Housework

• Dual-income households


  Households where both partners are employed
• The entrance of women in the workforce and the huge increase in dual-income households was a major change in family life in the late 20th century
• This change did not lead to symmetry according to a number of sociologists
• Oakley (1974): 'Working women suffered a dual burden'
• Dual burden


  Women do paid work and also complete the bulk of housework and childcare
• Most working mothers performed the vast majority of domestic chores and the bulk of childcare, while very few men did significant amounts of housework
• Feminist sociologists: 'Women not only have a dual burden but, in fact, work a triple shift as they do a full day's paid work, all the housework and childcare but also all the emotional work too-providing the emotional support for the whole family'
• Edgell: 'None of the families in his sample had shared conjugal roles, but parents were sharing childcare more than families had previously'
• Dunne: 'Lesbian couples tended to be symmetrical with quite an equal distribution of household tasks and shared childcare'
• Unemployed men


  Did more domestic work than employed men
• Wives of unemployed men still did most of the housework, even when they were in employment