COUPLES (Sociology Revision)

DOMESTIC DIVISION OF LABOUR. Domestic labour includes housework, childcare, emotional care and paid work. Therefore a domestic division of labour, means the difference in who does what in a couple. E.g. if a woman does all the above, but her husband just has a paid job, there is then a division in labour as roles and jobs are not equally spread within the couple.

CONJUGAL ROLES. Conjugal roles, are the roles carried out by a man and a woman in a heterosexual marriage/cohabiting couple. BOTT (1957) Identified two types of conjugal roles. 1) JOINT conjugal roles, meaning the roles/jobs within the couple are equally spread between each partner. 2) SEGREGATED conjugal roles, meaning there is a clear division of labour in the roles/jobs within the couple. E.g. the man takes the role of provider and protector (paid work) whereas the woman takes the nurturer/caring role. (emotional care/housework/childcare.)

PARSONS. (functionalist) PARSON’S (1955) believed that roles within a couple should be segregated and different as it was natural. He argues this on the basis of different biological characteristics he believed men and women had. He argued that man took on the INSTRUMENTAL role = meaning, he is the protector and provider of the family/couple. (paid work – consumes) And that women took on the EXPRSSIVE role = meaning she is the nurturer and carer of the family/couple. (childcare – housework – emotional care.) He also believed that women were naturally interested in housework.

EVALUATION OF PARSONS. His ideas were put forward back in therefore it could be argued that his views are now outdated, as women are now working, they have more ambition – and attitudes have changed. He is also criticised as his research is all theoretical, rather than empirical = meaning, he didn’t actually conduct research.

FUNCTIONALISTS. (in general) Functionalists believe it is natural for women to be housewives, and men to be breadwinners. Due to biological differences. Therefore argue that the domestic division of labour is FUNCTIONAL as it is NATURAL. The NEW RIGHT, also generally share this view- however, is a more updated view.

WILMOTT AND YOUNG. (50’s/70’s) WILMOTT and YOUNG carried out research in the 1950’s on working class couples living in the East end of London. They found that in most couples conjugal roles were segregated. However, they later conducted more research in the 1970’s, and found that there was a ‘MARCH OF PROGRESS,’ occurring- as roles were now becoming more equal, and family life was improving for its members. They argued that the family was becoming more SYMMETRICAL. It was found generally, by the 70’s that women were now working a lot more outside of the home, young couples were likely to share domestic labour- and there was increased leisure time for both the man and woman. (all factors of the symmetrical family)

OAKLEY. However, many feminists still believe that the family is highly PATRIACHAL. Meaning; men control society, make all key decisions, and do not do their share of housework. OAKLEY (liberal feminist) rejects the march of progress argument put forward by Wilmott and Young,and claimed they over exaggerated the amount of help men actually did, through asking unquantifiable questions such as ‘do you help with the ironing?’ she instead conducted her own in-depth research in the 70’s, and by interviewing couples together, and individually – she found that men still did less housework and childcare, and even when they did help out- it was usually just the fun and games, rather that the every day jobs.

THE DUAL BURDEN. (Oakley) Oakley, therefore rejected the march of progress view and instead concluded that due to the fact women were now working more outside the home along with doing unpaid housework and childcare, that they were now experiencing what Oakley called the ‘DUAL BURDEN.’

SO, HAS ANYTHING CHANGED? Since the 70’s, there have been many changes – for women particularly. E.g. 75% of married/cohabiting women now have paid jobs, compared to the less than 50% that were working In the 60’s. However, through sociologists research it has generally been found that mothers; STILL become housewives. Return to work PART-TIME when there youngest child is in school. Still experiences a period of FULL TIME housework. (although this is becoming shorter)

RESEARCH HAS ALSO SHOWN… Other research, however, has found signs of improved equality – but we’re not fully there yet. For example, MANN YEE KAN, conducted a study, and found that although women are now working outside of the home – they still spend on average 12 hours doing the housework a week, ad are still 65% responsible for house chores. However, he also found that if the woman was young, or earned a lot, the less housework they generally had to do. along with, if both partners had university degrees – the more equal domestic labour seemed to be spread.

