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What did Young and Wilmott (1973) say about the symmetrical family?
Took a ‘march of progress’ argument that the modern family is symmetrical, with partners becoming more equal - less patriarchal, or male-dominated.
Both partners now sharing household chores, childcare, decision making, and both in employment.
Assumes movement from domestic division of segregated conjugal roles, to more equal integrated conjugal roles.
Argue this is proven by:
1) Women now in full time work (around 60% 2023)
2) Men now help with housework + childcare (though women do more housework than men in almost all formats, apart from gardening and taking out the bins)
3) Couples now spend leisure time together
Causes of supposed changes : Improved living standards
Central heating, TV, DVDs, computers, internet etc. have encouraged partners to become more home-centred, building their relationship.
Causes of supposed changes : Decline of close-knit extended family + greater geo and soc mobility
Less pressure from kin on newly married/cohabiting couples to retain trad roles, therefore easier to adopt new roles.
Couples now tend to have a shared network of male + female friends, increasing inter-dependence.
Elizabeth Bott (1957) → found that most important factor influencing couples conjugal roles was their social network of friends, kin, and acquaintances from pre-marriage. As these networks have loosened, more integrated roles has become easier.
Causes of supposed changes : Improved status of women
Women mostly now in paid-employment, encouraging men to accept them more as equals, and making women more assertive in sharing household tasks.
Causes of supposed changes : Increase in women in paid-employment
Gershuny (1994) and Laurie and Gershuny (2000) found that as wives moved into paid-employment or from PT to FT, they did less housework, and men did a bit more. Felt this shows some progress in reducing gender inequalities (but stressed it was very small + slow progress)
Kan et al (2011) - while men doing more work, it is traditionally masculine type work e.g. DIY, outside work-gardening, and ‘fixing’. These are non-routine tasks, unlike the bulk of chores that women do daily.
Causes of supposed changes : commercialisation of housework
Consumer goods and services to help reducing burden of housework.
Silver (1987) and Schor (1992) - commercialisation has made housework less time consuming and less skilled, encouraging men to do a bit more and women a bit less. But even though there is less to do overall, women still organising most of the housework, also is primarily available to the well-off.
Causes of supposed changes : weaker gender identities
Postmodernists argue men + women have more choice in how they see their roles. So are less constrained by trad masc and fem gender roles/identities, perhaps weakening gender divisions in housework and childcare (BUT Kan’s research?)
Criticisms of the view of more integrated conjugal roles : inequalities in domestic division of labour
- Women still doing majority of housework and childcare:
Women do 12 hrs worth of housework weekly, men do closer to 6hrs.
Women do bulk of chores in 93% of couples.
50-50 split of chores in only 6% of couples
Changing lightbulbs, taking bins out, and DIY only 3/54 chores mainly done by men.
-2013 ‘Value of a parent’ survey found women with children spend an avg of 71 hrs on household chores/childcare a week.
Who benefits from domestic labour?
Radical feminists → men mainly benefit, as it is women who mainly do it, therefore domestic labour inequality is a patriarchal problem, reinforcing idea that fam is a patriarchal unit.
Marxist feminists → domestic labour benefits capitalism as unpaid labour reproduces labour force at 0 cost - free production and rearing of children. Family is a ‘social factory’ that ensures individuals are physically + mentally well enough to work. Also acknowledge the patriarchal problem.
Measuring domestic division of labour
Oakley (1972) argues against Young and Wilmott’s evidence for ‘jointness’ in the symmetrical family. Of married men 72% claimed to “help their partners in the home” - Oakley argues this could mean anything, even something as small as tucking their children in at night.
What does the ‘triple-shift’ mean for women?
Delphy and Leonard (1992) - women take on ‘emotional work’ concerned with maintaining bonds of affection, moral support, friendship + love which underpins family solidarity.
Duncombe and Marsden (1995) - Found many long-term relationships held together by women, not men, who put the emotional work in to keep it alive.
Women also more involved in the emotional aspects of childcare (talking to, listening to, understanding + supporting), including older children.
Similar to Parson’s idea of women taking expressive role, but now it’s on top of domestic labour and paid employment (triple shift)
Inequality in decision making
Though more decisions are joint, few are made by women alone.
Edgell (1980) - women only made decisions in less important areas like home decor, children’s clothes, and food. Women less likely to have final say on important decisions like moving house or taking out loans.
Pahl (2005,2008) - found growing individualisation in couple’s finances, where both partners have some independence in financial matters (more likely in younger couples, those without kids, and those with women working full-time). But 38% women in PT work compared to 14% men.
But Pahl argues this independence may increase financial inequality, as men generally earning 8% more than women, cost of childcare is more of a burden on women.
Effect of housework + childcare on women’s careers
Women continue to be mainly responsible for childcare and housework, restricting the time and effort they can put into work due to family commitments. This prevents progression and promotion in the workforce.
Shown in 38% of women working PT compared to 14% men.
Inequalities in employment
- Mothers seen as unreliable workers by some employers due to home commitments.
- Women with promising careers may have to leave temporarily to have kids, missing out on pay + promotion opportunities which go to men instead.
- Judgement towards women who return to work after leaving to have child. Sometimes forced to accept downgraded position (illegal but many women accept it).
- Mainly women who give up paid-work to care for children, elderly, sick.
Gatrell et al. (2012) - suggests employers views about mothers being main/only carer out of date, as a growing no. of fathers becoming involved with children.
The ‘darker side’ of the family
Feminists argue that growing privatisation of family can lead to emotional stress and conflict, perhaps causing violence, divorce, psychological damage to children, mental illness, crime.
Extent of violence in the family increasing in public attention, with reports of sexual + physical abuse of children, emotional neglect of children, rape of women by husbands or partners.
Darker side of the family : domestic abuse
- 1/4 women and 1/6 men predicted to experience domestic violence or abuse in their lifetime.
^can lead to 2 women per week, or 30 men per year, being murdered by their abuser.
Women more likely to experience it, but often don’t report it straight away.
One domestic abuse call every minute.
Darker side of the family : rape in marriage
CSEW - about ¾ of rapes take place in the victim’s home.
2021 - 67,000 recorded rape offences, only 1,500 prosecutions.
