Domestic division of labour

• domestic division of labour


  refers to the roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare and paid work
• criticisms of parsons

  • wilmott and young - men are now taking greater share of domestic tasks and women are now in paid employment
  • feminist sociologists disagree that the division of labour is natural and argue it only benefits men
• segregated conjugal roles

  • where the couple have separate roles e.g. male = breadwinner and women = homemaker
  • the leisure activities also tend to be separate
• joint conjugal roles

  • where the couple shares tasks e.g. housework and childcare
  • spend their leisure time together
• functionalism

  • Parson (1955) identifies two conjugal roles:
  • the instrumental role - men - breadwinner
  • the expressive role - women - carer
  • sees this gender division as functional for the family
  • bases it on biology
• feminist view of conjugal roles

  • reject the march of progress view as they safe very little has changed
  • Ann Oakley criticises Young and Wilmotts view as they see it as exaggerated
  • 15% of husband helped with housework leaving it to be 85% women
  • 25% of men helped with childcare leaving it to be 75% women
  • they see this inequality as stemming from the fact that the family and society is male-dominated or patriarchal
  • Mary Boulton 1983 found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare arguing that W+Y exaggerate mens contribution in childcare
• Elizabeth Bott

  • she distinguishes 2 types of conjugal roles
  • segregated conjugal roles
  • joint conjugal roles
• The symmetrical family - Wilmott and Young 1973

  • take a 'march of progress' view
  • see family life as gradually improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic
  • argue that therefore has been a long term trend away from segregated conjugal roles and towards joint conjugal roles and the symmetrical family
  • evidence - women now go out to work
  • evidence - men now help with housework and childcare
  • see the rise of the symmetrical family as the result of major social changes
  • changes in womens position
  • geographical mobility
  • new technology
  • higher standards of living
• changes in womens position

  • including married women going out to work
• geographical mobility

  • more couples living away from the communities in which they grew up in
• feminist view of domestic division of labour

  • reject the march of progress view
  • argue little has changed as women still do most of housework
  • See the family as patriarchal (male-dominated), not symmetrical or equal
  • women occupy a subordinate and dependent role within the family and in wider society
• Oakley 1974

  • found no evidence of symmetry in domestic labour
  • Argues that Young and Willmott exaggerate men's role
• Boulton 1983

  • found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare
  • argues that Willmott and Young exaggerate mens contribution by looking at the tasks involved in childcare rather than the responsibilities
  • The wife is seen as responsible for children's welfare, even when men help
  • Less than one in five husbands took a major part in childcare
• Warde & Hetherington (1993)

  • found that sex-typing of domestic tasks remained strong
  • e.g. wives are 30x more likely to last have done the washing while husbands were 4x more likely to be the last person to have washed the car
  • Found men only do 'female' tasks when their partner isn't around
  • did find evidence of a slight change of atttiude among younger men
  • they no longer assumed that women should do the housework and were more likely to think they were doing less than the fair share