Gender Roles Flashcards
Changes in Family Structure
Functionalism
industrial changed funcs of fam
Parsons - dom struc changed from exten to nuc = loss of funcs & geo mobile
pre indust = prescribed status via fam - indust = ach outside of fam - nuc = best for soc mobility
Parsons
instrumental - husband = breadwinner
expressive - mother = homemaker
based on bio difs = ben to fam & wider soc
Evaluation of Parsons
MofP - Young & Willmott (1962) men now take a bigger share of tasks - m wives = wage earners
Fems - div of labour X nat/bio - bens men only
Evaluation of Functionalism
crit for idealised view of history - when really = m variety in past
Laslett
Anderson
Bott: Joint & Segregated Conjugal Roles (1957)
seg - = sep roles - male breadwinner & female homemaker - leisure activities = sep
joint - share housework & childcare - leisure = together
Young & Willmott (1973)
fam gone thro 4 stages:
1. pre indust - work togeth as econ unit - work & home = combo
2. earlier indust - exten fam = broke in 2 - men leave to find work - women at home
3. privatised nuc - based on consump = focused on relas & lifestyle = sym
4. asymmetrical - men spend m leisure time away
Y&W Symmetrical Family (1973)
MofP view - fam life improv for all = m equal & democratic, LT trend away from seg conjugal roles = joint & sym fam
Studies on Roles
Y&W (1973)
Bethnal Green = WC area in London
1970s = m sym
m common in younger m geo iso & m affluent couples
bc of changes in women’s position, geo mobil, new tech & higher stans of living
Wilikinson (1994)
inc nums of women working bc econ X male dom insdut sec anymore = female dom service sector
women’s attitudes to work & fam = dif - early 1990s between 16-35 work & edu = m NB than fam
= female econ influ on fam via employ - 2012 41% women & 36% men - best struc w/ kids = fulltime man & part time woman
Y&W Critcisms
assume fam life = better
ignore negs - dv child abuse lack of care for older mems
fems see research suggesting equal roles in sym fam as X
Feminist View of Housework
reject MofP
women still unequal in fam
still do m of housework & childcare
stems from fact social media = patri
Oakley (1974)
some evi husbands help at home
no trend to sym
only 15% = high level ptp in hw & 25% in childcare
men do pleasureable aspects of childcare - women left w/ m time for housework
Boulton (1983)
less than 20% husbands have major role in childcare
mums = overall responsibility for child’s sec & wellbeing
Warde & Hetherington (1993)
sex typing dom tasks = strong
men only do female tasks when women X there
some change in younger men - no longer assume women should do all hw
March of Progress View on Equality
= optimistic view - couples grad becomming m equal
men = m involved in hw & childcare
women m involved in paid work
Gershuny (1994)
women working fulltime = m equal labour div - working women spend less time doing hw than others
Sullivan (2000)
trend to women doing smaller share of dom work since 1975
inc num of couples w/ equal div
men m likely to do female tasks
British Social Attitudes Survey (2013)
dec in those thinking = mans job to earn money & woman hw
men = av 8hrs of hw per week - women = 13
men = 10hrs of care women = 23
Feminists on Equality
women doing £ work X led to inc equal = little evi of new man = dual burden
fathers help w/ specific child tasks - women respon for overall wellbeing
Studies on Childcare
Ferri & Smith (1996) dads take respon for childcare in less than 4% of fams
Dex & Ward (2007) 78% dads would play w/ 3yros only 1% care when sick
Braun Vincent & Ball (2011) 3/70 fams had dad as main carer - m = background fathers w/ provider ideo - mums = prim carers - intensive mothering messages tell how to be good mum
Emotion Work & Triple Shift
Hochschild (2013) emo work = aspect of carer role - managing feelings of fam mems eg jealousies, squabbles - have own emos too
Dunscombe & Marsden (1995) = 3rd strand of woman’s role = triple shift of £ work, dom work & emo work
Quality Time
Southerton (2011) mums have respon for coord, scheduling & managing qual time together
= m dif due to 24/7 soc, m flexi work - time = deroutinised & frag, men & women have almost equal amounts of leisure time but = dif - men = solid - women = punctuated by dual burden
Explaining Gender Division of Labour
Crompton & Lyonette (2008) = 2 explans for unequal div in labour:
cul/ideo - patri norms & values shape gender roles - women soc into doing m dom work
material/econ - women earn less - makes fin sense to do more
Evidence for Cultural Explanation
equality only ach when N’s about GRs change
Gershuny (1994) couples whose ps = m equal m likely to be equal - RMs = NB - soc v’s changing to accept fulltime women & men doing dom work
Man Yee Kan (2001) younger men do m dom work
Studies on Cultural Explanation
Future Foundation (2000) m mem & women claim to do more&less hw than p’s = gen shift
Brit Soc Attitudes Survey (2013) less than 10% under 35 agree w/ trad div of labour = 30% 65+ = LT change
Dunne (1999) lesbian couples have m equal relas = X hetero gender scripts
Evidence for Material Explanation
if women join labour force & earn as much as man dom work m likely to be equal
but in 7/8 HHs women earn less - m likely to work part-time