MORE RESEARCH, GERSHUNY, conducted research in 1994, and found that women were generally still responsible for housework and childcare, however men did do some – however, only 27% of it. in 2000, he found that men did more housework than before – however, did different (sex-typed) jobs. E.g. males were expected to do DIY, whereas women still took charge of childcare.

COMMERCIALISATION OF HOUSEWORK. SILVER and SCHOR, emphasised how economic developments have lessened the burden of housework on women. By this they meant that there is now technology, services and goods that women can buy to cut the amount of time spent on domestic labour. E.g. freezers, irons, ready meals. SCHOR 1993, argued that this commercialisation has led to the ‘death of the housewife role’ however, it is argued this is only for the ‘well off.’ The is because GREGSON and LOWE, found that middle class women, could pay the working class to take over the domestic duties that they have no time for. This therefore, traps the working class women into a burden of pain and unpaid domestic work – and therefore can be argued that it isn’t very good.

FEMINISTS Also rejected the idea that the commercialisation of housework increased equality within couples, as women were still doing the work, just quicker. They instead believed the fact women go out to paid work, and come home to unpaid work just gives us two concepts; 1) the ‘DUAL BURDEN,’ (mentioned before) 2) and the ‘TRIPPLE SHIFT.’

THE ‘DUAL BURDEN’ (Ferri & Smith) FERRI and SMITH (1996) found that even when women were working outside the home, fewer than 4% of men actually took the main responsibility for childcare.

THE ‘TRIPPLE SHIFT’ (Dunscombe & Marsden) DUNSCOMBE and MARSDEN (1995) argued women were now taking on more than just the ‘dual burden’ and were now doing 1) housework, 2) childcare and 3) EMOTIONAL CARE. Which means they are now managing the families emotions.

SO, WHY IS THERE STILL INEQUALITY? People, get confused that despite the rise in paid work women do, there is still a division of domestic labour. DUNNE, argued that it is because of our ingrained ‘GENDER SCRIPTS.’ (meaning our expectations/norms that set out the separate roles of men and women.) To test this, she did a study into same sex couples…

DUNNE. Conducted a study on same sex couples, and found a lot more SYMMETRY, in the relationships of cohabiting lesbian couples with children. Who described their relationship as EQUAL, who gave equal IMPORTANCE to each others CAREERS, and who valued childcare POSITIVELY. However, it was still found that if one partner did more PAID work- the time spent on domestic work tended to still be UNEQUAL. Dunne therefore, concluded that paid work increased the division in domestic labour within couples.

RESOURCES AND DECISION MAKING. It has been found generally that there is an inequality in who gets what and how families resources are shared out between men and women, and this has been linked to who controls the family’s income along with who has the power to make decisions and how money is spent.

KEMPSON. (1994) Research like KEMPSON’S (1994) suggested that family members do not share their resources – for example, in low income families, it was found that women put themselves at ‘the end of the queue’ meaning they denied their own needs, in order to ‘make ends meet.’ e.g. driving people around, having less food, and giving up time.

PAHL AND VOGLER. PAHL and VOGLER, did research into how income effects the decision making within a family. And found there was two types of income. 1) POOLING – meaning money is equally shared between the man and woman. 2) or using an ALLOWENCE SYSTEM – meaning, the man keeps all the money but gives his wife a certain budget in order to buy house appliances/things for the children. Currently, pooling is increasing. Especially is both partners are working. However they found that it was the men that still made most of the families major financial decisions. They concluded that the more money you earned – the more you were entitled to decision making.

HARDILL HARDILL, did research into couples and decision making, and found that even amongst DUAL EARNING couples, the man still usually made most major financial decisions.

EDGELL Edgell found that men generally had the final say in the important decisions e.g. change of job/house – whilst the women made less important decisions like food purchases and which soap the family would use.

FEMINISTS. PAHL and VOGLER agree that being dependent on men economically, makes women have less power over decision making in the family. Radical feminists particularly, argue that men and women are socialised into seeing men as the decision makers, and until the patriarchy is challenged, believe that we will never be equal.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Domestic violence is defined as; The ‘PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, SEXUAL or FINANCIAL violence that takes place within and INTIMATE or FAMILY type relationship.’

MIRLEES BLACK. (1999) In 1999, Mirlees Black studied 16,000 people. She found that there are on average 6.6. million domestic assaults a year. Half of these involve physical injury.

