EXAMINE THE VIEW THAT DIVISION OF LABOUR BETWEEN COUPLES HAVE BEEN MORE OR LESS EQUAL. [24 MARKS] Domestic division of labour means the gender roles of men and women played in relation to housework, childcare and paid work. For example, men are expected to do more DIY work while women are expected to do the housework and take care of the child by providing emotional support to them. Some sociologists believe that families nowadays are moving towards equality and that the families are becoming symmetrical. A symmetrical family is a family where ale the chores are shared equally between couples.
Women carry out the triple burden in the household; the domestic labour, emotional labour, and paid labour. As shown in the item most of this work is ‘unpaid and hardly recognised work at all’. Oakley argues the only way women will gain independence and freedom in society is for the role of the housewife to be removed aswell as the present structure of the family. Wilmott and Young believed the family is symmetrical and that both husband and wife have joint conjugal roles making the family a functional institution and their research showed that men do help women with housework. Radical feminists such as Dobash and Dobash also disagree with Willmott and Young’s theory that the family is symmetrical.
Conjugal roles are the roles that are performed by the husband and wife and can be either joint or segregated. They say that by the late 1970’s joint conjugal roles were common and that this had allowed the emergence of the ‘symmetrical family’. They said that with spouses sharing work and leisure, there is greater equality. Young and Wilmott also touch on the idea of decision making within the relationship, an area often spoken about by Edgell. Edgell says that women do most decision making frequently on a probably daily basis, but their decisions go unnoticed whereas men make fewer decisions more infrequently but they seem to be the more important decisions such as moving house or buying a car or other serious financial decisions.
Using material from Item 2B and elsewhere, assess the view that gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life. (24 marks) Firstly, the item suggests that ‘a number of changes have taken place in gender roles and relationships within families.’ There are a number of sociological perspectives which agree with this statement and also various approaches that criticise the nature of these changes. They argue whether they have created greater equality within modern family life or whether this statement is simply exaggerated. This essay will assess these views and will conclude whether gender roles and relationships have in reality, become more equal in modern family life. Initially, within the modernity period, functionalists like Parsons (1955), saw a biological division of labour which he claimed were beneficial to the family and thus wider society.
New right thinkers however; believe that these laws undermine the traditional male dominance in families, but many believe these new policies for women and children strengthen the family rather than weaken it. Sociologists such as new right thinkers argue that the Labour party has constructed a ‘nanny state’ which over-intervenes in personal living arrangements. The Labour party have constructed many laws beneficial for women in families as they have realised most families now rely of two
Marxists and feminists reject his consensus view that the family meets the needs of both wider society and all members of the family. Feminists see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women. Marxists argue that it meets the needs of capitalism, not those of the family or society. Functionalists believe that education create a sense of belonging amongst pupils as the curriculums emphasis on British history integrates pupils into feeling there part of a larger heritage. Talcott Parsons sees the unconditional love of the family alongside meritocratic education as a huge
As I stated earlier Cherlin broke marriage down in three types, the first that he spoke of was the companionate marriage. This type of marriage is based on the companionship, friendship and love shared between couples. He spoke of the pride couples took in their rolls in the family, dad as the breadwinner and mom as the homemaker and caregiver to her children and husband. As transitions continued, companionate marriage became more of an ideal than a norm. The roles of husbands and wives became more open to negotiation, and a more individualistic idea on the benefits of marriage took shape.
Just the Way We Are Everyone thought that there are similar differences between males and females. Both genders are different through their social, emotional and intellectual qualities. Gender roles influence women and men in virtually every area of life including family and occupation, but are women and men subject to different roles or behavior expectations? Gender role by definition is,” the public image of being male or female that a person presents to others.” (Dictionary.com). In early American culture it was common for a women’s job to be an obedient housewife in clear contrast to the male’s duty to be a job holder.
Gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life? Some sociologists would argue that a number of changes have taken place in gender roles and relationships within families. On the other hand there are some sociologists that there have few if any changes in gender roles and relationships within families. In 1973 Young and Willmott carried out some research and came to the conclusion that by the 1970’s the roles of the husbands and wives in the family have become more symmetrical. During their research they found out that in 72% of cases men actually did housework other than the washing up every week.
Mothers, as the child carriers, have been dubbed as primarily responsible for the care of the children while fathers have mostly been defined as heads of the family, breadwinners and protectors. 2. MOTHERHOOD Women have over the years tried to redefine themselves as more than just child bearers and carers by being more active in the workplace and the economy. However, this has done little to change the perception society and women themselves hold that, without the motherhood role, their lives are not complete. Newman (1995:268) puts it that women have been conditioned by society into believing that “having children is a primary source of self-identity”.