Couples domestic division of labour

• Parsons (functionalist) Instrumental and expressive role


  
  

  instrumental role- husband breadwinner and providing for

  family

  expressive role- wife emotional support and the homemaker
• The Pew research center study 2024


  egalitarian marriages are on the rise - 29% compared to 10% in 1972

  women spend 4.6 hours a week on housework compared to men spending 1.9 hours a week

  77% of people said that children are better off when both mum and dad focus equally on work and home
• Parsons (functionalist)- biological differences


  biological differences mean

  women are naturally suited to a nurturing role so undertaking the expressive role.

  men are naturally suited to being a breadwinner

  this division of labour is beneficial to men and women and wider society due to it implementing the nuclear family and giving children a caregiver
• Bott - Joint and Segregated Conjugal Roles


  Segregated Conjugal roles:

  the couple have separated roles a male breadwinner and female Homemaker. Leisure activities tend to be separate

  Joint Conjugal roles:

  couples chare tasks such as housework and childcare and spend leisure time together
• Wilmott and Young bethnal green 1951


  after ww2

  White working class neighbourhood

  working in warehouses on the Thames labour jobs

  puns and social clubs

  no women working

  women rely on female kinship networks
• Wilmott and Young bethnal green 1970


  houses gone to flats and estates

  become a young place

  ethnically diverse

  working in money, banking, finance and IT

  younger technical jobs for men

  women working part time

  leisure time at home

  men helping in the house
• changing position of women

  -feminism in the 1960's challenged traditional gender norms

  - as women went into work dual income households became more popular meaning men shared domestic responsibilities

  ​
• new technology and labour saving devices


  - Innovations e. g. dishwasher requires less time and effort enabling both partners to participate in domestic tasks
• geographic mobility


  -after WW2 a lot more social mobility people forced to set up a home so my else than London due to bombing

  - white flight traditional working class London is moved out in European migrants and refugees forced in

  - couples had to rely on each other for support rather than families so move from segregated to joint conjugal roles
• higher standards of living


  - highest standards of living has meant that partners are/were spending more time at home with their families this is compared to spending their leisure time down at the pub with colleagues/friends

  - the home has become a nicer place to spend time thanks to central heating soft furnishing and TVs
• Ann Oakley(the sociology of housework and childcare)


  FEMINIST

  criticised young and Wilmot

  the question was do you or your husband help at least once a week with any household jobs like washing up, making beds, ironing, cooking or cleaning?

  her own research found that only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in-house work and 25% participation in childcare
• what did young and wilmott find


  that 72% of husbands did housework other than washing up during the course of the week
• Gershuny (impact of paid work)


  FUNCTIONALIST

  wives who work fulltime do less domestic labour, wives who don't work do most of the housework

  women who work full time recieve much more support from husbands

  couples whose parents were in an equal relationship are more likely to be in an equal relationship

  The New Man

  metrosexual- act gay but are straight e.g. staying at children's birthday parties, letting children paint there nails
• Dex and ward (impact of paid work)


  FEMINITS

  78%of men play with children

  1% of men look after sick children
• British Social Attitudes


  found a fall in the number of people who believe that its the mans job to earn the money and the woman's job to do the housework
• Duncombe and Marsdon


  FEMINISTS

  Triple shift= paid work + unpaid work + emotional support
• Southerton (impact of paid work)


  achieving family time is a lot more difficult and s the woman's responsibility

  mothers have to juggle paid work, leisure time, domestic work and organising family time and events
• Paul and Vogler (money and decision making)


  FUNCTIONALIST

  two main types of control over family finances:

  1. allowance system - wives are given a budget to run the household

  2. pooling - younger couples = joint bank account
• Edgell (money and decision making)


  FEMINIST

  3 levels of decision making

  1. very important decisions : finance, husband has the final say

  2. Important decisions : children's education, joint

  3. daily decisions : food and clothes, taken by the wife
• Smart (money and decision making)


  PERSON LIFE PERSPECTIVE

  same sex couples often give a different meaning to money in a relationship - there is no importance or hiercahy attached to it. However does the best job at it does it e. g. however controls money better controls it

  as they do not have the old fashioned, traditional, heterosexual, gendered views about power and money
• In 2013 how many people reported that they were victims of domestic violence


  2 million
• How many women a week are killed by a partner/previous partner


  2
• Dobash and Dobash (Domestic Violence)


  studied police courts and records and interviews with women in refuges. Found that violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority. Marriage legitimates violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives
• Walby and Allen


  women are much more likely to be victims of multiple incidence of abuse and sexual violence average = 36 times
• Dar


  it is difficult to count separate domestic violence incidences because it may be continuous, or it may occur that often that the victim cannot reliably count it
• David Cheal (why the police are so reluctant to intervene)


  1. the family is the private sphere so access is limited

  2. the family is perceived as positive, so the police neglect to look at the darker side

  3. individuals are free agents if a women is unhappy she is free to leave
• Radical feminist explanation for domestic violence


  Millett and Firestone argue that all societies have been funded on patriarchy. The key division is between men and women. Men are the enemy - oppressors and exploiters of women

  Family and marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal society, the source of womens oppression as it preserves the power that men have over women.

  Men dominate through violence or threats and explains why most domestic violence is committed by men, Male domination of state institutions helps explain the reluctance of the police and courts to deal effectively with domestic violence.
• Materialistic explanations of domestic violence


  Wikonson and Pickett

  Domestic violence is a result of stress - low incomes = more crowded housing = higher levels of stress = increase of conflict

  lack of money restricts peoples circle and therefore support

  not all people are at risk for domestic violence but those with less money and power
• What are the high risk groups identified by the office for national statistics


  Young people - less awareness

  Working classes- less money

  People in rental accommodation- more stress

  people with high levels of alcohol/drug intake - vulnerable

  long term illness/ disability - weaker