Division of Labour

• Parsons Instrumental role


  Husbands - provide finances and pay for everything - breadwinner.
• Parsons Expressive role


  Wives - home-maker, primary socialisation of children and emotional work.
• Parsons reason for roles

  Biological differences - benefit family members & members of wider society.
• Bott - Joint


  Mainly m/c, couples share household tasks, childcare & leisure time.
• Bott - segregated conjugal roles


  mainly w/c, with seperate roles like parsons instrumental & expressive
• Willmott & Young: Symmetrical family

  Mop view - roles are becoming MORE equal.

  Roles aren’t exactly the same/ equal but are becoming MORE similar.
• Who has symmetrical family and what characteristics

  Young, isolated affluent couples.

  • more women work
  • more men help with housework and childcare
  • couples spend leisure time together.
• Rise in symmetrical family because

  change in women’s position

  geographical mobility

  new technology e.g. hoover

  higher standards of living
• Cronpton & Lyonette - 2 explanations of DOL

  1. Cultural / Ideological explanation
  2. material / economic explanation
• C&L 1. Cultural explanation 


  DOL is determined by patriarchal norms and values of society that shape gender identity & roles.

  • what society expects us to do / socialises us into.
• C&L 2. Material explanation

  DOL is determined by who earns the most money for the household.

  men go to work, women work at home.

  • Sullivan : full time vs part time work makes the highest difference to how much domestic work each partner does.
• Feminist view of housework

  Oakley: criticises Young & Willmott for exaggeration.

  • men and women are still unequal.
  • women do more domestic labour.
  • family & society are still patriarchal and socialisation reflects this reproducing gender inequalities.
  • dual burden & triple shift still exist for women.
• Evidence of cultural explanation:

  Gershuny: couples whos parents has more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally themselves.

  BSA survey (2013) found <10% of under 35s agreed with traditional DOL compared to 30% over 65s.

  Weeks: same sex couples offer more equality because DOL is open to negotiation, not patriarchy.
• Evidence of material explanation:

  If women join the labour force and earn as much as men, then there will be equal amounts to domestic work.

  Ginn: better paid m/c women were more able to buy products and services rather than doing it themselves e.g. cleaner, babysitter.

  Sullivan: found that full time vs part-time makes a big difference in sharing domestic tasks.