Gender Roles, Domestic Labour and Power Relationships in the Contemporary Family Flashcards
What are segregated conjugal roles?
Where the roles of men and women are separate
What are joint conjugal roles?
Where the roles of men and women are shared and there is greater equality
How are segregated conjugal roles viewed by functionalists?
Might view them as something expected to be part of the family
See women as having expressive role and man having instrumental
How are segregated conjugal roles viewed by the new right?
Might view them as something part of the family as new right favour conservative values which include traditional values
Men being breadwinner and women homemaker
How are segregated conjugal roles viewed by Marxist feminists?
Might view them as potentially being the cause of women oppression and would prefer joint conjugal roles rather than women being housewives
‘slaves of the wage slaves’ and ‘takers of shit’
How are segregated conjugal roles viewed by radical feminists?
Might view them as being patriarchal as women should have the same equal opportunity of going to work as men and men should of doing housework
How are joint conjugal roles viewed by the new right?
Might view them as something unnatural as they believe couples should have the traditional roles of the family
How are joint conjugal roles viewed by liberal feminists?
Might view them as a good thing as liberal feminists campaign for the equality of both men and women
Therefore women should have same equal opportunities as men
How are joint conjugal roles viewed by postmodernists?
Might view them as something that is a choice of each individual family as they believe family life is characterised by choice, fluidity and change
Why are more women in paid employment?
Women have become more independent, giving themselves more status and freedom inside and outside the family
Paid work gives women more power
How might liberal feminists view more women in paid work?
Would view it as a good thing as they campaign for equality of both men and women and therefore would want equality in work
What is a dual-earner family?
Where both partners are in paid work
Why might dual-earner families be more democratic?
Both partners bring in income so they will want access to the money that have earned and have a say in how its spent
Why might postmodernists consider dual-earner families to be less stable?
Society has become fragmented and individuals are now making their own choices about what they should choose to believe in, how to spend money etc.
If both partners aren’t agreeing on how money is spent they may split up
Why might radical feminists argue women are still disadvantaged in dual-earner families?
Radical feminists see society as being patriarchal and most men will earn more money than women and therefore the men will have a bigger say in how money is spent
What did Young and Willmott mean by a symmetrical family?
Where gender roles in the family have become more equal in a modern society
Young and Willmott found more couples were sharing domestic tasks
Why might the family be becoming more symmetrical?
Women are now also in paid work and they don’t have time to do all the housework so now men have to help more with domestic tasks
Why does feminist Oakley criticise the symmetrical family?
They assume that a man doing one household task a week is evidence of equality
Oakley argues that men ‘help out’ - they do very little housework and only do ‘female’ jobs when women aren’t around
Why do Marxists argue the commercialisation of housework leads to social class differences in family life?
Equality is down to economic capital, it depends on how much money women earn and if women earn enough money they can afford cleaners
If not then women still end up doing the housework themselves
Why do Marxists argue commercialisation of housework benefits capitalism?
Women are spending money on products that are giving the RC profit and continuing to exploit the SC who are making the profit
What does Oakley mean by the dual burden?
Where women have to balance paid work and the housework
Why are women more likely to have a dual burden?
It may be the result of gender stereotypes which reinforces the gender stereotype that housework is ‘women’s work’
Why does the dual burden mean women’s paid work is part-time?
They will need to make sure they have enough time to do the housework and if they worked full time they may not be able to get all the housework done
How is the dual burden viewed by radical feminists?
View it as something that should be avoided as they believe that society is patriarchal and therefore men should also be experiencing the dual burden
How is the dual burden viewed by the new right?
View it as something expected because women’s role is to perform the expressive role and do the housework
However, they wouldn’t agree with women going to work because its the man’s job
What did Duncombe and Marsden mean by emotion work?
Managing feelings of family members - trying to keep everyone happy
Why are women more likely to perform emotion work than men?
Men tend to offer little or no support for family members feelings and therefore in most families, emotion work is solely the woman’s responsibility
What is the triple shift?
Where women have to do paid work, housework and emotion work
Why does the triple shift suggest domestic labour isn’t equal?
Women are doing a lot of the hard work in the family, making sure the house is clean and presentable and everyone is emotionally stable as well as in paid work
Men are only going out to work and not helping with anything else
How would the triple shift be viewed by functionalists?
Viewed as something expected of women because they were meant to perform the expressive role
Wouldn’t agree with women in paid work as that’s the mans responsibility
How would the triple shift be viewed by radical feminists?
Viewed as part of society, would have a negative view on it as they believe men are the enemy and they tend not to help with anything stereotypically female
How would the triple shift be viewed by Marxist feminists?
Viewed as the possible causes of women’s oppression because women are ‘slaves of the wage slaves’ by having to do all the housework and emotion work
What is a pooling system of money management?
When both partners share their income
e.g. joint bank account with equal access to money
How might pooling systems be viewed by liberal feminists?
Would agree with pooling system of money management as they believe both partners should have access to the money they earn and if they share it they should be able to use it equally
Why might decision making in dual-earner families be more equal?
Both partners earn money for their household, making the decision more equal as they both make money and should both decide together where that money goes
Why is domestic violence a gendered crime?
Deeply rooted in the societal inequality between men and women
Form of gender-based violence, violence “directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects disproportionately”
How would domestic violence be viewed by radical feminists?
Viewed as something that could be inevitable when living with a male as men are the enemy and women are more likely to experience sexual “terrorism” at home and work than men
How would domestic violence be viewed by Marxist feminists?
Viewed as physical frustrations women take from men as the “takers of shit” and that the woman’s job in the family shouldn’t be to keep the capitalist system going by absorbing the males frustrations
How does domestic violence demonstrate that power within relationships isn’t equal?
Tends to be directed towards women and men aren’t the victims of domestic violence as often as women
Suggests men tend to hold majority of the power within a relationship
How does domestic violence criticise views of the family held by functionalists?
Functionalists argue the family performs many functions which benefit the individual and the family such as emotional support
If an individual is experiencing domestic violence within the family then the individual isn’t going to be able to provide emotional support and will have to go outside the family
How does domestic violence criticise views of the family held by the new right?
New right argue traditional nuclear family is both desirable and positive for both individuals and wider society
Domestic violence within the family isn’t a positive experience of the individual
