Gender roles

Question 1

What is domestic division of labour

Answer 1

Roles that men and women perform in the home
- according to functionalists, in traditional NF these roles are segregated conjugal roles (the couple have separate and distinct roles)

Question 2

Parsons view on gender roles in the family

Answer 2

Husband - instrumental role
[breadwinner, working to financially support the family]

Wife - expressive role
[houswife, responsible for childcare, housework & emotional well being of the family]

According to parsons, the division of labour in natural and normal because it is based on the biological differences between men and women.
Thus segregated division of labour benefits everyone - children, men, women and society

Question 3

Symmetrical family

Answer 3

Willmott and Young
March of progress view
[they claim that over time family has become egalitarian ]

Argue that, since the 1960s, there has been a trend from segregated conjugal roles to joint conjugal roles whereby women and men share all responsibilities equally = symmetrical family

Question 4

Characteristics of the symmetrical family

Answer 4

Partners share common friends, leisure interests

Partners have interchangeable and flexible roles

Both partners are in paid employment,

household chores are shared with men taking on the tasks traditionally seen as women’s responsibility such as washing up.

Make decisions jointly

Question 5

Feminist view on gender roles

Answer 5

In oppostion to WIllmott and Young, feminists argue that gender roles have not become joint.

Men + women are not equal in the family because society is patriarchal.

[some feminists support W&Y and other disprove W&Y]

Question 6

Boulton

Answer 6

w&y exaggerate men’s contribution. Men will carry out some childcare tasks, but the care of children is still the women’s responsibility. (20% of men took a major role in childcare)

Therefore as long as childcare is the women’s responsibility, regardless of whether the man helps out, the family is not symmetrical.

Question 7

Warde and Hetherington

Answer 7

Sex-typing of domestic tasks remains, Women and men carry out gender specific roles.

Men carry out routine ‘female’ tasks only when women aren’t around.

Question 8

Oakley

Answer 8

Argues that family is not symmetrical. Interviewed 40 housewives and found that only 15% of husbands have a high level of participation in housework, only 25% of husbands have a high level of participation in childcare.

[housewife role is socially constructed - 19th century women - labour force]

Question 9

Ferri and Smith

Answer 9

Women work outside the home in paid employment and still do most of the housework and childcare (dual burden). Even when women do work, men take the main responsibilities for childcare in fewer than 4% of families.

Question 10

Dunscombe and Mardsen

Answer 10

Women do the triple shift:

• paid employment
• domestic labour (housework + childcare)
• emotion work

Question 11

Gatrell

Answer 11

Fathers now more involved in their childrens upbringing than ever before.
REASONS:
- marriages are no longer forever while parents relationship with children can be expected to last a lifetime.
- their own fathers were not involved so they want to be better dads

Men are now fully involved in the upbringing of their children. (however, it could be argued that men do this to avoid housework).

Question 12

May yee kan

Answer 12

Argues women still do more housework than men. However, there is a trend towards greater equality.
[younger generation of men do more housework]
Also found that better educated women do less housework than less well-educated women.
- factors which did make a difference were the women’s earnings, education, and age

Question 13

Gershuny

Answer 13

Argues that there has been a move to greater gender equality.

working women - 73% (of housework)

Part-time women - 82%

unemployed women - 83%

Question 14

What is power in the family measured through?

Answer 14

Decision making

Question 15

What do feminsts say about decision making

Answer 15

feminists argue that power in families is gendered and tends to favour men because they tend to be the main decision makers.

Question 16

Edgell

Answer 16

Interviewd 38 professional m/c couples

Findings:
- men are more likely to make fewer but more important decisions. e.g moving house/finances

• Women make more decisions but these are seen as less important. e.g food

He argues that power doesn’t rely on who makes the most decisions but rather who makes the important ones.
Therefore men have more power as in her findings they made the most important decisions.

Question 17

Pahl and vogler

Answer 17

[interviewed 1211 dual earner couples + their parents]

Findings:

housekeeping allowance system - husband gives the wife some money for housekeeping expenses and he controls the rest

pooling system - both partners control the money equally,

However, in most couples the money was shared, but the husband had overall financial control.
In times of hardship, it was the women who cut back of their spending to shield the children and husband from hard times.

Question 18

Personal life perspective on decision making

Answer 18

Smart - focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money.

Question 19

Why do men tend to dominate decision making

Answer 19

• Tend to earn more
• Among e/m communities, its traditional for men to make decisions
• Men feel their masculinity is threatened if they do not make decisions
• Gender roles are deeply ingrained into men and women through gender socialisation

Question 20

Define domestic abuse

Answer 20

Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.

Question 21

Materialistic explanation of domestic violence

Answer 21

[Wilkinson + Pickett]

Argue that domestic abuse incidents are a result of stress which is caused by social inequality (some families have fewer resources e.g income and as a result may live in overcrowded housing - stress)

However they fail to explain why women tend to be victims

Question 22

Radical feminist explanation

Answer 22

Millet + Firestone - all societies are patriarchal (men have power over women) and as a result, men exploit and oppress women.

Family is the key institution through which men oppress and exploit women

• DA serves to preserve male power over women
• Men control all aspects of society - police reluctant to get involved in incidents of DA.

Question 23

Criticism of radical feminist explanation

Answer 23

Robertson Elliot

• not all men are violent towards women. Many are opposed to D.A.
• Women can also be abusers of men and children
• Radical feminists fail to explain why some women are at greater risk of D.A. (low income , younger women , long-term illness, high levels of alcohol)

Question 24

Oficial crime stats

Answer 24

1 in 5 million children suffer from abuse
25% of all women experience domestic abuse

1. DA tends to be unreported (victims don’t go to the police) and unrecorded (even if victims go the the police, they don’t deal with it )

The family is perceived as a ‘good’ institution so the dark side is ignored - police officers think that women can easily leave the abusive partner thus helping herself.

Question 25

Dobash and Dobash

Answer 25

[study into domestic abuse - in dept interview in refugees + used British crime surveys online self-completion questionnaires]

Supports radical feminist theory on D.A.

Findings:

• majority of women are attacked twice/week in their own homes.
• violent incidents could be set off as a result of sexual jealousy, money, partners expectations of women housework skills.

D+D argue marriage legitimises violence against women by conferring power in husbands.