domestic labour

Question 1

what is the functionalist view on domestic labour?

Answer 1

• suggest that domestic labour is more suited to women due to their biological traits
• typified by Parson’s sex role theory where women are encouraged to take on the expressive role

Question 2

what was Jillian Dunne’s study in 1997 and what did she find?

Answer 2

• investigated same-sex couples to see what the patterns are in relation to who does housework, and if these patterns reflect those of traditional heterosexual relationships
• conducted a survey of 37 cohabiting lesbians with young children, focusing on the negotiation of tasks within the household
• found that because lesbian couples do not have the traditional gender scripts, their relationship was much more egalitarian
• on average the couples had a 40:60 split of household chores

Question 3

what statistics show the cost of domestic labour?

Answer 3

• ONS survey 2016 valued unpaid domestic labour at £1 trillion a year while other surveys have suggested that a woman will do between £25,000 and £35,000 worth of unpaid labour annually
• women’s unpaid labour accounts for £700 billion of this total

Question 4

what do Marxist feminists suggest about domestic labour?

Answer 4

• suggest that it serves the needs of capitalism as this is ‘free labour’ which allows finances to be focused on the wider economy and increases consumption of goods and services by families

Question 5

why do women do more?

Answer 5

• gender pay gap - when deciding on cutting down hours in employment, men will earn more and therefore women are more likely to reduce hours in work
• 2019 labour force survey suggest 3 in 10 women reduce working hours in comparison to 1 in 20 men for childcare provision
• However, this does not explain reasons for families with both partners working full-time being unequal

Question 6

what application of feminism is there to domestic labour?

Answer 6

• the study of housework and other domestic labour emerged as a result of the growth of second wave feminism
• Oakley examined the role of women’s dual burden in her study of the conventional family
• Delphy and Leonard suggested that the unpaid labour produced by women was a form of oppression that served the needs of men

Question 7

what evaluative points can be made on domestic labour?

Answer 7

• Kan and Laurie 2016 - amounts of unpaid labour often reliant upon levels of education of women compared with their partners
• Crompton and Lynette 2008 - income level of women also indicates level of unpaid labour men and women will perform

Question 8

what is Gershuny’s ‘lagged adaptation’ 2008?

Answer 8

• more women in the workplace, both parents working so men not realising they need to step up in doing domestic labour and looking after children

Question 9

what is Jan Pahl’s ‘partial pooling’ 1980?

Answer 9

• a powerful symbol of marital togetherness where couples combine joint accounts - provides couples with a way of maintaining individual autonomy while also sharing resources
• people choosing to maintain part of their income in a sole account