Division Of Domestic Labour And Power In The Family Flashcards
Pasrsons instrumental and expressive role (functionalist)
For Parsons, as a functionalist, the division is based on biological differences with men and women best suited for particular roles. Instrumental role is where the husband is gear towards providing financial resources as the
breadwinner, and the expressive role is where the wife is geared towards security and emotional support as the homemaker.
Evaluation of Parsons theory ( expressive and instrumental roles)
WEAKNESSES
- out of date as it doesn’t take into account the fact that women work mow
- sexist - feminists are highly critical of the idea the women’s place is in the home
Bott - joint and segregated conjugal roles
Segregated conjugal roles are activities in a couple, that men and women do separately to each other, while men go out to work and women stay at home, however, men and women also spend the leisure time apart
Joint Conjugal roles are where couple share roles and tasks within the family, such as some types of housework, childcare and leisure time
Evaluation of Bott ( joint and segregated roles)
STRENGTH
- supporting evidence by Wilmott and Young in their study of families in Bethnal Green. Men were breadwinners and women were full time homemakers
WEAKNESSES
- out of date - doesn’t take into account most women work now
Wilmott and Young the symmetrical family
They have a march of progress view, this means that gradually things have improved for all members of the family overtime. Family life is becoming more equal with a move away from segregated roles towards joint ones. They are more symmetrical and similar. If not, yet identical men and women roles have become similar and balanced.
Feminist views of housework (Oakley)
Oakley is highly critical of Wilmott and Young, and says the family is far from symmetrical. She says since industrialisation in the 19th century, paid work is separate from the work in the home . Men went out to be a breadwinner and women were confined in the home to childcare. This brought about women’s economic dependence on men and their subordinate role as homemaker was socially constructed in her research she found only 15% of husbands had a high-level of participation and housework and 25% had a high-level of participation in childcare
Evaluation of Oakley research ( men still do less housework and childcare)
STRENGTHS
- supporting evidence
- office for national statistics supports sec differences in housework
WEAKNESSES
- unrepresentative sample
- out of date - 3/4 of all ,arrived and cohabiting women are being economically active
The impact of paid work (women work more now) + evidence from Gershuny, Gregson and Lowe, and ONS
One major change in the economy that has had a clear effect upon the family life and the division of domestic labour is women now participate much more in paid work. Sociologists are interested in whether this has caused men to do more duties that are domestic and whether there has been a march of progress or whether women have a duel burden or double or triple shift.
Gershuny - march of progress, over 20 years the amount that men are doing in housework has increased and with women working full time this decreased time spent on housework
Gregson and Lowe - point out there are major class differences in the division of labour suggesting middle class women may be able to afford cleaners, child care etc whereas working class women still face the dual burden
ONS - found women carry out an average of 60% more unpaid domestic work than men do. On average men do 16 hours a week compared to 26 hours for women
Cultural explanation of gender differences in domestic labour
Patriarchal norms and values shape gender roles
- supported by BSA who found 10% of under 35, agreed with traditional view of domestic arrangements
And Morris, who studied families where husbands were unemployed, and the wife worked, she found the unemployed men did not compensate by doing more housework
Material explanations of gender differences in domestic labour (support by Kan)
Idea that men on average earn more so it is finically more viable for women to be more involved with the expressive role.
- supported by Kan who found women did around 65% of the household chores, even when they worked and Ramos in contrast to Morris found in families where women worked full-time and men were unemployed the men did as much housework as women.
Decision making power in the family (Edgell) (supported by Hardhill)
Edgell - interviewed 38 middle-class couples. He asked them who made the decisions and how important they were. He found that women made more decisions, but less important ones, but men made fewer but more powerful decisions.
Hardill - support Edgells work and found the important decisions were taken by the man alone. This may be because men traditionally earned more money women have been socialisied to being passive or men’s masculinity is threatened if they do not have control.
Financial control and power in the family (Vogler and Pahl)
Vogler - found a sharp decrease in the allowance system and a large increased in pooling. This could well be because both partners are now working.
Pahl - interviewed 102 couples. She found that the most common arrangement was husband controlled pooling and this is where money was shared, but husband’s control spending, the second most common arrangement was wife controlled pooling. The least common arrangement was where woman control the finances.
Physical power - domestic violence in the family
An example of darker side of family life. Mirrless-Black conducted a survey of 16,000 people and found men commit 99% of all incidents against women, most victims are women and one quarter of women are likely to be assaulted by partner during their lifetime as well as two women dying on average each week because of domestic assault.
Cultural explanation of domestic violence (Firestone)
radical feminist such as Firestone believes society is patriarchal, and that domestic violence is inevitable with men, expressing their dominance and power over women with violence.
Dobash and Dobash found similar findings in Scotland and tried to get an insight into why it occured. They found domestic incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as challenges to his authority.
Material explanation of domestic violence - inequality and stress (Wilkinson)
Wilkinson says domestic violence is the result of inequality as poor families live in overcrowded conditions and have more financial worries causing stress. This reduces the chances of stable, caring relationships and can spill over into domestic violence.
Marxist feminists such as Ansley would suggest that men take out their frustrations from work on their wives and they are the takers of shit
