Firstly, whether a family live in a symmetrical family or not will have an effect on the divisions of labour. March of Progress theorists (Liberal Feminists) such as Young and Willmott argue that family life is gradually improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic. For example, women now go out to work, just as men now help with housework and childcare. However Radical Feminists reject the ‘March of Progress’ theory, and argue that women remain unequal within the family. Anne Oakley argues that we still live in a patriarchal (male dominated) society, and therefore women occupy a subordinate and dependant role within the family and wider society.
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.
There is much to say about gender roles and relationships and the view that they have become more equal. Item 2B mentions Gershuny who argues that there is a trend towards greater equality and says that there is often greater equality between the husband and wife IF the wife is in full time employment. His study’s identified a period of ‘lagged adaptation’ which is a time gap between the time when a woman starts paid work and t eh time where her husband increases his domestic activity. Devine would agree with Gershuny in the idea that we are moving towards greater equality but she identifies the fact that even though men are supposedly helping more, it is not enough and domestic labour is still seen as primarily the women’s responsibility.
the man is the breadwinner and the wife is the homemaker and they have separate leisure activities and spend spare time apart. In the study, men were the breadwinners; they played little part in home life and spent their leisure time with work mates, whereas women were homemakers with the responsibility of childcare, but Young and Willmott argued that family is progressing equally for all members as it is becoming more democratic and equal. That the segregated conjugal roles are becoming less common and families are becoming more symmetrical. This is a type of family in which the domestic chores, childcare and paid work roles are split equally between the man and woman also known as Joint Conjugal roles. Women now go out to work whether it is part or full time.
From the beginning, wifehood and motherhood have been regarded as a women’s profession. They were not seen as breadwinners or professionals. As history has told us, women were considered the weaker sex, doing jobs such as laundry, milking cows, and taking care of children, leaving the “heavier” labor to the big strong men (wic.org). With technological advancement today, physiological test suggest women have a greater pain tolerance and statistics show that women live longer and are more resistant to many diseases. In the 20th century, women in most nations won the right to vote, this in return increased their educational and job opportunities.
Functionalist Murdock suggested as children we are socialised into societies shared norms and values and he believed that males provide the economic roles and females provided the expressive role. Therefore it is natural for women to play the expressive role in the household looking after the family’s emotional needs. However, radical feminist Ann Oakley argues that the role of the housewife is a social construction and isn’t linked to the female role. The housewife role makes sure that women stay inferior to men making it difficult for them have careers. Women carry out the triple burden in the household; the domestic labour, emotional labour, and paid labour.
This is partially because women have started to go back to work and the economy in the present day is not very stable so supporting a bigger family is not easily done. Today, 51 percent of all marriages end in divorce and only 38 percent consider themselves happy while being married (Lebey, 2005, 1). However, there are a lot of efforts that show families are more resilient and more “loving today than it was in the past.” (Benokraitis, n.d., 17). The first piece of information that specified that families are stronger
Nate Smith Diana Reaves ENGL 1013 10/2/12 The Reality of Marriage with Kids Is having a functional, benefiting marriage feasible once children and their many needs become a part of a couple’s life? For Hope Edelman and Eric Bartels, two adults trying to balance work, marriage, and children, the task seems near impossible at times. Hope Edelman explains in “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was” her expectation of having “shared responsibility” (Edelman 284). But actually raising a child single-handedly while her husband, John, is consumed with his work.
Men were seen to be increasingly helping with domestic chores, childcare and decision making about family life. They found that 72% of husbands helped with these household tasks. They’re argument was based on the fact that women are becoming more dependant and career driven providing more time for the men to be drawn into the family circle. However, feminists may argue that ‘occasionally helping out’ is not providing clear evidence of the symmetrical family exists. Feminists suggest that socialization within the household can cause inequality in the future as they are treated differently as children, for example; girls are given dolls and play kitchens whereas boys are given trucks and play power tools, etc.
So it seems the nuclear family is not so universal – but it is true that it exists in majority in most developed countries. His second function of the family is reproduction, where the nuclear family unit is the best form for reproduction of future productions. This is because the husband can support his wife and their baby. Before the days of women in work, it was crucial to have a working husband to assure a stable household for the children to brought up in. But now it seems that many women are choosing to have a job instead of rearing children.