Family and Culture: Conjugal Roles

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Family and Culture Conjugal Roles
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Objectives

• Have viewed this slide show you should be aware
  of
• The changing roles perspective suggesting a
  growth of the companionate conjugal couple.
• The impact of employment and unemployment upon
  the division of labour.
• How women still undertake the bulk of domestic
  tasks.
• How technology and living standards are impacting
  upon roles.
• How power and authority relations still operate
  in ways that benefit men.
• Ideas of the 'triple shift' through recognition
  of emotion work.

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Introduction
Housework and care-work are still predominantly
female tasks
9 out of 10 women who work full-time undertake
most household chores (Top Sante magazine)
However, this bleak picture is slowly improving.
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Changing Roles Perspective
The changing rôles perspective assumes a gradual
sharing of gender rôles within the family.
The most famous advocates are Willmott and Young
(1973) who talk of movement towards the
symmetrical family.
Symmetry describes a sense of balance between
the duties of the male and female.
Men more domestic
Couples are companionate
Women as breadwinners
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Evidence for Changing Roles
In addition, in recent years there has been an
acceptance of the interchangeability of roles.
7 out of 10 women of working age now have jobs,
and half of mothers with children aged under five
are in work.
A surprising 36 of couples say that the man is
the main carer (Equal Opportunities Commission)
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Economically-Active Mothers
Paid employment would seem to empower women
within the family.
On average, the more hours a woman is employed
outside the home, the more domestic work appears
to be shared.
With many women working unsocial hours (evenings
or weekends), men are increasingly having to care
for their children.
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Technology and Living Standards
If mens contribution is limited, the burden of
domestic tasks on women is being lessened by
other factors
Online delivery of shopping is time and labour
saving especially to women.
Technologies such as microwaves, freezers and
processed food saves time.
Dining out and take-away food frees women from
cooking and washing up.
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Other Factors That Promote Changing Roles
Coltrane and Ishii-Kuntz (1992) found delayed
childbirth caused husbands to do slightly more
housework.
This may be linked to the fact that women who
have careers often delay having children
Studies of cohabitating couples suggest that they
are more equal than married couples.
Rising living standards mean families may employ
cleaners, nannies, au pairs etc. to do domestic
tasks.
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Evidence Against Changing Roles
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Division of Work by Hours
Men Women
Cooking meals 2.5 13.3
Cleaning 2.0 13.15
Washing/ironing 0.55 9.05
Childcare 5.05 8.45
Shopping 2.5 5.5
Washing up 2.0 3.4
Gardening 3.0 2.0
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Dual-career Families
Brayfield (1992) found even in dual career
families women had major responsibility for
domestic tasks.
Rapoport and Rapoport (1970) found that career
women were still viewed by partners and children
as wives and mothers.
Just because couples do things jointly, this
does not mean that they doing things equally
(Ann Oakley).
In addition, so long as men participating in
domestic tasks are doing so to "help their wives"
they are doing it for the wrong reason.
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Womens Lack of Leisure Time
Women have considerably less leisure and
free-time because of domestic work burden.
This translates into 15 fewer hours of leisure
per week.
David Morley (1992) says women see the home as
a place of work, men a place of leisure.
Arlie Hochschild (1990) found full-time working
women spent 3 hours a day doing housework whilst
their husbands spend the equivalent of 17 minutes.
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Housework
Housework is viewed traditionally as womens
work.
It is assumed that women are somehow naturally
better at doing housework.
There is even the assumption that women should
enjoy it and be fulfilled by it.
This image came from a recent Tescos magazine
inviting women to throw themselves into spring
cleaning
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Ann Oakley
Ann Oakley (1974) was the first feminist
sociologist to seriously examine housework.
Using a sample of 40 housewives she found they
were as alienated by their work as factory
workers.
They adopted similar coping strategies as factory
workers.
But far from encouraging a sense of sisterhood,
women competed with each other to be good
housewives.
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Social Factors on Housework
Mansfield and Collard (1989) studied newly-weds,
and found limited evidence of symmetry amongst
younger couples.
There does not seem to be a noticeable difference
in division of labour according to social class.
Sallie Westwood in her study of hosiery workers
felt Asian conjugal roles were very asymmetrical.
However, care must be made to avoid sweeping
stereotypes.
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Emotion Work Triple Shift
Anthony Giddens (1992) women are increasingly
seeking a haven in a heartless world through
greater emotional and sexual openness.
Mansfield and Collard (1989) found the
newly-married wives were deeply disappointed with
the lack of emotional reciprocity in their
marriages.
Duncombe and Marsdsen (1993) interviewed 40 white
couples who had been married 15 years and found
women typically experienced what they termed an
emotional loneliness.
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Economic Influences
Some researchers have wondered if male
unemployment influences male participation in the
home.
McKee and Bell (1984), unemployed young men did
even less domestic work than when they were in
work.
Lydia Morris (1985) found from her sample that
roles were subject to 're-negotiated' following
male unemployment.
Jane Wheelock found that male unemployment did
lead to positive changes in gender roles.
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Power and Authority
Stephen Edgell (1980) sees decision-making as
unequal, with men making important decisions.
Jessie Bernard talks of his and hers marriage
to reflect the power imbalance that exists.
Christine Delphy coined the phrase differential
consumption to reflect the power of men women
have less personal money.
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Conclusions

• There is evidence to support the 'changing roles'
  hypothesis.
• It would appear that womens economic work is a
  key factor in promoting equality in the conjugal
  roles.
• New man is more caring and supportive, but
  there is limited evidence to support his
  existence.
• However, women still undertake an unfair bulk of
  domestic tasks.
• Oakley argues that many sociological studies of
  equality in marriage start from the assumption
  that cooking, cleaning and childcare are somehow
  womens work anyway.

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Conclusions (continued)

• Feminists see this gender inequality of domestic
  work as stemming from a power imbalance.
• In addition, while couples may do things
  jointly, this does not necessarily mean that
  they do things equally.
• There is a clear imbalance in the quality and
  amount of leisure time female partners have.
• Male power and authority is reflected in
  patriarchal elements of the family.
• These include decision-making, differential
  consumption and financial management.