Domestic Division Of Labour Flashcards
Domestic division of labour
The way that jobs and roles are shared between men and women in the home
Instrumental role
Financially provides for the family, known as the breadwinner
Expressive role
Being the homemaker (cooking, cleaning, childcare) and meeting the family’s emotional needs
What does Parsons believe the division of labour is based on?
Biological difference, women are naturally suited to the nurturing role and men to that of breadwinner
Who talked about conjugal roles?
Elizabeth Bott
Segregated conjugal roles
The couple have separate roles based around gender and leisure activities tend to be separate
Joint conjugal roles
The couple share takes such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together
Where did Willmott and Young conduct their study?
Bethnal Green in East London
What did Willmott and Young find in the 1950s?
A pattern of segregated conjugal roles in traditional working class extended families
What did Willmott and Young find about men in the 1950s?
They played little part in home life and spent leisure time with workmates in pubs, often working in shipyards and docks
What did Willmott and Young find about women in the 1950s?
They were full time housewives with sole responsibility for housework, cooking and childcare
What view did Willmott and Young take in the 1970s in Bethnal Green?
A functionalist march of progress view
What did W+M see family life as becoming in the 70s?
Equal and democratic, which a trend from segregated towards joint conjugal roles and symmetrical families
How did the family become more symmetrical?
Women now go out to work, men now help with housework and childcare, couples now spend their leisure time together, they are more privatised
How did labour saving devices contribute to the move toward a symmetrical family?
Made running the house much quicker as the housewife is no longer a full time job and this made men more likely to get involved in chores
How has the changing position of women contributed to the symmetrical family?
The women’s liberation movement demanded equal pay and opportunities, more women working part/full time
What percent of husbands did housework other than washing up during the course of the week?
72%
What did W+Y claim the move from segregated to joint was because of?
Women breaking ties with their female kin and drawing the husband into the family more
Oakley criticism of Willmott and Young
It may sound impressive that 72% of men did housework other than washing up but it was based upon one simple badly designed question. She found only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework
Warde and Hetherington
The sex typing of domestic roles still exist, with wives more likely to wash the clothes and husband more likely to wash the car
How much more likely are women to be the last person to have done the washing according to warde and hetherington?
30x
