Couples

Question 1

THE DOMESTIC DIVISION OF LABOUR

Parsons

Answer 1

In the traditional nuclear family, the roles of husbands and wives are segregated

In Talcott Parsons’ (1955) functionalist model of the family there is a clear division of labour between spouses:

The husband has an instrumental role: geared towards achieving success at work so he can provide for the family financially. He is the breadwinner

The wife has an 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 wage earner

Parson argues division of labour is based on biological differences
Women naturally suited towards nurturing role
Claims division is beneficial for both women and men, children and wider society

Question 2

Criticisms of Parsons roles

Answer 2

Michael young and Peter Willmott (1962) argue men now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more wives becoming wage earners

Feminist reject Parsons’ views that it’s natural - argue only benefits men

Question 3

Joint and segregated roles

Answer 3

Elizabeth Bott (1957) distinguishes between two types of conjugal roles within marriage:

Segregated conjugal roles: couple have separate roles
Male - breadwinner
Female - homemaker/carer
Leisure activities tend to be separate

Joint conjugal roles: couples share tasks
Spend leisure time together

Young and Willmott identified pattern of segregated conjugal roles in study of traditional working-class extended families in Bethnal Green, east London in the 1950s
Men - breadwinners, little part in homelife, leisure time with work mates in pubs/clubs 
Women - full-time housewives, responsibility was housework/childcare, limited leisure and was spent with female kin

Question 4

The symmetrical family

Answer 4

Young and willmott (1973) - march of progress view
Family life gradually improving for all members
Becoming more equal, democratic
Argue - long term trend away from segregated conjugal roles and towards joint and symmetrical family

Symmetrical family - roles not identical but similar

Women now go to work although mainly part-time
Men help out with housework and childcare
Spend leisure time together

In study of london - symmetrical family more common among younger couples, geographically isolated and the more affluent

They see rise of this as result of major changes during past century:
Changes in women’s position
Geographical mobility - living away from communities where they grew up
New technology and labour saving devices
Higher standards of living

Interlinked - women bringing in second wage raises standard of living - afford labour saving devices - housework easier - encourages men to do more

Question 5

A feminist view of housework

Answer 5

Reject march of progress view

Argue little has changed - women still do most housework

See this inequality as stemming from fact that family and society is male-dominated or patriarchal

Women occupy subordinate and dependent role within family and wider society

Question 6

A feminist view of housework

Ann Oakley (1974)

Answer 6

Ann Oakley (1974) criticises Young and Willmott’s view family is symmetrical. 
Argues claims are exaggerated 
Y+W found husbands helped at least once a week but could be taking children for walk, or making breakfast - Oakley found this hardly convincing evidence 

In her own research of housewives - found some husbands help but no trend towards symmetry
Only 15% of husbands had high level of participation in housework
25% high participation in childcare

Husbands only took part in pleasurable aspects of childcare - “take them off her hands on sunday morning”
Defined father’s role as one of “taking an interest”
Mothers often lost rewards of childcare - left with more time for housework

Question 7

A feminist view of housework

Mary Boulton (1983)

Answer 7

Research supports Oakley
20% husbands major role in childcare
Argues W+Y exaggerate men’s contributions by looking at tasks rather than responsibilities - mother was always responsible men would help with specific tasks

Question 8

A feminist view of housework

Alan Warde and Kevin Hetherington (1993)

Answer 8

found sex typing of domestic tasks remained strong
Wives 30 times more likely to be last person to do washing
Husbands four times more likely to be last to wash car
In general they found men would carry out routine female tasks when partners were not around
However, found slight change of attitude among younger men

Question 9

ARE COUPLES BECOMING MORE EQUAL?

The impact of paid work

Oakley

Answer 9

Oakley’s study 1970s - most women full-time housewives

Today - more wives go out to work
Is it leading to equal distribution or do wives have a “dual burden”

Question 10

The march of progress view

Jonathan Gershuny (1994)

Answer 10

argues that women working full-time is leading to more equal division of labour. Using time studies - these women do less domestic work than other women

Question 11

The march of progress view

Oreil Sullivan’s (2000)

Answer 11

analysis of nationally representative data collected in 1975, 1987, 1997 found trend towards women doing smaller share of domestic work and men doing more
Also showed increase in couples with equal division - men participating more in traditional women’s tasks

Question 12

The march of progress view

British Social Attitudes survey (2013)

Answer 12

Trends reflect changes in attitudes
found fall in people who think man’s job is to earn money and women’s to look after home/family
1984 - 45% men 41% women agreed with view
2012 - 13% men agreed 12% women agreed

Question 13

The feminist view

British Social Attitudes survey

How much do men do?

Answer 13

2012 - on average 8 hours of housework a week, women did 13 hours
Men spent 10 hours on childcare, women spent 23 hours
Overall women did twice as much
60% of women felt division was unjust - doing more than fair share

Question 14

The feminist view

British Social Attitudes survey

Who does what?

Answer 14

Divide tasks along traditional gender lines
Women much more likely to do laundry, grocery shop, clean, prepare meals
Men - repairs around house
These patterns are very similar to that of 1994

Question 15

The feminist view

Graham Allan (1985)

Answer 15

The survey does not measure the qualitative differences in the tasks performed.