Crompton (1997) argues no prospect of equal divison if depends on econ equal
Studies on Material Explanation
Kan (2001) for every £10k per year more a women earns she does less hw per week
Arber & Ginn (1995) better paid MC women able to buy in goods & services to red amount of dom work have to do
Ramos (2003) if man = unemploy does as much dom work as woman
Sullivan (2000) fulltime work red dom lab m than parttime
Decision Making & Resource Sharing
Edgell (1980) reviewed MC couples - men have control over DM that both see as NB & women over minor ones - linked to men earning m
Pahl (1989&93) in 100 dual income fams men m likely to control pooling & how spent
Weeks (2001)pool into joint account but have some in personal account so = some control
Smart (2007) s-s couples X link control over money w/in equity - org based on what best for them
Decision Making
= inequals in - how resources shared out, who controls income, who has power to decide how spend
Barrett & Mclntosh (1991) men gain m from women’s dom work - give fin sup = unpred/has strings & men make NB £ decisons
Studies on Inequality of Resources & Decision Making
Kempson (1994) in low income fams women deny own needs - don’t go out, eat less & skip meals
many don’t have access to HH resources, see spending on self as wrong, even in higher income HHs many in pov bc of unequal sharing
Studies on Money Management
Pahl & Vogler (1993) = 2 main types of control over fam income
allowance system - men give set amount to wives for spending on HH needs
Pooling - joint access to £ & respon for spending = m common
Studies on Decision Making
Pahl & Vogler (2007) even when pooling occurs men usually make maj fin decisions
Hardill (1997) 30 dual couples, NB decisions taken by man alone/ jointly - mans career = prior over womans
Finch (1983) women’s lives tend to = struc around husbands career
Criticism of Edgell (1980)
Laurie & Gershuny (2000) by 1995 70% couples had equal say in decisions - women who were high earning pros = m likely to have equal say - sups mat explan of inequal between couples
Meaning of Money - PLP
pooling X always mean equality - who controls, do they contribute equally, if earn dif amounts but contrib same is it equal
keeping money sep X = inequal - cohab = less likely to pool - but m likely to share dom tasks equally
Nyman (2003) to understand equality need to understand money meaning for each indu & couple
PLP Studies on Money
Smart (2007) some gay/lesbain couples don’t care who controls money - happy to leave to other - didn’t see as indicator of equality
Weeks et al (2001) typical pattern in pooling some money for HH spending & sep for everything else
Domestic Violence Overview
too widespread to be the work of a few - doesn’t occur randomly - follows patterns
women killed every 3 days by current/ex partner - dv every 6-20 seconds
570k reported cases in Uk every year
Patterns of Domestic Violence
Women’s Aid Federation (2014) accounts for up to 1/4 of all violent crime
Crime Survey for Eng & W (2013) 2 mil ppl reported being vic of dv in previous yr
Coleman (2007) women 4x m likely to exper intimate abuse
Coleman & Osborne (2010) 2 women a week 1/3 of all murder vic killed by partner/ex partner
Dobash & Dobash (1997&2007)
wives = slapped pushed beaten, raped & killd by husbands - rape in mar only illegal from 1991 - set off by challenge to male auth mar legits violence by conferring power & auth on men & depen on women
Patterns of Domestic Violence
Continued
Crime Survey for Eng & W (2013) rela narrow gender gap of Dv vics - 7.3% women 5% men - still sig in terms of severity frequency & effects
Walby & Allen (2004) women much m likely to be vics of multi incidents of abuse & sexual violence
Ansara & Hindin (2011) women suffer m severe violence & control w/ m severe psycho effects - m likely to be afraid of partner
Dar (2013) dif to count sep incidents may = constant/occur too often to count
Official Statistics
understate extent of prob
vics = unwilling to report - yearnshire (1997) women suffer ave of 35 attacks b4 report - Dar (2013) fear of reprisal / see as trivial
police/prosc unwilling to record prosc - Cheal (1991) police X assume fam = priv X interfere, fam = good women = free to leave
Explanations of Domestic Violence
Radical Feminist
patterns of DV = evidence of patri
men = enemy, fam & mar = source of oppression - men dom w/ threat of dv = inevi in patri soc = way to control women - male dom of state institus expls why = reluctant to investi/ deal w/
Evaluation of Radical Feminist Explanation
Elliott (1996) not all men = agres & most = op to dv
fail to expl female violence - CSEW (2013) 18% men have experienced of DV since age of 16
assume all women = equal risk
funcs - fams work harmoniously
PMs - ppl have m choice to leave & avoid
Phillips (2003) women can abuse men too & male vics = ignored
Explanations of Domestic Violence
Materialist
Wilkinson & Pickett (2010)
dv = result of stress on fam mems caused by soc inequal - low income leads to m stress & inabil to maintain stable caring rela = inc risk of violence
Evaluation of Materialist Explanation
useful for showing how soc inequal produces stress & triggers violence & why = class difs
doesn’t expl why men m likely to commit
