Division Of Labour Flashcards
Parsons theory of division of labour is
That there’s an instrumental and expressive role for men and women respectively and that this is functional and natural in terms of what the genders are better predisposed to do.
Wilmott and Young are responsible for the…
March of progress view
What is the march of progress view?
The theory that in relation to gender equality, times are changing gradually in the right direction.
How might feminists criticise the functionalist view on the domestic division of labour?
They would say it only benefits men in that they do not do the meanial work in the house and that women more often do more work anyway. The men gets the better arrangement
Elizabeth Bott in the 1950s posited what theory?
Joint and segregated conjugal roles
What’s the difference between joint and separate conjugal roles?
Joint: the couple share the households work as best they can across all aspects
Separated: the man and woman have accepted separate roles, and even live separate social lives around and away from one another.
The march of progress view informs the theory of the ____________ family by ________ and ________
Symmetrical.
Wilmott and Young
The theory of the symmetrical family posits that..
Family’s are becoming more equal and open to discussing or being democratic about the domestic work.
Husband and wife are more similar than ever before.
Women can and do work full time and men are expected more than ever to be present fathers.
Wilmott and Young found in their study of symmetrical families that…
The more financially secure and remote couples were, correlated with symmetry in domestic work.
It’s also been found however that the younger more affluent couples tended to be the most equal.
What about class/money could affect domestic division of labour that needs considering?
- technological access that makes tasks more convenient.
- Education encouraged as a path for women to go down more than ever.
- access to childcare.
Oakley criticises Wilmott and Young from a Liberal feminist persuasion. How?
She said most men still aren’t doing the most they could/should be doing.
For example …
. Mary Boulton found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare in the 1980s (so this may be outdated)
. Oakley reported that only 15% of the husbands she interviewed did a substantial amount of domestic work work could be compared to their wives
(This has likely changed though)
Gershuny argues that women…
In working more than ever full time have lead to more work at home being picked up by their male partners.
Using time studies they found that these women compared to others still did less domestic work.
The British social attitudes survey of ____ found what?
2017,
A fall in the number of people thinking that it’s the man’s job to earn the salary for the house
Only 8% agreed compared to over 43% in the 1980s
In 2012, the British social attitudes survey found what about men’s housework and their wives’ thoughts?
Only 8 hours housework average, was being done whereas women were doing 13 hours.
60% of women asked, reported that they thought the division of labour was unfair.
Braun, Vincent and Ball found what about fathers?
Only 1/70 fathers were the primary carer of the child, most of them had a
‘Provider ideology’ and thus an idea about the mother’s duty to be motherly.