CONJUGAL ROLES

THE DOMESTIC DIVISION OF LABOUR

Parsons (Functionalist)

He argues that there is a clear division of labour between spouses based on biological differences

He claimed that these divisions are beneficial to men women children and wider society.

PARSONS Women have the

expressive role geared towards homemaking and childcare.

Men hold the instrumental role geared towards work and being the breadwinner.

Parsons sees these roles as natural

WHAT ARE CONJUGAL ROLES?

Conjugal roles are the roles of the man and woman [husband and wife] in the homeElizabeth Bott (1957) Identified two different types of conjugal roles

that people can have: joint conjugal roles

When husbands and wives share housework and childcare, decisions and leisure time they have

segregated conjugal roles. When husbands and wives do not share

housework and childcare, decisions and leisure time they have

JOINT AND SEGREGATED CONJUGAL ROLES SEGREGATED

CONJUGAL ROLES-where the couple have separate roles

male breadwinner female

homemaker/carer JOINT CONJUGAL

ROLES – where the couple share tasks and earning money

WILLMOTT AND YOUNG (1960)

Identified a pattern of segregated roles in Bethnal Green.

Men went to work and spent leisure time at the pub

Women stayed at home and spent time with female relatives.

They also identified the modified extended family

THE SYMMETRICAL FAMILY

Willmott and Young take a march of progress view- this means things gradually improving

By 1973 they argued that the trend towards the symmetrical family (joint conjugal roles) was underway with men helping with housework and women going out to work.

WHO USUALLY DOES THE HOUSEWORK?

MULTI-TASKING

DOMESTIC DIVISION OF LABOUR AND THE ‘NEW MAN’

CHANGING ROLES!!

YOUNG AND WILMOTT STUDY

Young and Willmott saw the rise in this new type of symetrical family occurring because of….. Changes in the position of women Geographical mobility- couples moving

away from the community they grew up in

New technology- labour saving devices Better standards of living

CRITICISMS OF YOUNG AND WILMOTT’S STUDY

Ann Oakley (Radical Feminist) Inadequate methodology ‘help for at least once a week with any

household jobs?’ “a man who helps with the children

once a week would be included in this %, so would (presumably) a man who ironed his own trousers on a Saturday afternoon.”

THE FEMINIST VIEW They reject the

march of progress view

Little has really changed in terms of gender roles in the family

THE FEMINIST VIEW Ann Oakley (1974)

criticises Willmott and Young

They said men do more based on them doing one task a week - like taking the children for a walk

This is not symmetry!

ANN OAKLEY Oakley found that

husbands were more likely to help with childcare than housework

Boulton (1983) found that W&Y exaggerated men’s contribution by looking at tasks and not responsibility- which was mostly down to women

INEQUALITY IN THE HOME

Boulton (1983) Boulton studied 50 young married

mothers in London, none of them had full-time jobs.

Boulton claimed that men will help out with certain bits of childcare such as nappy changing although women still have primary responsibility for the children.

INEQUALITY IN THE HOME

Boulton’s study revealed the following:

Amount of Help From Husband

%

Extensive help with childcare 18% Moderate help with childcare 36%

Minimal help with childcare 46%

What conclusions can be drawn from this data?

HETHERINGTON AND WARDE (1993)

Support previous findings- women still doing most domestic tasks.

But some evidence of a slight change in attitude of younger men.

However women are still doing the bulk of household chores …….

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOUSEWIFE ROLE - OAKLEY In the 19th century the

rise of industrialisation saw women gradually excluded from paid work

the housewife role came about and remains women’s primary role

When they do work women are concentrated in low paid ‘caring’ type jobs- an extension of the housewife role.

THE IMPACT OF PAID WORK ¾ of married and

cohabiting women are economically active

But is the new man doing his bit of the housework..

Or are women just shouldering a double burden

GERSHUNY (1994) Found that working women did less

housework (full time workers did 73%) Men were taking more responsibility

but for different tasks e.g. DIY Sullivan (2000) agrees that men are

doing more. Crompton agrees too but she says this

is linked to how much women earn not a change in attitudes or values.

THE COMMERCIALISATION OF HOUSEWORK Silver and Schor -

Housework has become commercialised

Goods and services (ready meals microwaves etc) reduce the amount of time women have to spend doing housework

Also since women work they can afford to buy this stuff.

THE COMMERCIALISATION OF HOUSEWORK Evaluation: A lot of women

are poor and can’t actually afford to buy these services

It doesn’t say anything about sharing chores!

THE DUAL BURDEN

FEMINISTS ARGUE THAT….

Despite going to work women are still doing the bulk of unpaid work in the home

Ferri and Smith - found less than 4% of childcare carried out by men

Even unemployed men don’t do the housework- they have lost ‘masculine’ role so female role is to be avoided.

However some studies show unemployed men do more housework (Ramos 2003)

CHILDCARE Good quality

childcare is essential to working mums

This is not always available to working class families so women stay trapped in low paid part time jobs

Middle class couples often pay for nannies/cleaners etc

EMOTION WORK Women are more

likely to do jobs which are about managing emotions Teaching Nursing

This has been applied to the family

EMOTION WORKDuncombe and Marsden call it the triple shift paid work childcare &

housework Emotion work

‘Triple shift’

THE DARKSIDE OF THE FAMILY

Dobash and Dobash (1980) Radical feminists Interviewed female victims who had

left their abusive partners Many do not report most incidents

because of fear Patriarchal power

LESBIAN COUPLES (DUNNE 1999)

Lesbian couples have much more symmetrical relationships

They don’t have to follow ‘gender scripts’

Supports radical feminist view that heterosexual relationships are inevitably patriarchal

RESOURCES How are resources in the home shared out? Barrett and Macintosh (1991) found

men get more in domestic labour than they give back in financial support.

Support they do give comes with strings attached.

Men also likely to make decisions about spending on important items.

DECISION MAKING Pahl and Vogler (1993) found that pooling

resources was increasing but men still make the big financial decisions.

Edgell (1980) found that men make important decisions like changing jobs or moving house

Women make less important decisions like food and décor

Feminists say that these inequalities are a result of patriarchal society and gender role socialisation