The Domestic Division of Labour

Functionlism
1. Bott
  1. Segregated Conjugal roles- clear differentiation of tasks & separate hobbies
  2. Joint Conjugal roles- carrying out tasks together and relaxing together
2. Parsons
  1. Expressive role- nurturing role
  2. Instrumental role- the provider
3. Willmott & Young
  1. March of Progress- move from segregated to integrated conjugal roles
  2. Symmetrical Family- the roles in the house become more similar
    1. Strengths
      1. More equality for women
      2. Couples spend more leisure time together
      3. Men can help with the housework & childcare
    2. Limitations
      1. Doesn't consider other cultures/working class families
4. Future Foundation- 60% out of 1,000 men claimed to do more housework than their fathers, 75% of women claimed to do less than their mother
5. The New Man- young men are sharing the household chores equally/more than women
Feminism
1. Reject the "March of Progress", argue that little has changed & inequality remains in households
2. Oakley- 15% of husbands had a high level of participation, 25% had a high level of childcare
3. Man Yee Kan- found better-paid,younger,better-educated women did less housework
4. Dunne- little change, "gender scripts" that women are expected to play
5. Compton & Lyonette
  1. Cultural explanation of inequality
    1. Patriarchal norms & values that are reinforced within society
  2. Material explanation of inequality
    1. Since women earn less, it's more rational for men to go out to work and earn, whilst women care for children
6. Dual burden- paid work and house work
7. Triple shift- paid work and house work and emotional support
8. Liberal Feminists
  1. Inequality is gradually being overcome through legal reforms & policy changes
Lesbian Couples & Gender Scripts
1. Dunne
  1. Lesbians will describe their relationships as equal, equal importance to both careers and view childcare positively
  2. Heterosexuals are under pressure to conform to masc/fem gender scripts
    1. Supports radical feminists belief that heterosexual couples are inevitable patriarchal
  3. If one partner did more paid work, the domestic work would be unequal- paid work has an important influence on the division of labour
2. Weeks- same-sex couples offer greater possibilities of equality- division of labour is open to negotiation & not based on patriarchal tradition
Postmodernism
1. Giddens- couples are free to define their relationships because of the greater equality
2. Beck
  1. Tradition has less influence & people have more choice
  2. Negotiated family- don't conform to traditonal family norm, and it's according to the wishes and expectations of the members
Decision Making & Money Management
1. Edgell
  1. Very Important Decisions- decided by husband e.g. moving house
  2. Important Decisions- jointly decided e.g. holidays
  3. Less Important Decisions- decided by wife e.g. what food to eat
2. Pahl and Vogler
  1. Pooling System- couple share income and have joint bank account
  2. Allowance System- husband gives wife a proportion of his income to meet the family needs
Personal Life Perspective
1. Focus on the meanings the couple give to money
2. Weeks et al- many cohabiting couples pooled some income for housespending, kept the rest for indivdual spending
3. Smart- same-sex couples didn't attach any importance to who controlled the money (greater freedom)
Domestic Violence
1. Women's Aid Federation 2008- physical, psychological, sexual or financial violence that takes plac within an intimate/family type relationship & forms a pattern of coercive & controlling behaviours
2. Home Office 2013 Any incident/pattern of incidents of controlling/coercive.threatening behaviour/violence/abuse between aged 16+ who are/have been intimate partners/family members regardless of gender/sexuality
3. Radical Feminists
  1. Mirrlees Black- domestic abuse follows a particular social pattern
    1. 1 in 4 women are a victim of domestic abuse (1 in 8 repeated)
    2. 1 in 6 men are a victim of domestic abuse
    3. 4.3 million women have experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16
    4. most victims are women (99% by men)
    5. 7 million frightening threats
  2. Dobash & Dobash
    1. Cultural support for the view that men have the "right" to "discipline" their partners
    2. Husbands justify it by saying the wife was not performing her domestic duties to his satisfaction
    3. Many women are economically dependent on men, therefore are trapped
    4. Believe it's inevitable feature of patriarchal society and serves to preserve men's power
4. Yearnshire- on average a woman suffers 35 assults before making a report
5. Materialist Explanation
  1. Wilkinson- stress on family caused by social inequality (low income, low chance of maintaining stable relationships

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The Domestic Division of Labour

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	Created by Holly Smith about 2 years ago