Resources and decision-making in households

• Barrett and McIntosh:

  • men gain far more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support
  • the financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with 'strings' attached.
  • men usually make the decisions about spending on important items.
• Kempson:

  among low-income families, women denied their own needs, going out and eating smaller portions or skipping meals altogether to make ends meet.
• In many households, a woman has no entitlement to a share of household resources in her own right. She is likely to see the money she spends on herself as essentials for the children. Resources may be shared unequally.
• Money management - Pahl and Vogler:

  2 main types of control over family income

  The allowance system: men give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the family's needs, with the man retaining any surplus money for himself

  Pooling: both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure.

  Pooling is on the increase and the most common money management system.
• Decision-making:

  Assumed pooling indicates more equality in decision-making and control over resources, and it is more common among couples where both partners work part-time.
• Pooled income is controlled by men, which gives the husband more financial power.
• Decision making - Pahl and Vogler:

  even where there was pooling, the men usually made the major financial decisions.
• Decision making - Hardill:

  study of 30 dual-career professional couples found that the important decisions were usually either taken by the man alone or jointly and his career normally took priority when deciding whether to move house for a new job.
• Decision making - Finch:

  observation that women's lives tend to be structured around their husbands' careers.
• Decision making - Edgell:

  Study of professional couples found that:

  Very important decisions - such as those involving finance, a change of job or moving house, were either taken by the husband alone or taken jointly but with the husband having the final say.

  Important decisions - those about children's education or where to go on holiday, were usually taken jointly, and seldom by the wife alone.

  Less important decisions - choice of home décor, children's clothes or food purchases, were made by the wife.
• Decision making - Edgell:

  argues the main reason men are likely to take the decisions is they earn more. Women usually earn less then their husbands and, being dependent on them economically, have less say in decision-making.
• Decision making - Laurie and Gershuny:

  By 1995, 70% of couples said they had an equal say in decisions. They found that women who were high earning, well qualified professionals were more likely to have an equal say.
• cultural vs material explanations:

  Feminists argue that inequalities in decision-making are not simply the result of inequalities in earnings. In a patriarchal society, men being decision-makers is deeply engrained into society through socialisation. Until it is challenged, decision-making will remain unequal.
• The meaning of money:

  As Pahl notes, pooling money doesn't necessarily mean there is equality. We need to know who controls the pooled money and whether each partner contributes equally. Nor does each partner keeping their money separately mean there is inequality. Cohabitating couples are more likely to share domestic tasks equally.
• The meaning of money - Nyman:

  money has no automatic, fixed or natural meaning and different couples define it in different ways. These meanings can affect the nature of the relationship
• A 'personal life' perspective on money:

  Focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money. The meaning money may have in relationships cannot be taken for granted.
• A 'personal life' perspective on money - Carol Smart:

  some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to who controlled the money and were perfectly happy to leave this to their partner. Did not see the control of money as meaning either equality or inequality in the relationship. There is greater freedom for same-sex couples to do what suits them as a couple. This may be because they do not enter what is considered a 'heterosexual' relationship.
• A 'personal life' perspective on money - Weeks et al:

  the typical pattern was pooling some money for household spending, together with separate accounts for personal spending. Reflects a value of 'co-independence' - where there is sharing, but where each partner retains control control over some money and maintains a sense of independence. This is a pattern among cohabitating couples.
• A 'personal life' perspective on money:

  Argue it is essential always to start from the personal meanings of the actors involved in the situation.