always responsible for child’s well-being and security
Give 2 examples of sex typing of tasks (Warde and Hetherington)
Wives 30x more likely to be the last person to have done the washing
Men 4x more likely to be last to clean the car
In general, men would only carry out routine “female” tasks if partner wasn’t around. Evidence of slight change of attitude amongst younger men
Braun, Vincent and ball’s study on taking responsibility for children
3/70 families, father was main carer. Most were background fathers. Helping was for relationship with partner, not child. Mothers saw themselves as primary carers, underpinned by ideas about intensive mothering in the media
What 3 activities make up the triple shift
Housework
Paid work
Emotion work
Southertons view on taking responsibility for quality time
Falls on mothers. Difficult as juggling demands of work, personal leisure time and family which managing families social activities
How do men and women’s leisure time differ in southerton’s view
Men- uninterrupted consolidated leisure
Women- punctuated by childcare. More likely to multitask
Crompton & Lyonettes 2 explanations for unequal division of labour
Cultural explanation- determined by patriarchal norms that shape gender roles in our culture. Women perform more domestic tasks because it is what society expects and they have been socialised to do
Material explanation- women generally earn less so it is rational to do more housework and childcare
2 studies from cultural explanation of housework
Gershuny- couples whose parents had more equal relationships, more likely to share housework equally. Social values adapting to women working
Man Yee Kan- younger men do more domestic work, claims more than father and women less than mother. Generational shift in behaviour
2 material explanations for housework
Arber and Ginn- mc women more likely to have labour saving devices and help with domestic work and childcare so have more time
Ramos- when women is breadwinner and men unemployed, do equal amounts of domestic labour
What 3 points do Barrett and Mcintosh make about family resources
Men gain far more from women’s domestic labour then they give back in financial support
Financial support husbands give to wives is unpredictable and often comes with strings attached
Men usually make decisions about spending on important items
Pahl and Vogler
Allowance system- give wife allowance to meet family’s needs, retaining any profit
Pooling- joint responsibility for expenditure eg Joint bank account
