Conjugal roles (families)

Question 1

Parsons (conjugal roles)

Answer 1

• explains the differences in biological factors leading to expressive vs instrumental roles
• women as expressive; housewives tasked with taking care of children- seen as biologically more nurturing fitting the role
• men as instrumental; breadwinner tasked with providing resources for the house and working

Question 2

Young and Willmott (conjugal roles)

Answer 2

• symmetrical family; used questionnaires with families in london, finding that;
• more women are going out to work
• men now help with housework
• couples share leisure time together rather than workmates or relatives

Question 3

Reeves (conjugal roles)

Answer 3

• halfway to a revolutions; gender marked terms will have lost their novelty eg stay at home dad and working father
• due to closing gender pay gap, and rise in pay of women meaning they no longer have to rely on men economically

Question 4

Oakley (feminist view)

Answer 4

• argues that women do the majority of house work around the house- 15% of men participate in house work, and only 25% participate in childcare
• found that men only participate more when the tasks are more appealing

Question 5

Dunscombe and Marsden (feminist)

Answer 5

• propose the idea of a triple shift, arguing that women not only have to take care of the children and the house, but also the emotional burden of everyone in the family

Question 6

Southerton (feminist)

Answer 6

• mother are usually those who are scheduling and coordinating the families’ quality time together as a responsibility

Question 7

Gershuny (feminist ?)

Answer 7

• with the increase of more women working full time, the division of labour has become more equal with men picking up more of the work

Question 8

Crompton and Lyonette (explanations for gender division of labour)

Answer 8

• cultural explanation; determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles in our culture- women perform more domestic labour as this is what society expects
• material explanation; women earn less than men which means it is economically rational for women to do more housework

Question 9

Evidence for cultural explanation

Answer 9

• Kan; men tend to be doing more domestic work as gender norms are changing
• Dunne; 37 lesbian couples- found couples had more symmetry in relationship as didn’t have to carry out gender scripts

Question 10

Evidence for material explanation

Answer 10

• Ramos; where women is full time breadwinner and man is unemployed, he does as much domestic work as she does

Question 11

Pahl and Vogler (resources and decision making)

Answer 11

• found two main types of control over family income;
• pooling; both partners have access to income
• allowance system; men give their wives an allowance
• where pooling was most common, men made more important financial decisions

Question 12

Edgell (resources and decision making)

Answer 12

• study of professional couples found that;
• very important decision made by men eg finance
• important decision taken jointly eg children’s education
• less important decisions made by women eg interior designs

Question 13

Smart (personal life perspective)

Answer 13

• some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to who controlled money and were happy to give this to their partners; suggested as they do not enter relationships with the same historical and gendered meanings or norms around money