Explain and assess the view that men continue to dominate family life. [25]

Question 1

FOR ;Ann Oakley - dual burden

Answer 1

Refers to the idea of women having paid work as well as doing housework.

Question 2

outline dual burden

Answer 2

feminists argue that women in paid work has not led to equality but simply to the dual burden of paid work plus domestic work. Men benefit from this:

Question 3

FOR; ferri and smith

Answer 3

Ferri and Smith: found that women working has had little impact on the division of labour - under 4% of fathers were the main child-care

Question 4

FOR; Studies of housework and childcare ;

Dryden (1999)

Answer 4

the idea that equality is central characteristic of marriage is strongly opposed by feminist sociologists.
studies of professional couples indicate that only a minority genuinely share housework and childcare.
for example;
Dryden (1999) : qualitative study of 17 married couples found that women still had a major responsibility for housework and childcare.

Question 5

FOR; Data from the British Household Panel Survey (2001)

Answer 5

suggests that the work domestic set up, women should do more in home than men.

• for example ; when both spouses work full time and even when the man is unemployed and his wife works and women would put more hours into domestic labor than men
• if it argued that unemployed men actually resist increased involvement in housework because they interpret it as un-masculine and as further threatening their roles as breadwinner

Question 6

Women is responsible for the emotional and well being of their partners and children ;
Duncombe and Marsden

Answer 6

• male partners have were lacking in terms of emotional participation whereby men found it difficult to express their feelings to tell how they felt to their partners and to emotionally relate to their children. they argue that this increases the burden for women because they feel they should attempt to compensate and please all parties in the home and consequently, women would spend a great deal of time soothing the emotions of partners and children

Question 7

FOR; violence in families ;
Mirlees Black (1999)

Answer 7

• an important aspect of power within the marriage is domestic violence - the power of men to control women by physical force.
• most common type of violence in UK
• although it is difficult to measure and document as some cases are place behind close doors, often without witnesses.
• Mirrlees Black - used data form the British Crime Survey, found that women were more likely to suffer domestic violence than men - 70% of reported domestic violence is violence by men against their female partners.

Question 8

nazroo (1999)

Answer 8

research indicates, wives often live in fear of men’s potential domestic violence / threats while husbands rarely feel frightened or intimidated by their wives potential for violence.

Question 9

reasons why domestic violence is a problem of patriarchy

Answer 9

feminists suggests that domestic violence is a problem of patriarchy die to several reasons:

1) women have failed to become good mothers/ partners
2) many boys and men are still brought up in traditional ways to believe that they should have economic and social power as breadwinners and heads of households
3) violence may be an aspect of the anxiety ; and attempt to re-assert and maintain power and control
- if men would feel threatened when women goes out and earn more

Question 10

FOR;
Men have a greater share of resources and bigger share in decision making because they earn more;
Jan Pahl

Answer 10

• power can also be examined in terms of the control of money.
• her study was based upon 102 couples with at least one child under 16
• Jan Pahl’s study on money management should be taken into
  consideration.
• In Pahl’s study, she managed to distinguish 4 types of money management system:
  husband-controlled pooling, wife-controlled pooling, husband control and wife control. It was discovered
  that husband-controlled pooling in which money was shared but the husband had the dominant role in
  choosing how it was spent, is the most common money management system in modern industrial
  societies. The least common would be wife-control, in which neither partners work and get money from
  the state benefits, but the women have power to control finances but this was seen as a burden since
  they are struggling to pay bills. Therefore, based on the most common money management system alone
  showed that conjugal roles are still not equally shared.

Question 11

CRITICISMS;

laurie and gershuny

Answer 11

Pahl were criticized by Laurie and Gershuny who analysed a survey conducted
between 1991 and 1995. According to the survey, joint-decision making between partners had increased
from 65% in 1991 to 70% in 1995. Furthermore, the percentage of men as the sole decision maker
decreased from 25% in 1991 to 20% in 1995. Hence these numerical data showed that conjugal roles in
modern industrial societies may be more equal than what Pahl mentioned.

Question 12

FOR ;

Ann Oakley - examining the time spent by men and women in household related activities

Answer 12

Other than decision-making and power in family life, it is also best to examine the time spent by men and
women in household related activities. According to Ann Oakley, she discovered that only 15% of men in
relationships will help in the household tasks regardless whether the women have full-time paid
employment or not. This can be supported by Elston’s study on couples with professional employments
that is as doctors that women are still the main person to be responsible of domestic chores. Moreover,
Elston discovered that 71% of women are the ones who will take time off when their child is sick. Thus,
showing that conjugal roles are not equal.

Question 13

AGAINST ANN OAKLEY

Answer 13

Oakley’s and Elston’s arguments can be disproved by considering Young and Willmott’s study who stated
that family in modern industrial societies are becoming more symmetrical. In fact, they argued that 72% of
men in relationships will spend their time helping the women with household chores and domestic labour.
Hence, showing that the view that in modern industrial societies, a main feature of conjugal roles is
inequality may be inaccurate.

Question 14

CONCLUSION

Answer 14

In conclusion, postmodernist Stacey argue that arguments of whether inequality in conjugal roles in
modern industrial society still lacks evidence. This is because much studies do not take into account the
diversity of families especially in the case of the roles of a lone-parent and their children in lone-parent
families. This debate of whether inequality in conjugal roles really is a feature in modern industrial
societies is inconclusive.