1.Couples
The domestic division of labour
Domestic division of labour work refers to the roles that men and women play in housework,
childcare and paid work.
Parsons: instrumental and expressive role
E - Parsons argues that the domestic division of labour is based on biological differences. Women are
‘naturally’ suited to the nurturing role while men are the provider. He views this as being beneficial
to both men and women, their children and wider society.
E - The instrumental role is taken on by the husband, this includes being the breadwinner and
achieving success at work to provide financially for the family. On the other hand, the expressive role
is taken on by the wife this includes being a homemaker and full time housewife rather than a wage
earner, geared to primary socialisation of children and meeting the family’s emotional needs.
E - Feminists reject his view that the division of labour is natural and argue it only benefits men.
Bott: joint and segregated conjugal roles
E - Bott distinguishes between two types of conjugal roles in marriage. The segregated conjugal role
is where the couples have separate roles, with a male breadwinner and female homemaker. Leisure
activities of the couple are separate. This is similar to Parsons instrumental and expressive role.
However with the joint conjugal role the couple share tasks like housework and childcare and spend
their leisure time together.
E - Young and Willmott have supporting evidence for the segregated roles. Their study of traditional
w/c extended families in the 1950s found that men were breadwinners, played little in the home life
and spent leisure time with workmates in pubs and clubs. Whereas women were full time
housewives of housework and childcare. Their female relatives helped them and leisure time was
also spent with these relatives.
Symmetrical family
E - Young and Willmott take a ‘march of progress’ view and argue that family life is becoming more
equal and slowly improving for all its members. They argue there’s a long term trend away from
segregated conjugal and more towards the joint conjugal and the symmetrical family. The
symmetrical family refers to the roles of husbands and wives being more similar as women now go
out to work, men help with housework and childcare and couples spend leisure time together rather
than separately.
E - This is the result of major social changes in the past century which include changes in women’s
position, geographical mobility, new technology and labour saving devices like washing machines and
a higher standard of living. These factors are interlinked. Married women bring a second wage into
the home raising the family’s standard of living so they can afford labour saving devices making
housework easier which encourages men to do more.
E- Feminists reject the march of progress view, arguing that little has changed, men and women
remain unequal in the family and women still do most of the housework. Oakley criticises the
symmetrical family as an exaggerated claim. Young and Willmott found the husbands they
1
,interviewed helped their wives at least once a week like taking the kids on a walk but Oakley doesn’t
find this symmetry. She found that only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in
housework and 25% in childcare. Mens contribution is exaggerated by looking at the tasks rather
than the responsibility of childcare which usually falls to the mother. Warde and Hetherington also
found sex typing of domestic tasks remained strong. Wives were 30x more likely to have done the
washing last whilst husbands were 4x more likely to be the last one to wash the car. They did find a
slight change amongst the younger generation where men no longer assumed women should do the
housework and felt they were doing less than their fair share.
Are couples becoming more equal?
The march of progress view
E - The march of progress argues that women going out to work is leading to a more equal division of
labour at home. Men are becoming more involved with housework and childcare as women are with
paid work outside the home. Time studies found that women who worked full time did less domestic
work than others. These trends reflect the changes in attitudes as there has been a fall in the number
of people who think it’s the man’s job to earn money and the women’s to look after the home and
family.
E - Feminist argue that women going into paid work hasn’t led to a greater equality in the division of
domestic labour because women now carry a dual burden. The BSA survey found that whilst men did
on average 10 hours of care for the family a week, women did 23. This shows that women still do a
significantly larger proportion.
Responsibility
E - Surveys only focus on the quantifiable aspects of who performs for how long but not who ensures
they are done, which is usually the mother. Vincent and Ball found that fathers were the main carer
in only 3/70 families studied. Most were background fathers who saw themselves as breadwinners.
Helping their children was also more about their relationship with their partner than responsibility to
their children.
E - Southerton found that mothers had the responsibility of coordinating scheduling and managing
the family’s quality time together. This is more difficult in today's modern society with a 24/7 society
and flexible working matters which have led to people's time being more fragmented and
de-routinized. Even if men and women have equal amounts of leisure time, they have different
experiences as men are more likely to have undisturbed time. Whereas women have to do childcare,
so they multitask more than men and carry a dual burden.
E - Hochschild argues that women have to do ‘emotion work’. They are responsible for the emotions
and feelings of family members like jealousy between siblings whilst controlling their own emotions.
Duncombe and Marsden therefore say women have to do a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work
and emotion work.
Cultural explanation of inequality
E - Crompton and Lyonette propose a cultural/ideological explanation of inequality. The division of
labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles in our culture. Women
do more domestic labour because society expects them and has socialised them to do so. Therefore
2
, equality will only be achieved if norms about gender role changes through changes in men’s and
women’s attitudes, values, role models and socialisation.