Graham Allen (1985) argues women’s tasks such as washing and cleaning are less intrinsically satisfying

Question 16

Taking responsibility for children

Boulton (1983) and the issues of these surveys

Answer 16

Such surveys only focus on easily quantifiable aspects such as who performs which tasks or how much time they spend doing them

These surveys tell us nothing about who takes responsibility for ensuring tasks are done

Boulton (1983) points out that although fathers may help by performing specific childcare tasks, it is usually the mother who takes responsibility for the child’s security and well-being

Question 17

Taking responsibility for children

Ferri and Smith (1996)

Answer 17

found fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families

support Boulton

Question 18

Taking responsibility for children

Dex and Ward (2007)

Answer 18

found although fathers had quite levels of involvement with their 3 year olds (78% played with their children) when it came to caring for sick child only 1% took main responsibility

support Boulton

Question 19

Taking responsibility for children

Braun, Vincent and Ball (2011)

Answer 19

only 3 out of 70 families was father main carer
Most were “background fathers” - helping with childcare more about relationship with partner than responsibility towards child.
Most held “provider ideology” that their role was breadwinner and women primary carers - underpinned by “intensive mothering” in media telling women how to be good mothers

support Boulton

Question 20

Taking responsibility for children

Emotion work and triple shift

Arlie Russell Hochschild (2013)

Answer 20

Feminists noted women are required to perform emotion work where they are responsible for managing emotions and feelings of family members - handling squabbles, ensuring everyone is happy while exercising control of own emotions

Question 21

Taking responsibility for children

Emotion work and triple shift

Jean Duncombe and Dennis Marsden (1995)

Answer 21

argue women have to perform a “triple shift” of housework, paid work and emotion work

Question 22

Taking responsibility for quality time

Dale Southerton (2011)

Answer 22

Usually falls to mothers

Quality time has become increasingly difficult in today’s late modern society due to 24/7 society and flexible working patterns

Led to people’s time being more fragmented and ‘de-routinised’

Southerton notes although some studies show men and women have equal leisure time, they have different experiences of it

Women’s leisure time is punctuated by childcare. Women are also more likely to multi-task than men which indicates they are carrying a dual burden in which they face an increased volume of activities to be managed

Question 23

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Answer 23

The cultural or ideological explanation of inequality: division determined by patriarchal norms and values.
Women perform more domestic labour simply because it’s what society expects them to do and has socialised them to do

The material or economic explanation: women generally earn less means it is economically rational for women to do more housework and childcare while men spend more time earning money

Question 24

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Evidence for cultural explanation

Gershuny (1994)

Answer 24

found couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally. This suggests parental role models are important. He argues social values are gradually adapting to the fact women are now working full-time, establishing a new norm that men should do more work

Question 25

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Evidence for cultural explanation

Man Yee Kan (2001)

Answer 25

found younger men do more domestic work.

Future Foundation (2000) most men claimed to do more work than their fathers and women less work than their mothers - suggests generational shift in behaviour

Question 26

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Evidence for cultural explanation

The British Social Attitudes Survey (2013)

Answer 26

found less than 10% of under 35s agreed with traditional division of labour, as against 30% of over 65s
This indicates long term change in norms, values and attitudes, reflecting changes in the gender role socialisation of younger age groups in favour of more equal relationships

Question 27

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Evidence for cultural explanation

Gillian Dunne (1999)

Answer 27

found lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of absence of traditional heterosexual “gender scripts”

Question 28

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Evidence for material explanation

Kan

Answer 28

found for every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework per week

Question 29

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Evidence for material explanation

Sara, Arber and Jay Ginn (1995)

Answer 29

found better-paid, middle class women were more able to buy commercially produced products and services to help out with domestic labour and childcare rather than having to spend time carrying out labour-intensive domestic tasks

Question 30

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Evidence for material explanation

Xavier Ramos (2005)

Answer 30

found where the woman is the full-time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much domestic labour as she does

Question 31

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Evidence for material explanation

Sullivan

Answer 31

Sullivan shows working full-time rather than part-time makes biggest difference in how much domestic work each partner does. Sullivan suggests this may be because full-time work brings women’s earnings much closer to partners

Question 32

Explaining the gender division of labour

Rosemary Crompton and Claire Lyonette (2008)

Conclusion

Answer 32

Women often earn less - part-time work to look after child

Rosemary Crompton (1997) thus concludes there is no immediate prospect of more equal division if this depends on economic equality between sexes

Question 33

RESOURCES AND DECISION-MAKING IN HOUSEHOLDS

Michelle Barrett and Mary McIntosh (1991)

Answer 33

Men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support
The financial support that husbands give to wives is often unpredictable and comes with “strings attached”
Men usually make decisions about spending on important items

Question 34

Elaine Kempson (1994)

Answer 34

found among low income families, woman denied their own needs, seldom going out, and eating smaller portions of food or skipping meals altogether in order to make ends meet

Question 35

Inequality regarding resources within households

Answer 35

In many households a woman has no entitlement to a share of resources - likely to see anything she spends on herself as money ought to be spent on children
Even in households with adequate incomes, resources may be shared unequally leaving women in poverty

Question 36

Money management

Jan Pahl and Carolyn Voyager (1993)

Answer 36

identify two main types of control over family income:

The allowance system: men give wife an allowance which they have to budget to meet family’s needs with man retaining surplus income for himself

Pooling: both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure

Pooling is now most common money management system

Question 37

Decision-making

Pahl and Voyager (2007)

Answer 37

Often assumed pooling indicates equality in decision making and control over resources and more common amongst couples who both work full-time

However, where pooled income is controlled by the husband = more power in financial decisions

Pahl and Voyager (2007) found even where there was pooling, men usually made major financial decisions

Question 38

Decision-making

Irene Hardill’s (19997)

Answer 38

study of 30 dual-career professional couples found important decisions were usually taken by man alone or jointly and his career normally took priority when deciding to move house for a new job.
Supports Janet Finch’s (1983) observation that women’s lives tend to be structured around husbands careers