resource and decision making

• Inequality exists in terms of decision making and resources.

  
  

  This means who controls family income and who can make the power of decisions
• Barrett and McIntosh (1991) = Money and decisions

  • Men usually decide spending money on important items
  • Men gain from women domestic labour
  • The allowance husbands give come with strings attached
• Kempson (1994) = Food and resources

  • Women sacrifice their own needs in order to for their children
  • Women often feel they cannot spend money on themselves because it should be spent on the children
• Most women, even with adequate incomes, are in poverty due to feeling they have no entitlement to spend money on themselves.
• Pahl and Vogler = Money management

  Two main types of control over family income

  • The allowance system

  A certain budget for the wife to spend of family needs

  • Pooling

  Both partners have access to income and joint responsibility
• Hardill (1997) =

  • Important decisions were made from men
  • Men's career took priority over women
• Finch (1983) =

  • A change of job were taken by men and he had the final say
  • Decisions about the children were done by the mother

  eg. clothing
• Edgell (1980) =

  • Men are making the decisions because they earn more
  • Women are economically dependent as they have less say
• Laurie and Gershuny (2000) =

  • Limited movement towards greater equality
  • Women who have more power are better paid in employment