E - Gershuny found that couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to
share housework equally themselves. This shows that parental role models are important. Social
values are also adapting to women now working full time and a new norm than men should do more
domestic work.
Material explanation of inequality
E - The material/economic explanation of inequality says that women earn less than men because it’s
economically rational for them to do more housework and childcare while men spend more of their
time earning money. If women join the labour force and earn as much as their partners we should
see men and women doing more equal amounts of domestic work.
E - Kan found that for every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework
a week. Better paid m/c women were able to buy products like labour saving devices (washing
machines) and ready meals rather than having to spend time doing labour intensive domestic tasks
themselves. Crompton concludes there’s no immediate prospect of a more equal division of labour if
it depends on economic equality between the sexes because women continue to earn less than men.
Resources and decision making in households
E - The inequality in how family resources are shared out between men and women is linked to who
controls the family income and who has the power to make decisions about how it is spent. Barrett
and McIntosh argue that men gain more from women’s domestic work than they give back in
financial support which is often unpredictable and comes with strings attached. In low income
families women denied their own needs, didn’t go out and ate less or didn’t eat to make ends meet.
Money management and decision making
E - Pahl and Vogler argue there’s two types of control over family income. The allowance system is
where men give their wives an allowance they have to budget to meet family needs and any surplus
income the man keeps. Pooling is the most common type on the rise, where both partners have
access to income and joint responsibility. Some assume pooling means more equality in decision
making and control over resources but where men control the pooled income, it gives them more
power in major financial decisions.
E - Hardill found that in dual career professional couples important decisions were usually made by
the man and his career took priority when deciding to move house for a new job. This could be
because men earn more so they make more decisions, women earn less and are economically
dependent so have less say. Feminist argue that in a patriarchal society the cultural definition of men
as decision makers is deeply ingrained in men and women and needs to be challenged for inequality
to stop (cultural explanation).
Pooling
E - However, pooling doesn’t mean equality and keeping money separate doesn’t mean inequality.
Vogler found that cohabiting couples are less likely to pool, perhaps to keep independence but are
more likely to share domestic tasks than married couples. We need to understand the meaning of
money as it has no fixed natural meaning and couples define it in different ways which can show the
3
The domestic division of labour
Domestic division of labour work refers to the roles that men and women play in housework,
childcare and paid work.
Parsons: instrumental and expressive role
E - Parsons argues that the domestic division of labour is based on biological differences. Women are
‘naturally’ suited to the nurturing role while men are the provider. He views this as being beneficial
to both men and women, their children and wider society.
E - The instrumental role is taken on by the husband, this includes being the breadwinner and
achieving success at work to provide financially for the family. On the other hand, the expressive role
is taken on by the wife this includes being a homemaker and full time housewife rather than a wage
earner, geared to primary socialisation of children and meeting the family’s emotional needs.
E - Feminists reject his view that the division of labour is natural and argue it only benefits men.
Bott: joint and segregated conjugal roles
E - Bott distinguishes between two types of conjugal roles in marriage. The segregated conjugal role
is where the couples have separate roles, with a male breadwinner and female homemaker. Leisure
activities of the couple are separate. This is similar to Parsons instrumental and expressive role.
However with the joint conjugal role the couple share tasks like housework and childcare and spend
their leisure time together.
E - Young and Willmott have supporting evidence for the segregated roles. Their study of traditional
w/c extended families in the 1950s found that men were breadwinners, played little in the home life
and spent leisure time with workmates in pubs and clubs. Whereas women were full time
housewives of housework and childcare. Their female relatives helped them and leisure time was
also spent with these relatives.
Symmetrical family
E - Young and Willmott take a ‘march of progress’ view and argue that family life is becoming more
equal and slowly improving for all its members. They argue there’s a long term trend away from
segregated conjugal and more towards the joint conjugal and the symmetrical family. The
symmetrical family refers to the roles of husbands and wives being more similar as women now go
out to work, men help with housework and childcare and couples spend leisure time together rather
than separately.
E - This is the result of major social changes in the past century which include changes in women’s
position, geographical mobility, new technology and labour saving devices like washing machines and
a higher standard of living. These factors are interlinked. Married women bring a second wage into
the home raising the family’s standard of living so they can afford labour saving devices making
housework easier which encourages men to do more.
