Gender Roles, Domestic Labour, Power Relationships Flashcards
(19 cards)
Gender Roles: In the Past
- Traditional -> men were the breadwinners, women were the housewives
- Segregated conjugal roles -> the roles of men and women were separate
- Men -> breadwinners, controlled the family finances, made all the big decisions (moving house, what care to buy)
- Women -> housewives, responsible for cooking, cleaning, caring for the children
- Domestic division of labour was unequal
Gender Roles: Today
- Joint conjugal roles are common - the roles of men and women are shared and there is greater equality
- Domestic division of labour is more equal
- Share household tasks (take turns cooking and cleaning share childcare responsibilities)
- Have equal access to family finances (joint bank account) and make important decisions together
- Suggests the relationships are democratic as couples take each other’s views into consideration when making a decision
Reasons for Greater Equality: More Women in Paid Work
- Women are financially independent, have more status and freedom inside and outside the family
- Paid work gives women more power in the family as they are contributing to the money being brought into the household so they want a say in how it is used
- They do less housework and are more likely to share household tasks with their male partners
- Social values are changing as men are accepting a bigger share of the housework after realising that women cannot do everything around the house
Reasons for Greater Equality: Increase in Dual Earner Families
- Dual earner families are more common (both partners in paid work)
- Take turns doing domestic tasks to fit around work commitments
- Both bring in money so they will want access and a say in how it is spent, financial decisions more democratic
Reasons for Greater Equality: Impact of Feminism, Changes in Law
- Policies (Equal Pay Act 1970, Sex Discrimination Act 1975) demand equal treatment of women in public
- Have influenced the family and challenged the stereotype that housework is women’s work
- Encourages women to re-think their roles and stand up for their rights
- More women want an equal domestic division of labour
Reasons for Greater Equality: Changing Social Attitudes
- British society has become more accepting of alternative gender roles
- House-husbands have become increasingly common
- Expectations of equal treatment of men and women in relationships
- Postmodernists -> individualism and the need to find pure relationships mean that both men and women are unwilling to put up with an unhappy, unequal relationships
Domestic Labour is Equal: The Symmetrical Family
- Young and Willmott introduced the concept of the symmetrical family, arguing that gender roles have become more equal in society
- Found that couples were increasingly sharing domestic tasks (doing the laundry together, alternating cooking)
- Many women in paid work have less time to do the housework, so men are helping more with domestic tasks
AO3 - Oakley (feminist) argues that men help out, are not responsible for specific domestic tasks, can choose whether they want to help or not, only help out when women are not around, men still consider domestic tasks to be women’s work
Domestic Labour is Equal: Commercialisation of Housework
- Products (dishwashers) and services (gardeners, cleaners) have made housework quicker and easier
- Cooking made easier through the existence of ready meals, microwaves, and frozen foods
- Women spend less time doing housework, men more likely to do housework as it is quicker (load the dishwasher and turn it on)
- Women in paid work can afford the latest household products and pay for cleaning companies
- New products and services have led to the death of the traditional housewife - less time needed for housework, quicker to do
AO3 - Equality is down to economic capital, WC families unable to afford the latest appliances (material deprivation), so mainly women continue to do a majority of the housework, domestic division if labour is still unequal
Domestic Labour is Equal: Childcare
- Growing number of fathers taking an active role in childcare
- As women have taken on more traditionally male roles, men are doing more around the house
- Many fathers embody the New Man - sensitive, in touch with the emotional needs of their family, committed to doing their fair share of the childcare
- Changing social attitudes and laws has brought about greater equality in childcare
AO3 - fathers are spending more time with their children but not equal to mothers, mothers spend more time doing the less fun activities with their child (feeding, dressing) compared to fathers who do the more fun things
Domestic Labour is Unequal: Dual Burden
- Women still do most of the housework in dual earner families
- Feminists argue women have to balance paid work and domestic work (housework and childcare)
