Young and Willmott Symmetrical Family

• Young and Willmott identified a pattern of segregated conjugal roles in their study of traditional working-class extended families in Bethnal Green, east London, in the 1950s. Men were the breadwinners. They played little part in home life and spent their leisure time with workmates in pubs and working men's clubs. Women were full-time housewives with sole responsibility for housework and childcare, helped by their female relatives. The limited leisure women had was also spent with female kin.
• Young and Willmott take a 'march of progress' view of the history of the family. They see family life as gradually improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic. They argue that there has been a long-term trend away from segregated conjugal roles and towards joint conjugal roles and the 'symmetrical family'.
• By the symmetrical family they mean one in which the roles of husbands and wives, although not identical, are now much more similar:

  • Women now go out to work, although this may be part-time rather than full-time.
  • Men now help with housework and childcare.
  • Couples now spend their leisure time together instead of separately with workmates or female relatives.
• In their study of families in London, Young and Willmott found that the symmetrical family was more common among younger couples, those who are geographically and socially isolated, and the more affluent (better off).
• Young and Wilmott see the rise of the symmetrical nuclear family as the result of major social changes that have taken place during the past century:

  • Changes in women's position, including married women going out to work
  • Geographical mobility - more couples living away from the communities in which they grew up
  • New technology and labour-saving devices
  • Higher standards of living.
• Many of these factors are inter-linked. For example, married women bringing a second wage into the home raises the family's standard of living. This means the couple can afford more labour-saving devices. This makes housework easier and encourages men to do more.