What do sociologists think about the impact of paid work on equality in couples?

Question 1

Gershuny (Functionalist)

Answer 1

• found that wives who worked full-time did less domestic work
• uses the idea of ‘lagged adaptation’ to explain why couples whose parents had a more equal relationship will also be more equal

Question 2

Sullivan (Functionalist)

Answer 2

• analysed data and found a trend towards greater equality where men were participating in traditionally ‘women’s’ tasks

Question 3

Man-Yee Kan (Functionalist)

Answer 3

• income, age and education affected how much housework women did

Question 4

Crompton (Feminist)

Answer 4

• explains Gershuny’s evidence in economic factors rather than changing values or role models, believes women’s earning power increases relative to men’s so men do more in the home
• still recognises that if the earnings are unequal, the division of labour will also be unequal

Question 5

Silver and Schor (Feminists)

Answer 5

• emphasise economic developments in reducing the burden of housework on women

Question 6

Ferri and Smith (Feminists)

Answer 6

• provide evidence of the dual burden as they found that increased employment of women outside the home had little on the division of domestic labour

Question 7

Morris (Feminist)

Answer 7

• men who suffered a loss of their ‘masculine’ role as a result of unemployment saw domestic work as ‘women’s work’ and to be avoided

Question 8

Ramos (Feminist)

Answer 8

• where men are not in paid work and the women works full-time, domestic labour matches

Question 9

Braun, Vincent and Ball (Feminists)

Answer 9

• in only 3 out of 70 families studied in a British Social Attitudes survey the father was the main carer