- Their domestic burden was exacerbated due to Covid-19 pandemic -> mothers on average did an extra 31 hrs of housework each week
- Partly due to gender socialisation -> boys play will cars and encouraged to be active, girls given dolls in preparation to be housewives -> reinforces the gender stereotype that housework is women’s work
AO3 - Young and Willmott would disagree, family is symmetrical, couples share domestic tasks, division of labour is more equal
Domestic Labour is Unequal: Emotion Work
- Emotion work refers to managing the feelings of family members and ensuring everyone is happy
- It is a labour of love -> care for sick family members, comforting children, remembering things like favourite foods
- Usually the women’s responsibility in most families, men offer little support
- Dunscombe and Marsden believe emotion is part of the triple shift -> women do paid work, housework and emotion work
- Found that women in MC families felt emotionally deserted by their husbands, have to fix everyone’s problems alone
AO3 - emotion work is invisible work, efforts often go unnoticed so many men take it for granted e.g. expect their wives to sort out everything for events like Christmas (cards, buy presents)
Domestic Labour is Unequal: Childcare
- Fathers do not do their equal share
- Men are less likely to be primary carers of children despite changing laws (Paternity Rights), uncommon even in dual earner families for men to look after children when they are ill etc.
- Ferri and Smith found that few fathers take primary responsibility for childcare, suggest the ‘New Man’ only applies to minority of fathers
Power Relationships are Equal: Control of the Family Finances
- Many couples pool their money
- Pooling refers to partners sharing their income (joint bank account)
- Common in dual earner families -> both bring money into the household and want equal access
- Co-independence is common among younger couples -> share a joint pool for household spending but each manage their own finances for personal spending
- Changing social attitudes and more women in paid work has led to greater equality in couples’ access to money
AO3 - pooling does not mean there is equality, recent studies show that many married couples consult each other on financial issues, but only 44% of women have sole responsibility for financial decisions
Power Relationships are Equal: Decision Making
- Relationships have become more democratic, most couples make decisions together (buying a house)
- Listen to each other and take their views into account before making decisions
- May partly be due to the increase in dual earner families (both want a say in how their hard earned money is spent)
AO3 - feminists would argue that many relationships remain patriarchal, men continue to dominate decision making even if they are unemployed and the women in employed, may be due to the normalisation of traditional ideas (men usually perform the instrumental role, some couples believe it is natural for men to continue making the big decisions)
Power Relationships are Unequal: Control of the Family Finances
- Some men typically have control of the family’s finances in relationships with one male doing the instrumental role
- They restrict access to money by providing the women with an allowance - a weekly amount to spend on things like clothes etc. whilst the man keeps the rest for themselves
- Results in an imbalance of power - only men have full access to the family’s finances
- Radical Feminists argue this allowance system makes relationships toxic, men may refuse to give money and force the women to stay at home -> allowances are patriarchal, may lead to coercive, controlling relationships
Power Relationships are Unequal: Decision Making
- Some men still have the final say in big decisions
- These relationships are not democratic, may consult the wives, but make the final decision alone
- E.g. man’s job more important than the woman’s so move the whole family to be closer to the man’s job
- Functionalists and New Right sociologists would support this as the man is supposed to fulfill the instrumental role
Power Relationships are Unequal: Male Violence Against Women
- Men more likely to use or threaten violence to exert their power/control over their female partner
- Feminist argue this is due to patriarchy, man may use violence to put them back in-line after threatening the man’s authority
- Radical Feminists highlight the toxicity of familial ideology on what makes a good wife justifying violence - violence used by husbands to punish wives who fail to meet cultural expectations of being ‘good’ wives/partners
AO3 - highlighted during the coronavirus pandemic, government advised women to not nag so they wouldn’t aggravate their partners, domestic violence was normalised, rising cases blamed on lockdown rather than the perpetrators and their own choices
Domestic Violence: Marxist Feminism Explanation
Domestic Violence: Marxism (Materialist Explanation)