E- Feminists reject the march of progress view, arguing that little has changed, men and women
remain unequal in the family and women still do most of the housework. Oakley criticises the
symmetrical family as an exaggerated claim. Young and Willmott found the husbands they
1
,interviewed helped their wives at least once a week like taking the kids on a walk but Oakley doesn’t
find this symmetry. She found that only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in
housework and 25% in childcare. Mens contribution is exaggerated by looking at the tasks rather
than the responsibility of childcare which usually falls to the mother. Warde and Hetherington also
found sex typing of domestic tasks remained strong. Wives were 30x more likely to have done the
washing last whilst husbands were 4x more likely to be the last one to wash the car. They did find a
slight change amongst the younger generation where men no longer assumed women should do the
housework and felt they were doing less than their fair share.
Are couples becoming more equal?
The march of progress view
E - The march of progress argues that women going out to work is leading to a more equal division of
labour at home. Men are becoming more involved with housework and childcare as women are with
paid work outside the home. Time studies found that women who worked full time did less domestic
work than others. These trends reflect the changes in attitudes as there has been a fall in the number
of people who think it’s the man’s job to earn money and the women’s to look after the home and
family.
E - Feminist argue that women going into paid work hasn’t led to a greater equality in the division of
domestic labour because women now carry a dual burden. The BSA survey found that whilst men did
on average 10 hours of care for the family a week, women did 23. This shows that women still do a
significantly larger proportion.
Responsibility
E - Surveys only focus on the quantifiable aspects of who performs for how long but not who ensures
they are done, which is usually the mother. Vincent and Ball found that fathers were the main carer
in only 3/70 families studied. Most were background fathers who saw themselves as breadwinners.
Helping their children was also more about their relationship with their partner than responsibility to
their children.
E - Southerton found that mothers had the responsibility of coordinating scheduling and managing
the family’s quality time together. This is more difficult in today's modern society with a 24/7 society
and flexible working matters which have led to people's time being more fragmented and
de-routinized. Even if men and women have equal amounts of leisure time, they have different
experiences as men are more likely to have undisturbed time. Whereas women have to do childcare,
so they multitask more than men and carry a dual burden.
E - Hochschild argues that women have to do ‘emotion work’. They are responsible for the emotions
and feelings of family members like jealousy between siblings whilst controlling their own emotions.
Duncombe and Marsden therefore say women have to do a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work
and emotion work.
Cultural explanation of inequality
E - Crompton and Lyonette propose a cultural/ideological explanation of inequality. The division of
labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles in our culture. Women
do more domestic labour because society expects them and has socialised them to do so. Therefore
2
, equality will only be achieved if norms about gender role changes through changes in men’s and
women’s attitudes, values, role models and socialisation.
E - Gershuny found that couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to
share housework equally themselves. This shows that parental role models are important. Social
values are also adapting to women now working full time and a new norm than men should do more
domestic work.
Material explanation of inequality
E - The material/economic explanation of inequality says that women earn less than men because it’s
economically rational for them to do more housework and childcare while men spend more of their
time earning money. If women join the labour force and earn as much as their partners we should
see men and women doing more equal amounts of domestic work.
E - Kan found that for every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework
a week. Better paid m/c women were able to buy products like labour saving devices (washing
machines) and ready meals rather than having to spend time doing labour intensive domestic tasks
themselves. Crompton concludes there’s no immediate prospect of a more equal division of labour if
it depends on economic equality between the sexes because women continue to earn less than men.
Resources and decision making in households
E - The inequality in how family resources are shared out between men and women is linked to who
controls the family income and who has the power to make decisions about how it is spent. Barrett
and McIntosh argue that men gain more from women’s domestic work than they give back in
financial support which is often unpredictable and comes with strings attached. In low income
families women denied their own needs, didn’t go out and ate less or didn’t eat to make ends meet.
Money management and decision making
E - Pahl and Vogler argue there’s two types of control over family income. The allowance system is
where men give their wives an allowance they have to budget to meet family needs and any surplus
income the man keeps. Pooling is the most common type on the rise, where both partners have
access to income and joint responsibility. Some assume pooling means more equality in decision
making and control over resources but where men control the pooled income, it gives them more
power in major financial decisions.
E - Hardill found that in dual career professional couples important decisions were usually made by
the man and his career took priority when deciding to move house for a new job. This could be
because men earn more so they make more decisions, women earn less and are economically
dependent so have less say. Feminist argue that in a patriarchal society the cultural definition of men
as decision makers is deeply ingrained in men and women and needs to be challenged for inequality
to stop (cultural explanation).
Pooling
E - However, pooling doesn’t mean equality and keeping money separate doesn’t mean inequality.
Vogler found that cohabiting couples are less likely to pool, perhaps to keep independence but are
more likely to share domestic tasks than married couples. We need to understand the meaning of
money as it has no fixed natural meaning and couples define it in different ways which can show the
3
