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A versatile appliance that reads bedtime stories, washes dishes, cooks, and cares for emotional needs. Ideal for de-stressing and tidying the house. Learn about gender roles and division of labor in families from historical to modern perspectives.
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Parson’s home appliance Will read the children their bed time story and teach them right from wrong! Not only washes, the dishes but also cooks Do you have this in your life?…… Natural features makes the Parson’s home appliance ideally suited to it’s role A great de- stresser after a hard day at work Cares for the emotional needs of the whole family! Will ensure the whole house is tidy!
Topic 1:Couples Lesson 1: The domestic division of labour
What factors have influenced the Gender roles within a family past and present? You have 5 minutes to mind map as many ideas as you can, be ready to share!
Female dependency On men industrialisation What factors have influenced the Gender roles within a family past and present? Availably of Contraception Life expectancy Family size 1860’s: 6 – 7 children 1870’s: mc ltd – stratified diffusion to wc 1990’s – below 2 Male and Female employment marriage Role models through The media
What do we already know? What do you think the following have to say about male/female roles within the family. Functionalists Feminists Marxists
The Domestic Division of Labour: This refers to the way that male & female roles are divided up within the home. This includes: Housework, Childcare, Leisure Time & Paid Employment. The roles played by the male and female partners in the home. Conjugal Roles This shows a clear division/ separation between male & female roles. Segregated Conjugal Roles Joint/ Integrated Conjugal Roles This shows few (or no) divisions between male & female roles.
In the traditional nuclear family… The husband has an instrumental role! The women has an expressive role! Link to Theory: Functionalism (Functional Fit Theory) Parsons argues that this type of set up is the most ‘Functional’ for Industrial Society Talcott Parsons (1955) Understand: What might these mean? Apply: Can you give an example of the roles that each one might take on? Analyse: Why does Parsons think this is how roles are separated in families? Evaluate: How far is this an accurate viewpoint?
Parson’s functionalist theory on the domestic division of labour….. • Instrumental role • To achieve success at work. • To provide financial support for family. • ‘Breadwinner’ • Expressive role • Primary socialisation of the children. • Meeting the family’s emotional needs. • ‘Home-maker’ Why is this a functionalist view point?
The domestic division of labour Understand: Summarise the key views of each of the sociologists on the domestic division of labour. Analyse: Label each view as either supporting separate rolesor supporting equality within the home. Evaluate: Can any of their viewpoints be evaluated? Think about examples from roles within the home today? What about the evidence that they base their viewpoints on? Key sociologists
The Work of Young & Willmott Young & Willmott studied working-class extended families in Bethnal Green (East London) in the 1950s and found a distinct pattern of Segregated Conjugal Roles. They argue that families are gradually becoming more of a ‘Partnership of Equals’. This has led to them coining the term: HOWEVER….. ‘The Symmetrical Family’. In 1973, Young & Willmott published their ideas that families are slowly becoming more equal and democratic. They used the phrase… …‘The March of Progress’… …to explain this shift.
Young & Willmott suggest that amongst other reasons, Industrialisation created dramatic changes in society and, as a result, relationships have become more equal i.e. there has been an increase in INTEGRATED/ JOINT CONJUGAL ROLES Y&W disagree with Parsons that Segregated Conjugal Roles suit Industrialisation Impact of Industrialisation: > Geographical Mobility: > New Technologies: ‘Labour Saving Devices’. There are of course other major contributors to ‘Symmetry’ within the home’……can you think of any?…………. > Increased Employment Opportunities > Higher Standard of Living: ‘Home-Centredness’
> Weaker Gender Identities: > Divorce Reform & Higher Expectations of Marriage: (Post-Modern Argument) Men & Women now have much more choice over their gender identities and as such gender differences have become/ are becoming less severe thus weakening gender divisions in the home. (See pages onDivorce) The fact that divorce is cheaper and easier than ever before means that partners are more less likely to put up with oppressive relationships. > Improved Status & Rights of Women: Female centred policies, Feminism and Equal Rights Laws have helped society rethink ‘traditional’ gender roles. > The Importance of ‘Dual Incomes’: It is important here to look at the work of Gershuny & Silver & Schor. Is there such a thing as ‘The New Man’? It is increasingly important for both partners to work, particularly with the rising cost of living (and Child-Centred Families/ Society)
Are couples becoming more equal? • There are three areas in which couples may be seen to be becoming more equal. • Impact of Paid Work • Responsibility of Children • Taking Responsibility for ‘quality time’ • Decide: • Understand: How might couples be more equal today in each of these areas? • Apply: What examples are there in domestic roles for men and women becoming more equal in each of these areas? • Analyse: How far do you agree that couples might be becoming more equal in each of these areas?
