Roles and relationships between men and women Flashcards
Functionalist approach to gender roles in the family
Parsons and Bales 1955
Expressive role= performed by mothers- ensuring psychological and emotional needs of husband and children
Instrumental role= performed by men- Providing a family income. Husband occupation=status in society
Feminist approach to gender roles in the family
Ann Oakley (Liberal feminist)
Housewife- Primary role for married women. Small minority of men could be said to having a high participation in housework and childcare
(Small scale study)
Radical feminist- Reflects on the patriarchal nature of the traditional family. Men are more powerful
Marxist Feminist- Women look after men’s needs and contribute to capitalism
Marxist approach to gender roles in the family
Housewife benefit capitalism by ensuring the workers are fit to go to work
Young and Willmott: Symmetrical family
3 characteristics of the symmetrical family:
Conjugal roles are joint
The family is nuclear
The family is privatised- Couple spend more time in privacy of their homes, Husbands= more involved in domestic life
Postmodernist approach to gender roles in the family
Stacey: Would point to the extent to which family members now create their own family practises. Role and Relationships may change over time
Giddens: Confluent love =Intimacy-less permanent. Family diversity is the now the norm.
Transformation of intimate relationships= Women no longer need to accept male dominance. Wider choices now
Democratisation of family life= men are emotional and more engaged with women and children in an intimate way
The domestic division of labour
Feminists point out work is gendered
Paid employment for women earn less than men
Women work part time and family responsibilities (Dual Burden- Oakley 1974) 15% of husbands and a high participation in housework
Men= Occasional tasks such as DIY and gardening
Dunscombe and Marsden (1995)- Emotion work and the triple shift
Emotion work- Responsible for managing the emotions and feelings of family members (e.g handling jealousies) while exercising control over their own emotions
Triple shift- Women finish shift of paid work and come home to complete the housework and then have to undertake emotion work as well
Gershuny- Lagged Adaption
Women’s role have changed more quickly than men. Men have been slow to adapt to this situation that women have entered the workplace in large numbers
Next generation: Men likely take a bigger share of housework and childcare. This supports young and Willmott’s view of the family
Hakim
Argued that we need to add types of work together in comparing what men and women do. On average men and women across Europe do the same total number of productive work hours, once paid jobs and unpaid household work are added together
Issues of power
Decisions of power:
Hardill et al: carried out a survey of middle class dual career households in Nottingham
Men= Decisions about where the couples were to live and about cars
Both parents= Made joint decisions about buying or renting a house
Food practices:
Charles and Kerr’s study women’s domestic routines are controlled by men’s dislikes and likes in foods and drinks.
Women would try to serve meals to fit in with their husbands work routines and attempted to maintain domestic harmony by serving food to please their husbands
Family finances and money management:
Pahl: Men and women are more likely to each have their own bank accounts and take responsibility for paying for different things
