Feminist Views on Gender Roles

Question 1

Feminist View of Housework

Answer 1

• reject march of progress view
• argue that little has changed: men and women still remain unequal within the family
• women still do most of the housework
• see this inequality as stemming from the fact that the family and society are male dominated
• woman occupy a subordinate and dependant role within the family and wider society
• the housewife role is socially constructed

Question 2

Oakley

Answer 2

• criticises Y & W view that the family is now symmetrical.
• argues that claims are exaggerated
  She interviewed 40 housewives in London and found some evidence of husbands helping in the home but no evidence of a trend towards symmetry.
• husbands only take part in childcare than housework but only it’s more pleasurable aspects such as playing and day trips
• However this could mean that mothers lost rewards of childcare, such as playing with the children and were simply left with more time for housework

Question 3

Boulton

Answer 3

• support Oakley’s findings
• found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare
• she argues that Y & W exaggerate mens contribution by looking at the tasks involved in childcare.
• A father might help with specific tasks but it was almost always the mother who was responsible for the childs security and well being.

Question 4

Warde and Hetherington

Answer 4

• found that sex typing of domestic tasks remained strong
  In other words women and men carry out gender specific roles e.g. women washing up and men cleaning the car
• Men only carry out female related tasks when their partners were not around to do so

Question 5

Gershuny

Answer 5

• women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home
  Using studies he found that these women did less domestic work than other women

Question 6

Boulton

Answer 6

points that although fathers may help by performing specific childcare tasks, it is usually the mother who takes responsibility for the childs security and well being.
findings supported by Ferri & Smith, Dex & Ward and Braun, Vincent & Ball

Question 7

Ferri and Smith

Answer 7

• fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families
• DUAL BURDEN : paid work and unpaid housework
• therefore the family is still patriarchal as men now benefit from womens earnings and domestic labour

Question 8

Dex and Ward

Answer 8

although fathers had quite high levels of involvement in the more enjoyable activities only a small minority took main responsibility when it came to caring for a sick child

Question 9

Braun, Vincent and Ball

Answer 9

• only 3/70 families father was found to be the main carer
• Most were ‘BACKGROUND FATHERS’ helping with childcare was more about their relationship with their partner then their responsibility towards their children
• most fathers held a ‘provider ideology’ that their role was as breadwinners while the mother was the primary caregiver.
  This was underpinned by ideas about ‘intensive mothering’ in the media telling women how they should be good mothers

Question 10

Hoschild

Answer 10

women are required to perform emotion work where they are responsible for managing the emotions and feelings of family members such as handling fights between siblings

Question 11

Duncombe and Marsden

Answer 11

women have to perform a TRIPLE SHIFT of housework, paid work and emotion work

Question 12

Southerton

Answer 12

women are responsible for the co - ordination, scheduling and managing of the family’s quality time together
However this has become difficult due to recent social changes such as the emergence of the 24/7 society and flexible working patterns, which makes it difficult to find the time when the whole family can be together

Question 13

Gatrell

Answer 13

• fathers are now more involved in their childrens upbringing than ever before.
  some reasons: marriages are no longer forever due to the breakdown of adult relationships. But their relationship with their children lasts a lifetime. Their own fathers were uninvolved so they want to be better dads towards their children.
• Men are now fully involved in the upbringing of their children - from ‘fun activities such as playing or trips to feeding, bathing and school runs

Question 14

+C: Gatrell

Answer 14

It can be argued they only spend more time with children in order to avoid doing housework

Question 15

Crompton and Lyonette

Answer 15

identify two explanations for the unequal division of labour:
- The Cultural or Ideological Explanation of Inequality:
the division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape the gender roles in our culture. Women perform more domestic tasks simply because it is what society expects and has socialised them to do
- The Material or Economic Explanation of Inequality
The fact that women earn less than men means it is economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare while men spend more of their time earning money

Question 16

Evidence for the Cultural Explanation: Gershuny

Answer 16

those couples whose parents had an equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally themselves. This suggests parental role models are important.
He argues that social values are gradually adapting to the fact that women are now working full time, establishing the new norm that men should do more domestic work

Question 17

Evidence for the Cultural Explanation: Man Yee Kan

Answer 17

• found that younger men do more domestic work.
• trend towards greater equality as younger generations of men did more work then their own fathers did
• better educated women do less housework as they expect more from their partner
• the factors which made a difference were the womans earning power, how educated and how young.

Question 18

Evidence for the Cultural Explanation: Dunne

Answer 18

lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of the absence of GENDER SCRIPTS
- heterosexual partners are under pressure to conform

Question 19

Gender Scripts - Dunne

Answer 19

different social expectations of men and women

Question 20

Evidence for the Material Explanation: Sara Arber and Ginn

Answer 20

better paid m/c women were able to buy commercially produced products and services such as labour saving devices, ready meals, domestic help and childcare rather than having to spend time to carry out labour intensive domestic tasks themselves

Question 21

Evidence for the Material Explanation: Ramos

Answer 21

unemployed men with working wives do as much domestic labour as their partners

Question 22

Evidence for the Material Explanation: Sullivan

Answer 22

working full time rather than part time makes the biggest difference in terms of how much domestic work each partner does.
- this may be because working full time brings womens earnings much closer to those of their partner

Question 23

Criticism

Answer 23

• many feminists argue that in reality the extent of this is limited: women still continue to shoulder a dual or triple burden. And even if men are doing more tasks remain gendered. It is still women who are expected to take responsibility for housework and childcare.
• the root of all problem is patriarchal norms and values that shape society’s expectations about the domestic roles that men and women ought to perform.
• patriarchy also ensures women earn less at work and so have less bargaining power in the home. Until patriarchy is successfully challenged in the home and the workplace therefore the domestic division of labour is likely to remain unequal.

Question 24

Morris

Answer 24

studied families in which men were unemployed and women worked to see if they did more housework and childcare
- found that men saw housework as womens work
felt they had lost their masculinity and so refused as this would have undermined further

Question 25

Silver and Schor

Answer 25

Death of the Housewife Role: burden of housework has been reduced for two reasons

1. Housework has become commercialised e.g. microwaves
2. women working so they can afford goods and services

Question 26

Bott

Answer 26

argues the most important influence on whether a couple have segregated or joint conjugal roles is the circle of friends and family each partner have built before their relationship
- the closer the relationship with their friends, the more likely they are to have segregated conjugal roles as they have friends of their own. Therefore the network of friends acts as a form of social control that reinforces traditional gender roles