Gender Roles

• Domestic Division of Labour = Clear divison of labour between spouses/household.

  e.g. cooking, cleaning, childcare
• PARSONS: (functionalist)

  
  

  Instrumental role= 'breadwinner', main wage earner, usually and preferably the husband.

  
  

  Expressive role= caring, nurturing role, includes domestic work & childcare, usually and preferably carried out by the wife
• ELIZABETH BOTT:

  
  

  Separate conjugal roles= couples have individual roles within the family in both domestic labour & leisure activities.

  
  

  Joint conjugal roles= couples share domestic labour & spend leisure time together.
• WILLMOTT & YOUNG: Research of East End of London

  • Pattern of separate conjugal roles in traditional WC extended families.
  • Men= breadwinners= little part in home life= leisure with workmatres in pubs & working men's clubs.
  • Women= full-time housewives= sole responsibility for housework & childcare= limited leisure spent with female kin.
• WILLMOTT & YOUNG: 'March of progress' view

  Movement towards 'symmetrical family'; roles are much similar.

  • Share domestic work
  • Both in paid work
  • Spend leisure time together
• REASONS TOWARDS MOVE TO SYMMETRY IN ROLES:

  • Improved status & rights of women

  Improvement in women's status in society. May encourage men to accept women as equals. Women more demanding that household tasks are shared.

  • Weaker gender identities

  Couples free to choose roles based on personal choice. Less constrained by traditional gender roles & identities. May weaken traditional gender divisions.

  • Increase in number of women in paid employment.

  Increase independence & authority in family. Reduced time spent on housework. Progress reducing gender inequalities in home. Decision making shared.
• EVIDENCE OF MOVEMENT TOWARDS SYMMETRY

  7/10 women of working age now have jobs.

  1/2 of mothers with children aged under 5 are in work.
• WHY DO FEMINISTS REJECT THIS VIEW?

  • Argue little has changed= roles remain unequal within the family.
  • Women still do most of the housework.
  • Family & Society= male dominated/patriarchal.
  • Women occupy a subordinate & dependent role within family & wider society.
• OAKLEY'S CRITICISM OF MARCH OF PROGRESS VIEW

  • Family being symmetrical= exaggerated
  • Their evidence is hardly convincing evidence of symmetry.

  In her own research it was suggested that husbands are more likely to share childcare than housework, but only its more pleasureable aspects.
• EVIDENCE FOR CRITICISMS

  2008 British Social Attitude survey:

  80% of women with partners said they 'always or usually did the laundry'
• RADICAL FEMINISTS


  • Women= exploited by men.
  • Family= male-dominated= men have more power in decision making.
  • As a result women suffer dual burden or triple shift.
• DUAL BURDEN

  Household chores & paid job
• TRIPLE SHIFT

  Housework, paid work & offering emotional support