Families And Housholds - Domestic Division Of Labour Flashcards
(19 cards)
Domestic division of labour meaning
The chores completes around the house such as cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY and gardening.
Decision making in the family
The ways families determine how decisions are made in the family.
Can include financial decisions as well as day to day decisions and life changing ones.
March of progress - Willmott and Young
Families are becoming more equal and democratic.
There is a move away from separate conjugal roles of Parsons and a move towards joint conjugal roles.
Worth women going out to work men need to take a more active role in the family and couples are more likely to spend their leisure time together.
Decision making in the family - Money:
Mclintosh and Barrett
Men gain more from women’s unpaid domestic labour and in allowance situations men don’t give adequate financial recompense and it often comes with strings attached.
Men often make the majority of the big decisions.
Decision making in the family - money:
Kempson
Women in low income families will often go without in favour of making sure ends meet as they see money as family money.
Men don’t think this way.
Decision making in the family - money:
Pahl and Volger
Allowance system - men give wives a certain amount of money each week/ month for family expenses, all excess belongs to them.
Pooling - all money goes into a central pot and take joint responsibility for expenditure however men tend to earn more than women.
Decision making in the family - Edgell
Very important decision are taken by men, important decisions taken jointly, day to day decisions taken by women.
Backed up by Hardill.
Decision making in the family - Laurie and Gurshunny
70% of couples said they had equal say in family decisions by 1995 but women who had high earning positions were more likely to say they have equal say.
Decision making in the family - Feminists
Decision making isn’t linked to money but cultural expectations of a patriarchal society and gender role socialisation.
Reasons why roles are changing
- Economically active women/ mothers
- Decline in the extended family
- Weakening gender identities
- Technology and living standards
- Commercialisation of domestic labour
Economic active women/ mothers
With women going out to work more men need to help around the house more in order for chores to get done.
Decline in the extended family
With fewer family members around to help with things like child care couples need to be more equal.
Weakening gender identities
The rise of header neutrality in terms of roles and jibes means less pressure to conform to traditional roles.
Technology and living standards
New tech such as washing machines, Eisha washers as well as smart homes means some jobs that used to be done are no longer needed to be.
Commercialisation of domestic labour
As the family has become duel earning there has been a growth in the domestic labour industry as more families pay for certain tasks to be completed or hire in AU pairs and nannies.
To what extent has the level of change in the domestic division of labour been exaggerated- NO - Young and Willmott - rise of the symmetrical family
Acceptance of the interhcangeability of roles.
7/10 women of working age now have a job.
Half of mothers with children aged under 5 are in work.
36% of couples say a man is the main carer.
To what extent has the level of change in the domestic division of labour been exaggerated - Yes - dual burden and triple shift
Brayfield, Ferri and Smith, Man-yee Kan, Hochschild - all found even in dual career families women had major responsibility for domestic tasks.
McKee and Bell - unemployed men resist pleas from partners to do more housework.
British Social Attitudes Survey 1992 - certain household tasks have become more equal than others.
To what extent has the level of change in the domestic division of labour been exaggerated - Yes - views on housework
Rapoport and Rapoport - career women still viewed as ‘wives and mothers.’
Oakley - jointly doesn’t mean equally - men participating in domestic tasks are doing so to ‘help their wives’.
Morley - Women see the home as a place of wok, men a place of leisure.
Craig - Women do 1/3 more housework than men due to the partnership penalty and marriage penalty.
To what extent has the level of change in the domestic division of labour been exaggerated - YES - same sex couples
Dunne - gay and lesbian couples are more equal and symmetrical than heterosexual couples ones.
But if unequal earning then there was an unequal division of labour.
