Gender Roles

Question 1

Conjugal Roles

Answer 1

The rise of the nuclear family has led to joint conjugal roles within the household

Question 2

2 ways that household jobs can be shared

Answer 2

Segregated Roles
- Husbands and wives lead separate lives with distinct responsibilities in the family.
- The man goes outside, does DIY ect
- The women stays home, looks after the kids and cooks/ cleans

Joint Roles
- Husband and wives roles are more flexible and shared, with less defined tasks for each.
- Leisure time and responsibility for making decisions is shared

Question 3

Functionalist Perspective

Answer 3

• For functionalists, men & women still largely perform different tasks and roles within the family because its the most effective way of keeping society running smoothly

Question 4

Marxists Perspective

Answer 4

• Marxists link gender roles to the power of capitalism to control family life
• Men and women have different roles because capitalism works better that way

Question 5

Feminist Perspective

Answer 5

• For feminists, inequality in household roles demonstrates inequality in power between men and women
• A patriarchal society will produce unequal conjugal roles because society’s systems and values will benefit men at the expense of women

Question 6

Child abuse

Answer 6

A parent/ carer is able to abuse a child by manipulating the responsibilities and trust which accompany their role.

Question 7

Domestic Violence

Answer 7

there are 570,000 cases of domestic violence every year in the UK
- Before 1991, British law states that men were entitled to have sex with their wife against her will. But that changed in 1991, with the introduction of a rape law that meant the husband could be charged for raping his wife.
– Radical feminists say that laws and social policies traditionally worker to subordinate women and keep men in control