Theories of couples

Question 1

Domestic division of labour theories and debate

Answer 1

• Whether men and women are more equal in the family nowadays compared to the past
  1. Functionalism (equal and different + couples can adopt different approaches to conjugal roles)
  2. March of Progress
  3. Feminist perspectives (women still do the most housework, women get less quality time to themselves than men+ women still take on the most responsibility for childcare)
  4. Cultural perspective
  5. Materialist perspective

Question 2

Distribution of resources and decision making

Answer 2

• Pooling and allowances
• Barrett and McIntosh
• Decision making (Hardill, Finch and Edgell)

Question 3

Domestic violence trends

Answer 3

• 25% of all violent crimes are DV
• Many acts of violence it was found that men justified their actions by stating they felt their wives challenged their authority
• There is a dark figure of unreported male victimisation
• The police aren’t keen to intervene in these cases

1. Radical femimist
2. Materialist explanations

Question 4

Domestic violence - radical feminists

Answer 4

• Millet and Firestone
• Domestic violence against women is enabled in a patriarchal world
  1. All men have the potential to resort to violence as a means of controlling women - family makes them particularly vulnerable
  2. Claim that women are pressured in to familial values to see marriage as desirable however with marriage they sign away their rights and effectively become the property of men who sees it as his right to control her through violence
  3. The criminal justice system is a patriarchal institution in which officers and judges are more likely to be male so DV isn’t taken seriously so women are afraid to come forward

Question 5

Evaluation of radical feminist explanation for domestic violence

Answer 5

• It ignores that women can be violent and abusive in relationships too

Question 6

Materialist explanation for DV

Answer 6

• Wilkinson and Pickett
• DV is more common in deprived families eg unemployed adults or not having a stable income
• This is because of two reasons :
  1. Money worries, job insecurity and a lack of housing may create tension, stress and violence between the two adults
  2. As the couple have very little to spend, this means they are unable to go out and see other people so end up stuck together meaning they feel isolated and unsupported which breeds violence

Question 7

Evaluation of materialist explanation for DV

Answer 7

• Most DV is committed by men against women which this theory fails to explain

Question 8

Men and women are equal but different

Answer 8

• Functionalism - Parsons
• Men should be the instrumental leaders in which they have the breadwinner role and they should provide for the families needs
• Women should be the expressive leader where the take care of domestic labour, emotional needs, childcare etc
• This is due to biological reasons eg women have a maternal instinct and men have always been providers
• Both functions are required

Question 9

Evaluation of men and women are equal but different

Answer 9

• It only focuses on the NF

Question 10

Couples can adopt different approaches to their conjugal roles

Answer 10

• Functionalism - Bott
• Conjugal roles = roles performed by married couples
• Couples can choose how to split domestic responsibilities
  1. Some couples perform segregated conjugal roles where there are completely separate roles eg male breadwinner and female caregiver
  2. Joint conjugal roles where domestic chores are shared and both contribute financially and they are more likely to share their free time and socialise together
• Joint is more common in MC families as women typically pursue higher levels of education whereas WC women are more likely to start families young

Question 11

Evaluation of couples adopting different conjugal roles

Answer 11

• Feminists argue that joint couples aren’t equal as women still do more housework

Question 12

March of progress - role of couples

Answer 12

• Young and Willmott
• Men and women are now symmetrical (couples are more equal and perform the same roles)
• Eg share domestic labour, childcare etc these men are called the ‘new man’ as they are willing to engage in domestic care
• There are four reasons why couples are becoming more symmetrical :
  1. Geographical mobility (couples are more likely to move from their home town so they have less support networks so much help out each other)
  2. Education of women (More women pursue higher ed. levels and a career so they have a more symmetrical relationship)
  3. Increased standards of living (quality of life has improved eg better housing and NHS so people have higher expectations eg luxury items so both people have to work to afford this)
  4. Household technology (tech has made chores easier eg hoovers and washing machines so housework is quicker and skill free so men can also do it)

Question 13

Evaluation of March of Progress - role of couples

Answer 13

• In many families that man still earns more so it isn’t really symmetrical
• It only helps us understand the nuclear family

