Couples Topic 1

Question 0

What did parsons argue?

Answer 0

This division of labour is based on biological differences where women are naturally suited to the nurturing role and men are suited to the provided role
This division of labour benefits men,women and society as a whole

Question 1

What is parsons functionalist model of the family?

Answer 1

The husband has an instrumental role so is the breadwinner

The wife has an expressive role so is the full time housewife

Question 2

What are two criticisms of parsons?

Answer 2

• Young and willmott argue men are now doing more domestic tasks and women are becoming wage earners
• feminist reject parsons view by arguing it only benefits men

Question 3

What did Bott separate the two types of conjugal roles into?

Answer 3

Segregated conjugal roles - couples have separate roles, male is the breadwinner and female is the house wife and their leisure activities are separate
Joint conjugal roles - couples share tasks of house work and child care and spend their leisure time together

Question 4

What do young and willmott argue?

Answer 4

Young and willmott have a ‘march of progress’ view. They argue more families are moving towards the ‘symmetrical family’ which is where roles between men and women are now more similar because women now go out to work and men help with house work and childcare

Question 5

Young and willmott see the rise of the symmetrical family because of what reasons?

Answer 5

• changes in women’s position
• graphical mobility
• new technology and labour saving devices
• higher standards of living

Question 6

What is the feminist view of housework?

Answer 6

Feminists reject the ‘March of progress’ view and argue that men and women are still unequal

Question 7

What was oakleys view on the feminist view of housework?

Answer 7

Oakley criticised young and willmotts view of the symmetrical family and found only some evidence of husbands helping at home- only 15% had high level of helping with housework and 25% had high level of helping with childcare
Oakley says the housewife role has become the dominant role for married women where they are economically dependant on men

Question 8

What did warde and herherington find?

Answer 8

Wards and herherington did research and found that sex- typing of domestic tasks were strong, for example women were 30 times more have likely to have done the washing up where as men were 4 times more likely to have washed the car

Question 9

What did gershuny find?

Answer 9

Gershuny found that non working wives did 83% of the house work where as those working part time did 82 and those working full time did 73%
Couples who’s parents had a more equal relationship were more likely to share house work equally

Question 10

Who supports gershuny?

Answer 10

Crompton supports gershunys view and argues that as women earn more, men do more in the home but men and women’s earnings are still unequal

Question 11

What is silver and schor’s view? (Commercialisation)

Answer 11

There are two economic developments that reduced the amount of housework needed to be done
-housework has become ‘commercialised’ products such as freezers reduced the amount of domestic labour
-women working so they can afford to buy things
Silver and schor argue this has led to the death of the housewife role

Question 12

Why are silver and schor criticised?

Answer 12

Critics argue pooper women can’t afford these products and even if commercialising reduced the amount of housework it doesn’t prove couples share housework equally

Question 13

What is the dual burden and what evidence is there to support it?

Answer 13

Feminists argue women have a dual burden of paid work and housework and remains patriarchal
Ferri and smith found that employment of women didn’t have a big impact of the domestic division of labour, based on a sample if 5000 mothers and fathers, only 4% of the families had the father as the main carer

Question 14

What does marsden argue in emotion work?

Answer 14

Women are expected to work a triple shift (housework, paid work and emotion work)

Question 15

in lesbian couples and gender scripts what did dunne argue?

Answer 15

That the division of labour continues because of gender scripts which are expectations that set out the gender roles men and women are expected to play

Question 16

What did dunne find?

Answer 16

She studied 37 lesbian couples and found lesbian couples are more likely to describe their relationship as equal and share housework and childcare equally

Question 17

In lesbian couples and gender scripts what did weeks argue?

Answer 17

He argues same sex relationships create equality as the division of labour isnt based on patriarchal tradition

Question 18

In resources and decision making what did Barrett and Macintosh claim?

Answer 18

• men gain more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support
• the financial support men give is often unpredictable with strings attached

Question 19

In recourse and decision making what did kempson find?

Answer 19

Kempson found that in low income families many women ignored their own needs to make ends meet

Question 20

What did Graham’s study find?

Answer 20

His study found over 50% of women living on benefits after separating from their husbands said that them and their child were actually better off because of benefits (more reliable source of income)

Question 21

What did feminists pahl and vogler find?

Answer 21

They found two types of control over family income

• pooling, both parents have access to income and spending
• allowance system, men give women an allowance that they have to budget and spend the rest of the income on themselves

Question 22

What did edgell’s study find in decision making?

Answer 22

Very important decisions - i.e finance were decided by the husband
Important decisions - I.e children’s education were usually taken jointly (man had final say)
Non important decisions - i.e food purchases were usually made by the wife

Question 23

What do women’s aid federation describe domestic violence as?

Answer 23

Physical,sexual,psychological or financial violence in an intimate relationship

Question 24

What did the British crime survey find?

Answer 24

1/6 of all violent crime is domestic

Question 25

What did mirrlees black find?

Answer 25

• most victims are women
• 99% of incidents against women are committed by men
• 1 in 4 have been assaulted and 1 in 8 repeatedly so

Question 26

In domestic violence what did dobash and dobash argue?

Answer 26

Marriage justifies violence against women as husbands have power and authority and women are dependant on them

Question 27

What are the official statistics of domestic violence?

Answer 27

The official statistics don’t show the true extent if the problem because victims may be unwilling to report it or police and other state agencies don’t want to get involved
On average women suffer 35 assaults before reporting it

Question 28

What is the radical feminist explanation?

Answer 28

Radical feminists

• argue men are the enemy and are oppressors and exploiters of women.
• Men dominate women through domestic violence or the threat of it.
• domestic violence is inevitable in a patriarchal society

Question 29

Who rejects the radical feminist view?

Answer 29

Robertson Elliot rejects this view and says not all men are aggressive and most are against domestic violence
Mirrlees black found 1 in 7 have been assaulted

Question 30

What is wilkinsons view?

Answer 30

Wilkinson says domestic violence is caused by stress on family because of social inequality
Families on low income or living in overcrowded accommodation are likely to have higher levels of stress and less stable relationships so this increases the risk of conflict and violence
Worries about money,jobs and housing may cause domestic conflict
Wilkinson shows not everyone is at risk of domestic violence, those who are are those with less power,status,wealth or income