Paid Work? 1) In which type of couple is the domestic work most equally shared? 2) In which type of couple is the domestic work most unequally shared? 3) What do these statistics suggest about changes in the family over time? 4) Does Sullivan’s data support the ‘March of progress’ view? Look at figure 4A on page 169 of the textbook….
Gershuny (1994): Are there any problems with looking at the employment of women as evidence of equality? Gershuny argues that there is a trend towards equality between couples and uses the increase in the paid employment of women as evidence. Gershuny did highlight however that, although roles are gradually becoming more equal, tasks still tended to be divided along gender roles. Independent Research: Make a note of the adverts you see in relation to domestic work. Do these adverts reinforce or breakdown gender divisions in domestic labour? Silver & Schor (1987, 1993): The ‘Commercialisation of Housework’ means that women are doing less housework. Goods and services are available that make housework easier and/or redundant. Give examples of these types of goods/ services The increase in employed women means that they can afford these goods/ services.
Immediate activityNo notes, no textbooks, no discussion • Define the term expressive role (2 marks) • Outline 3 features of the symmetrical family (6 marks) Shared household responsibilities Shared leisure time Both partners in employment
Inequalities within the Division of Labour What do the statistics tell us?..... The Food Standards Agency (2007): 77% of Women took all/ most of the responsibility for food shopping. Office for National Statistics (1997): Women spent (on average) nearly twice as long as men per day (5 hours) cooking, cleaning, shopping, washing and looking after children. British & European Social Attitudes Report (1998): 80% of Women did the washing and the ironing within their partnerships.
The Dual Burden: The Triple Shift: It might be argued that women, despite entering PAID EMPLOYMENT are still expected to do the UNPAID DOMESTIC WORK….this is known as the DUAL BURDEN. Hochschild (1983) highlights how women often to take on employment involving ‘Emotional Work’. Ferri & Smith (1996) Out of a sample of 1,589 parent couples, less than 4% of fathers took the main responsibility for child care. (approx 64 couples out of the total sample). Morgan (1997) applies this to the family in that women are expected to take on the emotional work within the family (particularly in relation to children) Morris (1990) found that even in partnerships where only the woman works, there husbands still did less housework than there wives (Perhaps due to anxiety over their masculinity). Duncombe & Marsden (1995) This leads to women having 3 Roles 1) Employment 2) Domestic Work 3) Emotional Work i.e. THE TRIPLE SHIFT Arber & Ginn (1995) argue that this is worse for working-class women. Why might this be the case? Task: How do the results from the British attitudes survey support the concept of duel burden and triple shift?
Two other areas we need to consider: Taking Responsibility for Children. Bolton argues the time based studies such as Sullivan’s do not take into account the issue of responsibility and so give a false impression of a march of progress. How do the findings of Ferri & Smith, Dex & Ward and Braun, Vincent & Ball support the concept of the triple shift? 2) Taking responsibility for quality time- complete the questions on your comic strip
So what can we conclude…? Are couples now more equal in the domestic division of labour? While there has been some shift towards equality…. Women still do the majority of the domestic work. But WHY???
But why….? Read Dunne’s study of Lesbian couples and gender scripts. Box 29 Brainstorm all the reasons for the way in which they divided the domestic division of labour. Can any of these explain why men and women are unequal in heterosexual couples?
But why….? 1) Cultural Explanation – division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values in our culture. Society expects women to perform domestic labour. They are socialised into this norm form a young age. Apply: Examples of this in real life? 2) Material Explanation - women earn less money than men which means it is more economically beneficial for them to do the childcare and housework while the man as the ‘breadwinner’ brings in the larger proportion of money. Apply: Examples of this in real life? Analyse: Complete the comparison sheet of arguments for each explanation. Evaluate: Which explanation do you agree the most with and why?
Resources & Decision Making
Learning goals How are resources and decisions divided in the household?
Resources & Decision Making So who really does control the money and make the decisions? Let’s see what real families say… 1) How is the money managed in these scenarios? 2) What are the different ways that money could be managed in the household? 3) How are the scenarios similar/different in the way that money is managed in the home?
Resources & Decision Making = Patriarchal! • Inequality similarly exists in terms of decision making and resources. • Barrett & McIntosh (1991) • Men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support. • Financial support from men often comes with strings attached. • Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items. • In many households women have no entitlement to a share of household resources. The money that she does have she will see as it should be spent on the children. Therefore most women are in poverty, even in houses with adequate incomes!
Resources & Decision Making = Patriarchal! Pahl & Vogler (Feminist Sociologists) Two main types of control over family income: Allowance System – Men give wives an allowance out of which they have to budget and meet the family’s needs with the man retaining surplus income. Pooling – Both partners have access to income and have joint responsibility for it’s expenditure – e.g. joint bank account. Are any of these most relevant to households today? Why?
