6f

• what are the 7 topics in this sections?

  1. domestic labour

  2. emotional work

  3. finances

  4. decision-making

  5. non-decision making

  6. same-sex couples

  7. domestic violence
• what did bott find in early research of domestic labour? (2)


  1. segregated conjugal roles

  2. joint conjugal roles
• segregated conjugal roles?


  the jobs are not shared - men are the breadwinners and women are housewives (traditional)
• joint conjugal roles?


  husband and wife both share paid, domestic and childcare
• what view did willmott and young take?

  a march of progress (more equal)
• what did willmott and young find out from their study in london?


  the symmetrical family had arose by 1970
• symmetrical family?


  men and women's roles in marriage were becoming increasingly similar - women were more likely to work outside the home and men made decisions about family life
• what did they find about the symmetrical family?

  it was more common among younger couples who were geographically isolated from their extended kin
• 3 reasons for the change in men and women's roles?

  1. changes in women's position

  2. geographical mobility - couples move away from kin and so are less influenced by traditional values

  3. mew technologies - labour saving device
• who is the feminist critique of willmott and young?

  ann oakley
• what does oakley say about the symmetrical family (3)


  1. 72% of men help in the house but to be included in the statistic they only need 1 chore a week

  2. in her study wives thought domestic and childcare was their responsibility

  3. housework is economically unrecognised as it is unpaid, long hours and isn't given any value
• name 3 later research into gender and domestic labour


  1. future foundation 2000

  2. man yee kan et al

  3. yougove research 2019
• describe future foundations research (4)


  1. study of 100 adults

  2. 60% of men said they do more housework than their father

  3. 75% of women said they do less housework than their mothers

  4. suggests gendered division in the home was beginning to change
• describe man yee kan et al's research (4)


  1. gender segregation in domestic work continues and greater inequalities are found in routine housework (oxford study)

  2. women still take most of the domestic work whilst men contribute to non-routine work

  3. the decline in womens domestic work is due to them having reduced time at home as they have the right to work and improved techmologies

  4. influence of social norms remains strong
• describe the yougov's research (2)


  1. housework is usually done solely by men or women

  2. men usually do tasks such as gardening, oven cleaning and food shopping whereas women do laundry, dusting and polishing
• which 2 sociologists have on opinion on the impact of women working?

  1. devine

  2. gurshuny
• devine on the impact of women working


  men's contribution to domestic work increased when their wives re-entered employment but their role was seen as secondary
• gershuny on the impact of women working (2)


  1. found a gradual increase in mens domestic labour and that theres a gradual change to greater equality

  2. lagged adaptation
• lagged adaptation?


  a time lag between women taking up paid employment and men making a greater contribution to domestic labour - may take men a generation or more to catch up
• 2 evaluations of the sociologists take on women working


  1. don't measure the urgency of tasks - women's tasks of cooking and cleaning are more urgent than men's DIY

  2. women have responsibility for domestic tasks but men are seen as having a help role - time studies don't measure this
• who investigated the commercialisation of housework?

  silver and schor
• what are the 2 economic developments reducing the burden of housework found by silver and schor?


  1. housework is commercialised - goods that had to be produced at home are now mass produced by shops

  2. women working means they can afford these goods
• what is the result silver and schor found?

  the burden of housework as reduced
• 2 weaknesses of the commercialisation of housework

  1. many poorer women can't buy the goods so the housework is still high

  2. doesn't prove that any remaining chores are shared equally
• new man?


  the idea that men are increasingly doing more housework and having a closer relationship with their children
• what do feminists say abvout the new man?

  there's little evidence to support it
• what do ferri and smith think about the dual burden?


  they found in their study little evidence that increased employment has impacted the division of labour
• what did ramos find about the dual burden?

  families where the man didn't do paid work and his partner works full time, male domestic labour matches that of his partner
• who are the 2 sociologists on childcare?


  1. dex and ward

  2. braun et al
• dex and ward on childcare


  although many fathers have high involvement with their 3 year old only 1% took responsibility when the child was sick
• braun et al on childcare (3)


  1. only 3/70 families studies had the father as the main carer and most were background fathers

  2. most fathers had a provider ideology where they saw their role as breadwinners while mothers are primary caregivers

  3. intensive mothering is also responsible - media telling women how to be good mothers
• 3 other types of power inequality in the family


  1. responsibility for quality time

  2. emotion work

  3. family finances
• describe taking responsibility for quality time


  men are more likely to have blocks of uninterrupted leisure time whereas women's is punctuated with childcare (indicated dual burden)
• describe emotion work


  its the provision of love, sympathy and care in the family and there's evidence for women carrying out more emotional work than men
• duncombe and marsden on emotion work (3)

  1. interviewed 40 couples

  2. women felt they did the majority of emotion work

  3. women have to deal with a triple shift
• triple shift?


  paid work, housework and childcare, emotional work
• what does research suggest about family finances?


  access and control over money is controlled along gender lines with men having the majority
• what 2 types of family financing did volger and pahl find?

  1. pooling

  2. allowance system
• pooling?


  both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure
• allowance system?


  men give their wives an allowance which they have to budget to meet family needs where men retain any surplus income for themselves