3. GENDER ROLES, DOMESTIC LABOUR AND POWER RELATIONSHIPS

Question 1

Bott (1957) - 2 types of Conjugal roles

Answer 1

Segregated conjugal roles – where the couple have separate roles: e.g. one doing most of the housework and childcare, and the other focuses on paid employment. Their leisure activities also tend to be separate.

Joint conjugal roles – where the couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together. They also both do paid employment

Question 2

Parsons – biology and ‘expressive female’

Answer 2

Expressive roles: The role is to provide emotional support, the housewife. Care, warmth, security too – a woman.
→Women’s biology meant that they gave birth + breastfed = naturally better at caring for children

Question 3

Social construction

Answer 3

feature of society that most people take to be natural but which has actually been produced through social processes

Question 4

Gabb - Conjugal Roles = Social Construct

Answer 4

.Women are taught to be mothers, not biological
.Feeling rules = informal rules in society about what you should feel in certain circumstances
.It’s a product of the culture of a particular society

Question 5

Young and Wilmott (early 1970’s) - The Symmetrical Family

Answer 5

Symmetrical Family developing in Britain

.Strong bonds through marriage or cohabitation
.Equally balanced partnership
.Shared chores and household tasks
.Both partners are likely to be involved in paid employment
So conjugal roles were becoming increasingly similar and more equal

Question 6

Conjugal Roles Definition

Answer 6

refers to relationships between male and female partners in intimate relationships

Question 7

The Symmetrical Family Statistics

Answer 7

Symmetrical Family developing in Britain

In 72% of family households studied by Y+W = men contributed to the housework

Question 8

Rise in Symmetrical Family reasons

Answer 8

.Increased employment opportunities for women
.Increase geographical mobility
.Reduced number of children increased women’s opportunity for work
.Dual earner families created a more attractive home

Question 9

Young and Willmott Evaluation

Answer 9

Oakley argues that their claim of increasing symmetry within marriage is based on inadequate research
e.g. 72% figure accounts for men just doing helping on 1 day of the week
→ not representative

Question 10

Ann Oakley (1974) Housework Findings

Answer 10

15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework
25% high level in childcare (but only in the more pleasurable aspects)
Men take on the more pleasurable household tasks

Question 11

Domestic Division of Labour

Answer 11

The organisation of tasks such as housework and childcare is known as the domestic division of labour

Question 12

British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) - Household Tasks

Answer 12

Prepares the meals - 55% always/ usually the women
Does the Laundry - 70% always/ usually the women
Make small repairs around the house - 75% always/ usually the men

Question 13

Beanpole Family Definition

Answer 13

a multi-generation extended family, which is long and thin, with few aunts, uncles and cousins, reflecting fewer children being born in each generation, but people living longer

Question 14

Crompton and Lyonette (2008)

Answer 14

Found that between the 1960s and 1990s, there was a significant shift towards men doing a greater share of housework
→But this has not really increased since the 1990s…

Question 15

Oxfam (2016) Research - Time and Gender Roles

Answer 15

Women in a partnership spent 31% more time caring for children and 28% more time doing housework than men = they have less time to do other things e.g. careers/leisure

Question 16

Office for National Statistics (2015) Research - Time and Gender Roles

Answer 16

men did an avg of 16 hours per week on unpaid work every week, whereas women did an avg 26 hours

Question 17

Crompton and Lyonette (2008) - Unequal Division of Labour Theories

Answer 17

. Economistic or Material Theories

. Normative or Gender Construction Theory

Question 18

Crompton and Lyonette (2008) - Economistic or Material Theories

Answer 18

. Women generally earn less than men means it’s economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare whilst men spend more of their time earning money

Question 19

Crompton and Lyonette (2008) - Normative or Gender Construction Theory

Answer 19

The division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles in our culture.
Women perform more domestic labour simply because that is what society expects them to do and has socialised them to do.

