Gender Roles and Relationships Flashcards
Ann Oakley (1974)
> disagrees with functionalists.
nothing “natural” about womens roles, they have been socially constructed and shaped by patriarchal ideology.
men + women can share roles in the home, but they dont.
women face a dual burden - they have to do work at work and then work at home after normal work.
EVALUATION - Research is outdated and there has been big changes since this research.
Alan Warde and Kevin Hetheringtion (1993)
Survey in Greater Manchester found that sex-typing of domestic tasks remained strong in society.
> wives 30 times more likely than husbands to have done the washing.
> husbands 4 times more likely to complete “traditional women
tasks”.
> husbands 4 times more likely than wives to have washed the car
> younger men show slight change in attitudes, they dont automatically think domestic tasks are for women.
EVALUATION - should be treated with some caution, it is difficuilt to measure precisely how much housework people do
Some people lie on survey to make themself look better.
Crampton and Lyonette (2008)
> women still do most housework, despite small changes.
not due to male opression however, due to the pay gap (women make less, therefore men should work as they make more)
therefore women do the domestic work.
Braun, Vincent and Ball (2011)
Research of 70 families found that men took childcare responsibility in only 3/70 cases.
> due to men thinking their main responsibility is to earn money and pay bills - aka provided-ideology.
> men more likely to be background fathers.
> form of intensive mothering takes place - where women feels they must give 110% to the child or they are an “unfit mum”
> reality for women is they work really hard at work and at home.
EVALUATION - 70 families is not enough to make generalisations about fatherhood and childcare across Britain
>
Duncombe and Marsden (1995)
Studied 40 white couples and claim there is a great deal of invisible work that women perform.
> women perform a triple shift: housework, employment work and emotion work(comforting husband).
> women ignore gaps in relationships, and tell others their couple is living the “couple dream”. this is emotionally draining for women, resulting in unhappy marriages.
> women put more energy into relationships than men = relationships are not equal.
EVALUATION - small sample size, only 40 is not enough to make generalisations from. only white couples, not clear if it applies to other ethnic backgrounds.
Dale Southerton (2011)
Looked at how couples spend leisure time.
> in todays society, spare time is not spent so smoothly as it once was.
> women more likely to be interrupted during free leisure time. due to childcare etc.
> men less likely to be interrupted during free leisure time.
> this shows a dual burden for women as they have to work off of paid work as well.
EVALUATION - difficuilt to be precise about what leisure actually involves and how it can be recorded, it is different for men and women.
Irene Hardill (1997)
Study of 30 dual-career, professional couples decisions-making in their relationship was a joint decision or made by the man.
>also found that the mens career was deemed more important than the womens.
> womens lives are structured around their husbands
EVALUATION - only looked at 30 couples, which isnt enough to make generalisations from, also it is better than the past when there was no joint decisions.
Young and Willmott (1975)
> as changes in the job market began to increase the need for geographical mobility, growing symmetry between couples emerged
greater equality is seen in the following ways:
coiple time is home-centred. family time spent together
leisure time is more equally shared
nuclear family structure
both partners are involved in paid work. income shared.
EVALUATION - look back at this
Oriel Sullivan (2000)
There has been a trend to greater equality, men have been doing more domestic work.
> increase in couples with equal division of labour, men doing more tradition “women work”.
EVALUATION - deep inequality still remains in some couples, house is still considered a womens responsibilty in society.
Dobash and Dobash (1979)
109 women in a Scottish refuge who escaped violence interviewed and researched. Also interviewed police officers.
> patriarchal as men use violence against women.
> interviewed 122 violent men - they use violence as an abuse of power.
> men find it hard to accept women are gaining position in society and becoming equals.
EVALUATION - men can be victims of violence aswell, men are also being on the end of violence from women.
Richard Wilkinson (1996)
Domestic violence is a result of stress on family members, caused by social class inequalities caused by material inequalities.
> low income families likely to face stress.
> reduces chances of maintaining stable, caring relationships and increases chances of violence.
EVALUATION - makes simple generalisations, if stress is the cause of violence, why is it mainly women on the receiving end of violence?
Richard Wilkinson (1996)
Domestic violence is a result of stress on family members, caused by social class inequalities caused by material inequalities.
> low income families likely to face stress.
> reduces chances of maintaining stable, caring relationships and increases chances of violence.
EVALUATION - makes simple generalisations, if stress is the cause of violence, why is it mainly women on the receiving end of violence?
