division of labor

• Parsons: instrumental and expressive


  husband has an instrumental role, geared towards achieving success at work (breadwinner). wife has an expressive role geared towards primary socialisation of children and meeting families emotional needs. (homemaker)
• Young and Willmott: criticising parsons

  argue men are taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are becoming wage earners
• feminists: criticising parsons

  reject his view that the division of labour is natural. Argue that it only benefits men
• Elizabeth Bott: conjugal roles

  segregated: when the couple has separate roles and their leisure tends to be separate

  joint: couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend leisure time together
• Young and Willmott: study of conjugal roles

  Found a pattern of segregated conjugal roles in their study of w/c extended families in East London in the 1950s. Men were breadwinners and had a small role in house life, leisure spent at the pub. women were full-time housewives with responsibility for housework and childcare, helped by female relatives. leisure time was spent with female kin
• The Symmetrical family


  The roles in the family are now more similar, but not equal. Women now go to work (but it may be part-time), men help with childcare and housework, couples spend leisure time together
• reasons for the symmetrical family

  changes in women's positions, geographical mobility, new technology and labour-saving devices, higher standards of living
• Young and Willmott: march of progress view

  They see life as gradually improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic. They argue that there is a trend towards joint conjugal roles
• Feminist view on housework

  reject march of progress. argue that little has changed. women and men still remain unequal and women still do most of the housework. see the inequality stemming from the fact that the family and society are patriarchal and male-dominated. women occupy a subordinate role.
• Alan Warde and Kevin Hetherington


  Identified that sex-typing domestic tasks was strong. Women 30 times more likely to be the last person to do the laundry, men 4 times more likely to be the last to have washed the car. Men only do 'feminine' tasks when their wives weren't there. There was a small change in younger men who no longer assumed it was the woman's job to do the housework and were more likely to think they were doing less than their fair share
• Ann Oakley


  Criticises Young and Willmott's view, argues it is exaggerated. Her research shows that 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework, 25% in childcare. Most couples described the role as 'taking an interest'
• Mary Boulton


  Found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare. Argues Young and Willmott exaggerate men's contribution by looking at tasks involved rather than responsibilities. Almost always the mother who is responsible for the child's safety and well-being