Gender roles (Unit 3)

Question 1

What are conjugal bonds?

Answer 1

Where the partners share responsibility for domestic tasks and both do paid employment.

Question 2

What is a social construct and who’s view was this?

Answer 2

Gabb: roles are a social construct (AO3 for
Parsons)

Gabb - Concept that exists not in objective reality, but as a result of human interaction. It exists because humans agree that it exists.
Examples: Women are taught to be
mothers…TV, their own
mums,
media…Supernanny?

Question 3

What does Parsons view on conjugal roles?

Answer 3

Functionalists (Parsons): roles are natural
and biologically determined

He believed that men take up the instrumental role of breadwinner and women the expressive role of mother and homemaker because they are biologically suited to these specific roles. Women have the ability to bear children, so they are “naturally” best suited to raising them as well. At the same time, men’s physical abilities set them up best for working and earning wages. (It is biological) - done through primary socialisation.

Question 4

What is the march of progress’s view on conjugal roles.

Answer 4

Young and Wilmott: roles have become
more equal (joint conjugal roles and
symmetrical family)

The ‘March of Progress’ view is the assumption that there has been a move from segregated to integrated conjugal roles. This idea is put forward by Willmott and Young in ‘The Symmetrical Family’. They noted a trend towards joint conjugal roles and the symmetrical family, where conjugal roles are shared equally.

In 72% of family households studied by Y+W = men contributed to the
housework.

Question 5

What is Anne Oakley’s view on conjugal roles?

Answer 5

Feminists (Oakley): roles are still unequal

Anne Oakley researched housework and found that women do the majority of it. Noticed that when men claim they participate in domestic activities such as ironing their clothes. This meant that women took up a “dual burden” of a paid job and domestic duties”.

Rejects “March of Progress view”
In only 15% of Marriages, Men had high levels of participation in housework

Question 6

Give evidence that division of labour has improved and explain:

Answer 6

British Social Attitudes Survey (2013): men are doing more
but considerable inequalities remain.

Crompton and Lyonette (2008)

1. Economic Theories

Women earn less = rational they do more housework
(The fact that women generally earn less than men means it’s economically rational for women to do more
of the housework and childcare whilst men spend more of their time earning money…)

2. Gender Construction Theory - synoptic link on Gabb

The division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and
values that shape gender roles in our culture.

(The division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles in our culture.

Women perform more domestic labour simply because that is what society expects them to do and has
socialised them to do.)

Things may be improving – commercialisation of housework