couples (division of labour ) Flashcards
nuclear family
two parents and children
single-parent family
one parent and children
blended family
step-parents and siblings
single-person household
living alone
changes to the family in the last 70 years
- acceptance of divorce
- acceptance of same-sex marriage and parenthood
- more blended families
- nuclear families no longer the norm (1/2)
- less children
marriage in the 19th century
- patriarchal
- a woman’s property became the man’s at marriage
- man could divorce from adultery, women needed proof of abuse
Parsons (functionalism)
identified 2 conjugal roles:
- instrumental role (man breadwinner)
- expressive role (female nurturer)
argues that gender division of labour is functional for the family and wider society as women naturally suited to nurturing, and men to providing.
Bott
distinguishes 2 conjugal roles:
- segregated conjugal roles (couples have separated roles: male breadwinner and female homemaker, leisure time taken separately)
- joint conjugal roles (couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and leisure time spent together)
WC more likely to have segregated roles due to proximity to family/friends
MC couples more likely to have joint roles due to less family influence
Young and Wilmott - march of progress view
Trend towards joint conjugal roles and ‘symmetrical family’ as: women now work, men help with housework and childcare, couples spend leisure time together. Symmetrical families among young couples who are isolated and affluent due to major social changes:
- women’s positions
- geographical mobility
- labour saving devices (new tech)
-higher standards of living
FACTORS INTERLINKED.
Found most husbands helped their wives at least once a week.
Bethnal Green study
showed patterns of segregated conjugal roles in traditional WC families
Oakley
15% husbands had high levels of participation in housework
25% husbands had high levels of participation in childcare
Women lost the rewards of childcare such as playing with the children, and were left to do more housework.
Boulton
Supports Oakley
Fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare.
Y+W exaggerated men’s contributions by looking at tasks involved in childcare instead of responsibilities. Fathers helped with specific tasks, but the mother almost always took responsibility for the child’s security and wellbeing.
Warde and Heatherington
Sex typing of domestic tasks remain
- wives 30x more likely to have been the last person doing the washing
- husbands 4x more likely to have been the last person washing the car
Men would carry out ‘female’ tasks when their partner wasn’t around.
Slight changed attitude younger men thought they were doing less than their part.
patriarchal
male-dominated
how does geographical mobility give rise to symmetrical families?
- couples can move away from older family who reinforce traditional views
- less support from extended family, making joint conjugal roles a necessity
what is the march of progress view on domestic division of labour?
optimistic view that women going to work is leading to a more equal division of labour at home.
Gershuny
found women working full time did less domestic work than other women
Sullivan’s (2000) analysis of data
since 1975, 1987 and 1997, a trend towards women doing a smaller share of domestic work, and men doing more- participating in more traditionally ‘women’s’ tasks
British social attitudes survey 2013
fall in the number of people who thought it was the man’s job to earn money, and the woman’s job to look after the home and family.
1984- 45% of men and 41% women agreed
2012- 13% men and 12% women agreed
what is the feminist view on domestic division of labour?
women going into paid work has not lead to greater equality in the division of domestic labour. There is little sign of the ‘new man’ so not an equal share of housework and childcare. Women now have a dual burden of paid work as well as domestic work.
British Social Attitudes survey 2012
- men on average did 8 hours housework a week
- women on average did 13 hours housework a week
- men on average did 10 hours care for family members a week
- women on average did 23 house care for family members a week
- 60% women felt the division of labour was unequal and unjust as they were doing more than their fair share.
Allan
argues women’s household tasks such as washing and cleaning are intrinsically satisfying
Boulton (childcare)
although fathers may help out with specific childcare tasks, it is usually the mother who takes responsibility for the child’s security and wellbeing
Ferri and Smith
found fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families
Dex and Ward (study)
found, although fathers had high levels of involvement with their three-year olds- 78% played with their children- only 1% of fathers took main responsibility for caring for a sick child
Brown, Vincent and Ball
Only 3 out of 70 families had the father as the main carer- most as ‘background fathers’. Fathers’ childcare was based around building a relationship with their child, not taking responsibility for the child. Most fathers had ‘provider ideology’ that mothers should be primary carers while they were the breadwinner, underpinned by ideas in the media about ‘intensive mothering’, teaching women how to be good mothers.
Hochschild
found women required to perform ‘emotional work’, so also responsible for regulating the feelings of family members, and having control over their own emotions.
Puncombe and Marsden
argue women have to perform a ‘triple shift’ involving housework, childcare and emotional work
Southerton
the coordinating, scheduling and managing of family quality time usually falls on mothers.
although studies show mothers and fathers have almost equal leisure time, men are more likely to have consolidated ‘blocks’ of uninterupted leisure time, whilst women’s leisure time is often punctuated by childcare.
women more likely to multitask, holding a dual burden.
Crompton and Lyonette
2 explanations for the division of labour:
- cultural explanation: determined by patriarchal norms and values in our culture. Society expects women to perform domestic labour, and socialises them into this norm from a young age
- material explanation: women earn less money than men, so its more economically beneficial for them to do childcare and housework while the man brings in a larger proportion of money
application of the cultural explanation
gendered toys for young children
Gershuny (cultural explanation)
housework more likely to be shared if have parental role models who do. social values gradually adapting to women in full-time work and establishing new norm for men doing domestic work
Man-Yee Kan (cultural explanation)
younger men do more domestic work due to generational shift in behaviour
Dunne (cultural explanation)
lesbian couples have a more symmetrical relationship because of the absence of traditional heterosexual ‘gender scripts’
application of material explanation
- childcare, so more economically beneficial for one parent to stay home
- gender pay gap
Arber and Ginn (material explanation)
better paid MC women are able to buy in commercial services which blur the division of labour (gardener, cleaner, nanny)
Ramos (material explanation)
is woman in full-time employment and man is unemployed he does as much domestic work
contradicting material explanation
- women still earning 14% less
- 7/8 households, men earn more
- Crompton (no immediate prospect of a more equal division of labour on economic equality between sexes)
Dunne (study) - same-sex couples and gender scripts
study of 17 lesbian couples with dependent children found they are more likely than heterosexual people to:
- share housework+ childcare
- describe relationship as equal
- view childcare positively
- give equal importance to both partners’ careers
DUE TO no pressure to conform to ingrained masculine and feminine ‘gender scripts’
Weeks and Smart
same-sex relationships offer great possibilities to of equality as the division of labour is open to negotiation and agreement, not based on patriarchal division