COLEMAN (2007) In 2007, Coleman found that most violence is committed by men against women and that women are generally more likely to experience violence across all four types of abuse. These are; PARTNER ABUSE SEXUAL ASSAULT FAMILY ABUSE (child abuse) STALKING.

MIRLEES BLACK. Mirlees agreed with these patterns found by Coleman, as she found; that the vast majority of victims were women. 99% of incidents are committed by men, 1 in 4 women have been assaulted by their partner at some point, And 1 in 8 women are REPEATEDLY assaulted.

DOBASH AND DOBASH Found that violence was TRIGGERED when husbands felt their authority was being CHALLENGED & concluded that marriage legitimates violence by giving power to men.

ICEBERG EFFECT? However, we don’t really know how reliable statistics really are when considering domestic violence, and suspect there is an ‘ICEBERG EFFECT.’ this means we do not get all the stories of domestic violence being recorded/reported and therefore do not all end up in the statistics. YEARNSHIRE (1997) found that on average, a woman suffers 35 assaults before making a report to the police. This makes domestic violence one of the most under reported crimes. People often withhold from reporting to the police due to multiple reasons such as; shame, fear, lack of evidence, being financially dependent on their partner, and unfortunately still ‘loving’ them.

CHEAL (1991) However, it is not only under reported by victims, but is also under recorded by the police! CHEAL 1991, argues that this is because police and other state agencies are usually not prepared to become involved in the family, as they see it as a good thing – and tend to see it as a good thing, therefore ignore the ‘dark side.’ They also assume the woman is free to leave, and makes the choice to stay. However, cheal also argues that many are not free, as they are unable to afford it. (been made financially dependent on their partner)

RADICAL FEMINISTS. Radical feminists generally claim that domestic violence is caused by PATRIACHY. Radical feminists, also believe that there will never be equality in relationships, between men and women – and think that domestic violence is evidence of the need men have to control women.

HOWEVER However, not ALL feminists agree with the radical views, as they recognise that not ALL men commit domestic violence. They also point out that domestic violence DOES happen to men too. But our PATRIACHAL/SEXIST society hides this fact.

FIRESTONE AND MILLET (1970) FIRESTONE and MILLET (1970) agree that society is based on male power and the exploitation of women. They also believe that males use violence (or the threat of it) to exert DOMINATION over women They also argued, that the threat of violence benefits ALL men (even those who do not exert it) as it creates FEAR in women. They believe that the crime goes unnoticed because institutions such as the POLICE and COURTS are also PARTIACHAL! And therefore do not stop it.

COUPLES SUMMARY… Functionalists believe that roles within couples should be segregated due to biological characteristics = Parsons ’55 = instrumental and expressive roles. Bott = joint/segregated conjugal roles. Wilmott and young 50’s – segregated 70’s = symmetrical Oakley – dual burden, no march of progress. Commercialisation of housework = cuts time but doesn’t improve equality. Ferri and smith – dual burden (only 4% men take responsibility of childcare) Dunscombe and marsden – triple shift (emotional care, housework, childcare) Man yee kan – young, clever, earning women do less housework however women still generally do 12 hours of housework & are 65% responsible for house chores Dunne – did research into same sex couples, found they are more symmetrical but paid work still encanced a division of domestic labour. Kempson = women put themselves at the end of the queue Pahl and vogler = people either pool or have an allowance system, the more you earn = more entitled you are to decision making Edgell = men have the final say in important decisions and women generally make the smaller decisions like what soap the family uses. Hardgill = even in dual career couples, men have the final say in most Gershuny – men are doing more housework now but only 27% Mirlees black did research 16,000 people – found 6.6 million assaults per year. ¼ women are abused, 1/8 are repeatedly abused. There is an iceberg effect with regards of domestic violence statistics. Cheal – police ignore the dark side of the family & believe women are free to leave Yearshire – 35 assaults before it is reported to the police. Coleman 2007 = women are most likely to experience all 4 types of abuse; partner, family, stalking, sexual. Dobash’s believe that domestic violence is triggered by people challenging male power. Firestone & millet (1970) believe that domestic violence benefits all men as it creates fear in women.