Question 14

Women still do most of the housework, even when in paid employment

Answer 14

• Feminism
• Oakley : studied the 1970’s
  Women who weren’t in paid employment reported running a home as demanding, demeaning and requiring a certain skill set
• British social attitudes survey (2012) = little has changed in the distribution of household labour eg when both the man and woman are in paid employment, the women did an average of 5 hours more of domestic labour
• Warde and Hetherington :
  Couples have a tendency to sex-type their chores ie dividing chores based on what is typically feminine eg cleaning and what is typically masculine eg DIY and women’s are less satisfying
• Hoschschild :
  Women now have a dual burden ie expected to contribute financially and take on the bulk of household chores

Question 15

Women still do most of the housework evaluation

Answer 15

• It is overly critical, compared to the past men today are doing a lot more

Question 16

Women are still taking on most responsibility for childcare

Answer 16

• Ferri and Smith :
  In only 4% of families, men are the main caregiver and even when they are involved in parenting, it is limited to the more fun aspects of childrearing
• Dex and Ward : men do the fun aspects
  78% or fathers regularly played with their children yet only 1% stepped up to provide care when their children were ill
• Braun et al : men see themselves as providers
  Researched 70 fathers (only 3 were the main caregiver) and the other 67 felt their role was to help out their partner
• Duncombe and Marsden
  Women are expected to take on responsibility for paid, domestic and the emotional work of raising children
• It is concerning little has changed since Oakley

Question 17

Evaluation of women still taking on the bulk of childcare

Answer 17

• Women want to take primary responsibility for their children as they actually gave birth to them and are initially responsible for feeding them

Question 18

Women get less quality time to themselves than men

Answer 18

• Southerton
• Women organise family events eg holidays, birthdays, routine appointments and Christmas with men just attending
• When it comes to adults having time to themselves, men have uninterrupted leisure time eg playing sport or going to the pub
• Women’s free time involves things with there children eg playdates with other mothers
• Women get less opportunities to relax and be away from the children

Question 19

Evaluation of women getting less quality time than men

Answer 19

• Men may need more time to relax as they are busy at work the rest of the time

Question 20

Cultural perspectives

Answer 20

• Interested in social attitudes and behaviours and whether these are changing over time
• Gershuny : Couples whose parents had a more equal relationship were more likely to be willing to share labour and each generation becomes more favourable of gender equality
• Dunne : Found that lesbian couples are more likely to be genuinely symmetrical as their are no traditional expectations whereas heterosexual couples sex-type their chores

Question 21

Materialist perspective

Answer 21

• Relationship between the earning power between men and women in the wider job market and the impact this has
• Kann found for every £10,000 more a woman earns, she does 2 hours less of housework a week + Sullivan found that as more women partake in full time employment, their domestic responsibilities reduced
• Ramos found that in couples where the woman was the breadwinner, the couple still split chores 50/50 + Arber and Ginn MC families simply outsource domestic labour

Question 22

Distribution of financial resources

Answer 22

• Barrett and McIntosh raise 3 concerns :
  1. As men tend to earn more, they assume they can dictate how it is spent and this gives them a degree of control
  2. Men have control over the financial support women are entitled to eg he can restrict her with terms and conditions (eg some must be sound on the household or the kids)
  3. Women contribute f=more to the family in terms of domestic labour but it is largely unrecognised
• Pahl and Volger
• There are two ways to split finances
  1. Allowance system where the man is the sole breadwinner and gives his wife an allowance each week to spend
  2. Pooling system where both incomes are put in to a bank account and it is shared (can result in women handing over control of their finances)

Question 23

Evaluation of the distribution of financial resources

Answer 23

• Some women may prefer their husbands to take control of the finances as it is another job and chore

Question 24

Decision making

Answer 24

• Hardill : Studied 30 dual career partners and found when making important decisions surrounding property and finance, the husbands career was the priority eg if he got a new job and women were expected to adapt their lives to suit their husbands
• Edgell : There is a hierarchy in decision making eg important financial decisions would be made jointly but the husband would have the final say, medial level decisions like what school the children should attend are taken jointly and unimportant decisions eg what to have for dinner are made solely by the woman
• Feminists argue this is due to patriarchy

Question 25

Evaluation of decision making

Answer 25

• The man tends to earn more so it is fair if he decides where his money goes to