domestic division of labour

• parsons 


  instrumental and expressive roles
• bott 


  segregated conjugal - couple have separate roles

  joint conjugal - couples share tasks
• young and willmott 


  march of progress view

  symmetrical family

  due to

  • changes in women position
  • geographic mobility
  • new tech & labour saving devices e.g kettle, microwaves, hoovers
  • higher standards of living
• Oakley 


  researched housewives

  found only 15% of husbands helped in housework

  husbands more likely to share more pleasurable aspects of housework e.g childcare
• delphy and Leonard

  • women undertake domestic labour for free without financial reward
  • women exploited by males performing unpaid labour
  • home Is not a refuge from work for women
  • work performed by women was invisible to me and seen as an expectation of being a wife and mother
  • when man perform tasks at home is is seen as helping out
• delphy and Leonard - role of male

  a mans time in the house was used for leisure as he believed his work was completed outside the home

  occasionally helps out with domestic work to give the impression they are willing to perform domestic roles
• gershuny and Sullivan 


  both suggest a trend towards equality in the share of domestic work because of the increase in the number of women working full-time. Gershuny’s data suggests that the longer the wife had been in paid work, the more housework her husband was likely to do.