4 Oct 2020 at 22:25
Taking responsibility for ‘quality time’
Quality time is becoming more and more difficult for mothers.
They find themselves juggling between the demands of work and career, personal leisure time and family.
This is thought to be why women are more able to multi-task than men simply because they have to face an
increased volume of activities.
There is conflicting evidence on how much time men and women spend on domestic tasks.
Explaining the gender division of labour
Crompton and Lyonette explanations for the unequal division of labour:
• Cultural/Ideologocal explanation of inequality: Where women perform more domestic labour because that is
what society expects them to do.
• Material/Economic explanation of inequality: women generally earn less than men means it is economically
rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare whilst the men spend more time earning
money.
Evidence for the cultural explanation
Equality will only be achieved when norms about gender roles changes.
Changes in men and women’s attitudes, values and expectations, role models and socialisation.
• Gershuny: Parents who had a more equal relationship , their child was more likely to grow up and share
housework equally themselves. — He also argues that social lvalues are gradually adopting that women are
working-full time, so men should do more domestic work.
•
Man Yee Kan: found that young men do more domestic work. — Future foundation found that more men
claimed to do more domestics than their fathers and more women did less work than their mothers.
Suggesting a generational shifting behaviour occurring.
Evidence for the material explanation
If women join the labour force and earn as much as their partners, we should expect to see men and women doing
more equal amounts of domestic work.
• Kan: found that every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework per week.
• Ramous: more women are becoming the breadwinner and the man being the one who is unemployed and
does as much domestics labour as the women
However:
Women still earn less than men in (7out of 8 households — men earn more)
Women with young children are more likely to work part time. (So pull in less money than their husband)
Conclusion
• Women being paid in work leads to more equality. (Especially if she’s working full-time)
• Feminists believe that women continue to suffer from a dual/triple burden.
◦ — even if men do more tasks at home they believe that the domestic tasks are still gendered.
• Patriarchy also ensures that women earn less at work and so have less bargaining power in the home.
Resources and decision-making in households
Barret and McIntosh
• 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 is often unpredictable and comes with ‘strings’
attached.
• Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items.
In low income families women were denied their own needs, seldom going out, and eating smaller portions of food
Taking responsibility for ‘quality time’
Quality time is becoming more and more difficult for mothers.
They find themselves juggling between the demands of work and career, personal leisure time and family.
This is thought to be why women are more able to multi-task than men simply because they have to face an
increased volume of activities.
There is conflicting evidence on how much time men and women spend on domestic tasks.
Explaining the gender division of labour
Crompton and Lyonette explanations for the unequal division of labour:
• Cultural/Ideologocal explanation of inequality: Where women perform more domestic labour because that is
what society expects them to do.
• Material/Economic explanation of inequality: women generally earn less than men means it is economically
rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare whilst the men spend more time earning
money.
Evidence for the cultural explanation
Equality will only be achieved when norms about gender roles changes.
Changes in men and women’s attitudes, values and expectations, role models and socialisation.
• Gershuny: Parents who had a more equal relationship , their child was more likely to grow up and share
housework equally themselves. — He also argues that social lvalues are gradually adopting that women are
working-full time, so men should do more domestic work.
•
Man Yee Kan: found that young men do more domestic work. — Future foundation found that more men
claimed to do more domestics than their fathers and more women did less work than their mothers.
Suggesting a generational shifting behaviour occurring.
Evidence for the material explanation
If women join the labour force and earn as much as their partners, we should expect to see men and women doing
more equal amounts of domestic work.
• Kan: found that every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework per week.
• Ramous: more women are becoming the breadwinner and the man being the one who is unemployed and
does as much domestics labour as the women
However:
Women still earn less than men in (7out of 8 households — men earn more)
Women with young children are more likely to work part time. (So pull in less money than their husband)
Conclusion
• Women being paid in work leads to more equality. (Especially if she’s working full-time)
• Feminists believe that women continue to suffer from a dual/triple burden.
◦ — even if men do more tasks at home they believe that the domestic tasks are still gendered.
• Patriarchy also ensures that women earn less at work and so have less bargaining power in the home.
Resources and decision-making in households
Barret and McIntosh
• 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 is often unpredictable and comes with ‘strings’
attached.
• Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items.
In low income families women were denied their own needs, seldom going out, and eating smaller portions of food
