Topic 1: Couples Flashcards
(38 cards)
Parsons (DDL)
-The husband had the instrumental role, where he focused on achieving economic success so that he can provide for the family (Breadwinner)
-The woman had the expressive role, where she focused on the primary socialisation of the children and meeting the family’s emotional needs (homemaker and full-time housewife)
Bott
2 types of conjugal roles: segregated and joint.
-Segregated conjugal roles are when the couple have separate roles, where the male is the breadwinner and the female is the homemaker/carer adding that their leisure activities also tend to be separate.
-Joint conjugal roles are when the couple shares the tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together.
Wilmott and Young
-Taking a MoP view they see family life as gradually improving for all its members, becoming more equal.
-They argue that there has been a long-term trend away from the segregated conjugal roles and more towards a symmetrical family.
-.In this type of family,the roles of the husband and wife are more similar, although not identical.
-This includes women going out to work,men helping with the housework and couples spending their leisure time together.
-This is a result of the changing position of women, geographical mobility, new technology and higher standards of living.
Oakley
-Criticises W&Y arguing that their claims are exaggerated.
-.Although they found that most husbands they interviewed ‘helped’ their wives at least once a week, this could simply be taking the children for a walk. This is hardly symmetry.
-In her own research there is evidence that husbands help in the home but no evidence of a trend towards symmetry.
-Only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework, and only 25% had a high level of participation in childcare.
-Most couples described the father’s role as one of ‘taking responsibility’
Boulton
-Found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare, arguing that W&Y exaggerate men’s contribution by looking at tasks involving childcare rather than the responsibilities.
-A father might help with a specific task, but it was almost always the mother who was responsible for the child’s security and wellbeing.
Warde and Hetherington
-Found that sex-typing of domestic tasks remained strong.
-For example, wives were 30x more likely to be the last person to have done the washing,while husbands were 4x more likely to be the last person to wash the car.
-Found that men would only carry out ‘female tasks’ when their partners were not around to do them.
-Additionally, they found evidence of a slight change in attitudes among younger men.They no longer assumed that women should do the housework, and were more likely to think they were doing less than their fair share.
Gershuny (MoP)
-Women working full-time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home.
-Using time-studies he found that these women did less domestic work than other women.
BSA 2012
-men on average did 8 hours of housework a week,whereas women did 13 hours.
-men spent about 10 hours on care for family members, whereas women spent over 23 hours.
-couples continue to divide household tasks along traditional gender roles.For example, women were much more likely to do the laundry, care for sick and shop for groceries, while men were more likely to do small repairs around the house
-patterns were similar to those in 1994
Ferri and Smith
-Fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4%
-Dual Burden of women
Duncombe and Marsden
Women have to perform a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work and emotional work.
Southerton
There is a responsibility that specifically falls to mothers.This is coordinating,scheduling and managing the family’s ‘quality time’ together.
Crompton and Lyonette
2 different explanations for the unequal division of labour:
- Cultural - division of labour determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape the gender roles in our culture.Women perform domestic roles because that is what society expects them to do and has socialised them to do.
(Gershuny, BSA, Dunne , MYK) - Material or economic - the fact that women generally earn less than men means it is economically okay for women to do more of the housework and childcare while men spend more of their time earning money.
(MYK, Arber and Ginn)
Gerhuny (Cultural Explanation)
Couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally themselves, suggesting parental role models are important.
BSA (Cultural Explanation)
While only 47% of the over 75s disagreed with traditional division of labour, this rose to 5% among the under 35s. This shows long-term change in norms,values and attitudes, reflecting change in gender role socialisation of younger age groups .
Dunne (Cultural Explanation)
Lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of the absence of traditional heterosexual roles and gender scripts
Man Yee Kan (Cultural Explanation)
Younger men do much more domestic work, showing a generational shift in behaviour is occurring.
Man Yee Kan (Economic Explanation)
For every £10,000 a year a woman earns, she does 2 hours less housework
Arber and Ginn (Economic Explanation)
Middle class women could afford products to help with the domestic division of labour such as labour-saving devices, ready meals, domestic help and childcare, rather than having to spend time carrying out labour-intensive domestic tasks themselves
Barrett and Mclntosh
Men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support.The financial support that husbands give to their wives often comes with ‘string’ attached (sexual needs).Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items
Kempson
Among low income families, women denied their own needs, seldom going out, and eating smaller proportions of food or skipping meals altogether in order to make ends meet.
Pahl and Vogler (control)
Identify 2 main types of control over family income:
- The allowance system where men give their wives an allowance of which they have to budget to meet the family’s needs, with the man retaining any surplus income for himself
- The pooling where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure eg joint bank account
Edgell
Study of professional couples
Found that:
- Very important decisions , such as those involving finance,moving house or change of job, were either taken by the husband alone or jointly but with the husband having the final say.
- Important decisions, such as those about children’s education or where to go on holiday, were usually taken jointly, or seldom by the wife alone
- Less important decisions, such as the choice of home decor or children’s clothes, were usually made by the wife
Pahl
-Just pooling money doesn’t necessarily mean there is equality.
-We also need to know who controls the pooled money and whether each partner contributes equally (despite any differences in their incomes)
Vogler et al
-Cohabiting couples were less likely to pool their money, from desire to maintain independence.
-Yet evidence suggests that cohabiting couples are more likely to share domestic tasks equally
