topic 1 - couples (division of labour)) Flashcards
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define the domestic division of labour
the roles men and women contribute towards households
e.g. housework, childcare and paid work
explain Parsons’ view of instrumental and expressive roles
- in the traditional nuclear familt the husband has an instrumental role (provide materially for the family)
- the wife has an expressive roles (provide emotionally)
therefore what is Parsons’ view of the divison of labour
the division of labour is natually suited to each gender based on the biological differences
- therefore it is the most beneficial to all memebers of society especially members of the family
how has Parsons been criticised
- Young and Willmott argue roles are becoming more symmetrical with more men taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more women in paid wokr
- Feminists reject P’s view that the division of labour is natural, but rather it only benefits the patriarchy and men
explain Bott’s establishment of the types of roles within marriage
- segregated conjugal roles: similar to Parsons’ view, the couple have separate roles with the mle breadwinner and the female housemaker. leisure time is also spent separately
- joint conjugal roles: where couples share tasks and spend their leisure time together
outline Y and W’s study
- studied traditional w/c familiesin Bethnal Green in the 1950s
- men were the breadwinners and women were housemakers much like Parsons’ view
- similarly to Bott’s study, mean spent their lesiure time with workmates and women spend their limited leisure time with fictive kin
has there been a change since then
yes since Y+W take a march of progress view and therefore argue there has been a long term gradual shift from segregated conjugal roles to joined conjugal roles
outline Y+W’s view further
their march of progress perspectives leads them to believe family life is improving for of all its members, becoming more democratic
according to Y+W what family is now emerging
the symmetrical family
what do Y+W mean by the symmetrical family and give 3 examples
the role of husband’s and wives, though not identical are now more similar:
- women are in full time paid work
- men help with childcare and hosuework
- couples now spend their leisure time together
outline Y+W’s London study
the symmetrical family was more common amoung younger couples who are socially and geographically isolated and more affluent
what social changes have caused the rise of the symmetrical nuclear family
- changes to women’s position
- geographical mobility
- social mobility
- higher standards of living (higher purchasing power due to dual worker families)
- new technology such as labour saving devices
who criticses Y+W and what is the alternative perspective
feminists reject their march of progress view and argue the family is not symmetrical
- instead women still do most of the housework and still remain subordinate in the family
- this is ultimately due to patriarchal society which maintain’s womens’ subordinate position
what is Oakley’s view
Y+W’s claims are overexaggerated, for example where men claimed to help their wives once a week in Y+W’s interviews, Oakley highlights how this could include simple taking the children for a walk
- this is far from convincing evidence of symmetry
in her own research, Oakley found that
there was some evidence of husbands helping in the home but not enough to infer symmetry - only 15% of husbands had a high level of consistent contribution to housework and only 25% had a high level of participation in childcare
what do the statistics not show
husbands tended to help more with childcare than housework, and even so often only in enjoyable tasks like evening play, leaving women with less rewarding aspects of childcare and more time for housework
what were the later findings that supported Oakley’s findings
Boulton’s research found that fewer than 20% of men actively participated in childcare and further developed that Y+W focused on ‘symmetry’ in tasks rather than responsibilities e.g. women being responsbile for their child’s safety and well-being even if men did more tasks
- this highlights the persistent gender inqueality
outline Warde and Hetherington’s findings
sex-typing of domestic tasks had a strong influence on the few tasks men performed, e.g. wives were 30 times more likely to be the last person to have done the washing and routine ‘female tasks’ were only carried out when the wives were not present
however, what did their findings highlight in terms of supporting Y+W
attitudes have shifted amongst younger generations as men realise they are doing less than a fair share of work and no longer assume women should do the housework
as a consensus more women are now….. so what is the debate between the mop and the feminist perspectives
- more women are in paid work but
- is it leading to a more equal division of labour with a ‘new man’ emerging
- or is it causing a dual burden for women, who are responsible for their paid work and also domestic work
what is the arguement of the mop
- Gershuny: women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour
- Sullivan’s analysis shows a trend towards more women doing a smaller share of domestic work from 1975 to 1997
do these trends reflect changes in attitudes for e.g. towards men doing more traditionally ‘women’ tasks
yes as evidenced in the British Social attitudes survey:
- in 1984, 45% of men and 41% of women agreed with the idea that it was a woman’s job to look after the home and a man’s job to earn money
- however, by 2012 only 13% of men and 12% of women agreed
what two issues do feminists have with such surveys
- Allan notes such surveys do not consider the qualitative differences in the tasks for example eventhough men may be performing more tasks, more women perform less satisfying tasks such as washing and cleaning
- Boulton highlights how they lack information as to who is responsible overall
what do feminists infer from the British social attitidues surveys
(2012) there is now a dual burden:(in a week)
- men spent 10 hrs on care for family members, whereas women spent 23
- this shows how tasks are still divided according to traditional gender roles, similar to the patterns in 1994
- women are more likely to do the laundry, care for sick family members, prepare the meals whilse men were more likely to do small repaors around the house
