couples (resources/ decision-making)

Question 1

Kempson (decision-making)

Answer 1

among low-income families, women denied their own needs, eating smaller portions and skipping meals to make ends meet

Question 2

Family members do not share resources such as food and money equally

Answer 2

In many households, women have no entitlement to a share of household income, so they spend their money on their children, as they feel guilty spending it on themselves, often leaving them in poverty

Question 3

Barret and McIntosh (patriarchy in r+dm)

Answer 3

men gain far more from women’s domestic work then they give back in financial support, as that comes with strings. Men tend to make decisions on important purchases

Question 4

Pahl and Volger (feminism in r+dm)

Answer 4

two types of control over family income:
- allowance system (men give their wives allowances of which they must budget to the family’s needs, with the man retaining any left over money)
- pooling (both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure. seen in symmetrical families)

Question 5

why are resources and decision making often unequal?

Answer 5

• pooled income often controlled by man, giving them more power
• Hardill (found important decisions were usually taken by the man alone or jointly. man’s career was prioritised when making major decisions)
• Finch (found women’s lives tend to be structured around husband’s career)

Question 6

Edgell study of professional couples

Answer 6

• important decisions taken by man or man with final say- because they earn more, women more economically dependent
• important decisions about children taken by woman
• less important decisions (food purchases) taken by woman

Question 7

Laurie and Gershunny

Answer 7

• 70% of couples said they have a more equal say in 1995
• support of the economic/material explanation of gender inequality

Question 8

feminist view on inequality in decision making

Answer 8

• patriarchal society makes it culturally acceptable to ingrain that men make decisions through gender role socialisation

Question 9

Volger (meaning of money)

Answer 9

cohabiting couples less likely to pool money due to desire for independence

Question 10

Nyman (meaning of money)

Answer 10

money has no fixed meaning as meanings reflect the nature of the relationship

Question 11

personal life perspective on money

Answer 11

focuses on meanings couples give to who controls the money as members may not see their system as unequal

Question 12

Smart

Answer 12

same-sex couples attach no importance to who controls money, as it doesn’t mean equality or inequality as money is not a source of power due to freedom of gender types.

Question 13

Weeks

Answer 13

some pooling but there are separate accounts for personal spending