Question 20

Boulton (1983) - Childcare

Answer 20

.argue that studies have exaggerated the extent of men’s involvement in childcare
.believes that although men might help with particular tasks, it’s their wives who retain primary responsibility for children
→It’s the wives who relegate non-domestic aspects of their lives to a low priority

Question 21

Braun, Vincent and Ball - Fathers and Childcare

Answer 21

.Half of the 16 working-class fathers were classified as ‘active fathers’ who were highly involved fathers although 4 of these still displayed a tendency to refer to the mothers for ‘instruction and reassurance’
.The others were classified as background fathers who did not spend too much time with the children and saw the other as primarily responsible for them
.The partners of the 4 active fathers were the breadwinner and the fathers tended to feel that ideally they as the man of the house should be the main earner

Many men also discussed how uncomfortable they felt looking after their child or children in public places

Question 22

Arber and Ginn (1995) - Childcare

Answer 22

full day childcare is essential for many women to stay in employment

Question 23

Ramos (2003) - Housework

Answer 23

suggests that in households with an unemployed male and female in full-time employment do the same amount of housework (19 hours per week)

Question 24

Kan and Laurie (2016) - Gender Construction Theory

Answer 24

statistic link between attitudes to gender and gender inequality in domestic labour
→ the more traditional the attitude of men was towards gender roles, the lower the proportion of housework they do. Younger men do more domestic work – generational shift?
Ethnic differences?

Question 25

Man-Yee Kan and Heather Laurie (2016) - Material Theories

Answer 25

found that inequality in gender roles was reduced when women were employed + when they had a degree (increases their earnings)

Question 26

Gershuny (1994) - Paid work + Gender Equality

Answer 26

.Women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home
.His studies showed how women did LESS domestic work than other women

Question 27

British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) - Paid work + Gender Equality

Answer 27

1984 – 45% of men and 41% of women thought that it is the man’s job to earn money and the woman’s job to look after the family.
In 2012, only 13% of men and 12% of women agreed

Question 28

Sullivan (1975, 1987, 1997) - Paid work + Gender Equality

Answer 28

Trend towards equality in the home. Men are taking on more traditionally female tasks (similar to the ‘symmetrical family’ theory).

Question 29

British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) - Paid work + Gender Inequality

Answer 29

In 2012 – men did 8 hours of housework a week compared to the women’s 13.
Household tasks divided by gender roles

Question 30

Hochschild (2013) - Paid work + Gender Inequality

Answer 30

Women also required to perform ‘emotion work’

Question 31

Graham Allen (1985) - Paid work + Gender Inequality

Answer 31

Women’s tasks such as washing and cleaning are less intrinsically satisfying

Question 32

Dunne - equal division of labour?

Answer 32

studied 37 cohabiting lesbian couples with dependent children. Found they were more likely than heterosexual couples to:

Share childcare and housework equally.
Ascribe equal importance to their careers.
view childcare positively.

Question 33

Hardill, Green, Dudleston and Owen’s - Power

Answer 33

Examined power in dual-earner households
19 households = man’s career came first
5 households = woman’s career came first
6 households = neither was clearly prioritised

Question 34

Treas and Tai’s study -Power

Answer 34

.There has been a widespread move towards greater apparent equality
.75% of couples across 31 countries made joint decisions on how to bring up children, what to do on weekends + expensive purchases

Question 35

Jan Pahl - patterns of money management

Answer 35

.interviewed 102 couples:
Husband-controlled pooling - 39 couples
Wife controlled pooling - 27 couples
Husband control - 22 couples
Wife control -14 couples. Most common in W/C (burden)

Question 36

Common View of Domestic Violence

Answer 36

.That it is the behaviour of a few ‘disturbed’ or ‘sick’ individuals
.That its causes are psychological rather than social

Question 37

Women’s Aid Federation (2014) - Domestic Violence

Answer 37

domestic violence counts for between a sixth and a quarter of all recorded violent crime

Question 38

Coleman and Osborne (2010) - Domestic violence

Answer 38

2 women victims a week are killed by a partner of former partner

Question 39

Mirlees-Black - Domestic violence

Answer 39

99% of all incidents against women are committed by men.
Nearly one in four women has been assaulted by a partner at some point in her life time, and one in eight repeatedly so.
→Majority of victims are women
It doesn’t just happen once - repeated

Question 40

Domestic Violence Definition

Answer 40

Physical, psychological, sexual or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. It may involve partners, ex partners, household members or other relatives.”