Decision Making: Men Vs Women Key study Stephen Edgell(1980) • He did famous study where he interviewed 38 Middle Class couples. • He interviewed husbands and wives about who made decisions and asked them which decisions they perceived to be the most important • He found men dominated VERY IMPORTANT decisions relating to moving house of job, finance and the car. Where they were jointly taken the husband had the final say. • Wives made LESS IMPORTANT decisions on the house interior, domestic spending and children’s clothes. • His conclusions were that wives made minor decisions, husbands controlled allocation of spending. He found that 50% of husbands and 75% of wives saw sexual equality as a bad thing! • Why do Lauria and Gershuny (2000) disagree (pg 173)? • What changes have occurred in society that might influence this change?
But why are decisions/resources distributed unequally? Explanations – be sure to include key names and terms! Cultural/Material Explanations Decision Making Personal Life Perspective Meaning of Money
But why is it divided unequally? Which is the best explanation for how decisions/resources are divided in the home? Can any of these explanations be evaluated?
Is this domestic violence? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvj-L7b13G0
Learning goals How are resources and decisions divided in the household?
Domestic Violence is… • In what ways other than physical violence may someone be able to dominate their partner? ‘Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.’
Think about and discuss… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1K_tx4pJ2A What do you think are common ‘triggers’ to domestic violence? Suggest reasons why many battered wives or husbands remain with their violent partner.
What do the statistics say? Methods Link: How might these statistics be evaluated? According to official statistics…domestic violence does not occur randomly but follows particular social patterns. 99% of all incidences against women are committed by men Nearly one in 4 women have been assaulted by a partner at some time in their life, and one in 8 repeatedly so The British Crime Survey for England & Wales (2013) found that two million people reported being victims of domestic abuse in the previous year.
Official statistics and domestic violence Understate the true extent of the problem for two main reasons; Victims may be unwilling to report it to the police Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute cases. The Women’s Aid Federation (2014): domestic violence accounts for between a sixth and a quarter of all recorded violent crime. But could there be more that goes unrecorded? Yearshire found that on average a woman suffers 35 assaults before making a report. Cheal found that state agencies (like police) are reluctant to get involved in the family because they assume that the family is private, good and individuals are free to leave if they wish.
Researching Domestic Violence 1.What problems might there be in defining domestic violence? How would you define it? How might different definitions affect the results of research? 2.Suggest reasons why domestic violence may be under-reported to the police 3.Suggest reasons why the police may not record fully all complaints of domestic violence 4.Suggest some examples of the ways in which interviews might produce invalid results 5.Why might a victim of domestic violence respond differently to questions asked by male and female researchers? 6.Explain what is meant by ‘validity’. How may all these difficulties reduce the validity of a study of domestic violence?
But why does domestic violence happen in the first place? Over to you… Explanations of domestic Violence Project. Using the tasks provided you should complete the research project on domestic violence. You can present this in any way you like!
The radical feminist explanation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlWQrxVFJ7M&feature=player_embedded Dobash and Dobash (interviews with women in women’s refuges) – domestic violence is evidence of patriarchy. Men dominate women through domestic violence Domestic violence is part of a patriarchal system and helps to maintain men’s power Evaluation Not all men are aggressive How about female violence against men and children? Lesbian domestic violence? Interviews? A reliable source Women are not all equally at risk of domestic violence, some vulnerable groups are at greater risk. Why?
Materialist Explanation • Focuses on economic and material factors such as inequality. • Some groups (low income) are more at risk than others. • Domestic violence results from stress of family members caused by inequality and poverty. • Lack of resources, money and time. Wilkinson & Pickett (2010) Evaluation Helps to explain violence in lower classes. Does not explain why women rather than men are the main victims. Marxist feminists: Fran Ansley – ‘wives are the takers of shit’ – agree with this explanation. Capitalism = domestic violence. - But why do all male workers not commit violent acts against their partners?
Consolidation Activity Read back through all the information in this topic of ‘couples’ and separate the different sociologists, their concepts and studies into two arguments
Exam Q’s Define the term ‘dual burden’ (2 marks) Define the term ‘triple shift’ (2 marks) Outline 3 characteristics of the symmetrical family (6 marks) Applying material from Item B, analyse two reasons for patterns of domestic violence. (10 marks)
10 Marker Guidance 2 explanations for domestic violence. Go straight in. First reason – Radical Feminism & Patriarchy. Link to the item and studies. PEEL Second reason – Material explanation – socio/economic factors. Link to item and studies. PEEL Some evaluation of each – perhaps a comparison on which offers the best explanation? Analyse: Mainly AO1, some AO3 in the form of comparison and evidence.
10 Mark Question: Analyse Use the marking assessment sheet to peer assess someone else’s answer. Fill in the sheet for them. Don’t forget to consider structure, sentences, grammar, spelling and written communication.
Homework • Read the case study and answer the following: • What would Radical Feminists say about the case? • What would the Material explanation say about the case? 2) Read and make notes on the next chapter – childhood!