Gender and Power in the Family — Domestic Labour, Decisions and Violence

What is the domestic division of labour?

The domestic division of labour refers to how housework, childcare, paid work and emotional work are divided between partners. AQA questions often focus on whether this division has become more equal or remains patriarchal.

What did Parsons argue about gender roles?

Parsons argued men perform the instrumental breadwinner role, while women perform the expressive caring role. He saw this as functional for family stability, but it reflects traditional 1950s gender norms.

How can Parsons be evaluated?

Oakley argues Parsons treats gender roles as natural when they are socially constructed through socialisation. This is a strong criticism because it shows Parsons may justify women’s unpaid labour rather than explain genuine equality.

What did Bott argue about conjugal roles?

Bott identified segregated conjugal roles, where partners have separate tasks and leisure, and joint conjugal roles, where partners share tasks and spend leisure time together. This is useful for explaining different patterns between families.

What are segregated conjugal roles?

Segregated conjugal roles involve a clear gender division, such as men doing paid work and repairs while women cook, clean and care for children. Leisure and social lives are often separate.

What are joint conjugal roles?

Joint conjugal roles involve partners sharing housework, childcare, leisure and decision-making more equally. Bott linked joint roles to weaker extended kin ties and greater geographical mobility.

What did Young and Willmott argue about the symmetrical family?

Young and Willmott argued there has been a march of progress towards more equal relationships, with husbands and wives increasingly sharing housework, childcare, leisure and decisions.

What evidence supports greater equality in domestic labour?

Gershuny found men do more housework when their wives work full-time. Sullivan also found men’s participation in childcare and domestic work had increased over time, supporting a slow movement towards equality.

What is lagged adaptation?

Lagged adaptation means men’s domestic behaviour changes more slowly than women’s paid employment. Gershuny suggests men may gradually adapt to women’s work, but cultural expectations take time to catch up.

How can the symmetrical family be criticised?

Oakley argues Young and Willmott exaggerate equality because men may help, but women still do most routine housework and childcare. The issue is not just whether men help, but who carries daily responsibility.

What is the dual burden?

The dual burden is when women do paid work but still do most housework and childcare. It shows women’s employment has not automatically created equality inside the family.

What is the triple shift?

The triple shift means women do paid work, domestic labour and emotional labour. Duncombe and Marsden argue women often manage family emotions, relationships and tensions as well as practical tasks.

What is emotional labour?

Emotional labour means managing feelings and relationships, such as comforting children, supporting partners, remembering birthdays and keeping family bonds together. Feminists argue this work is often invisible and unpaid.

What did Craig find about marriage?

Craig found women’s unpaid domestic work increases after marriage while men’s contribution may decrease. This suggests marriage can intensify gender inequality rather than automatically creating partnership.

What did McKee and Bell find?

McKee and Bell found women still did most housework even when men were unemployed. This challenges the idea that domestic labour is simply divided by who has more time.

What did Man-yee Kan find?

Kan found educated women spend less time on housework than women with lower qualifications, but inequality remains. This shows class and education affect domestic labour, but do not remove gender inequality.

What are cultural explanations for unequal domestic labour?

Cultural explanations argue traditional gender norms and socialisation shape housework. Women may feel responsible for childcare and cleaning because femininity is linked to caring and domestic responsibility.

What are material explanations for unequal domestic labour?

Material explanations argue domestic labour is shaped by money and employment. Because men often earn more, couples may prioritise men’s paid work and women may do more unpaid work because it seems economically rational.

What did Crompton and Lyonette argue?

Crompton and Lyonette identify both cultural and material explanations for gender inequality. This is useful because domestic labour is shaped by both gender norms and economic factors like pay, working hours and childcare costs.

What are gender scripts?

Gender scripts are socially learned expectations about how men and women should behave in relationships. They can make women feel responsible for housework and childcare while men see themselves as helpers rather than equal carers.

What is the “new man”?

The “new man” is the idea that modern men are more emotionally involved and share childcare and domestic work. However, feminists argue this is often exaggerated because women still carry the mental load.

What are changing masculinities?

Changing masculinities refers to the idea that men’s roles are becoming less fixed, with more acceptance of involved fatherhood and emotional openness. However, change is uneven and may depend on class, age and employment.

What is the mental load?

The mental load is the responsibility for planning and organising family life, such as remembering appointments, meals, school needs and emotional support. Women may still carry this even when men do some tasks.

What did Pahl and Edgell argue about decision-making?

Pahl and Edgell found men often make major financial decisions, such as moving house or buying a car, while women make smaller routine decisions. This suggests power remains unequal even in apparently joint families.

What is pooling in money management?

Pooling means both partners put money into a shared fund. It can suggest equality, but it may hide inequality if one partner controls spending decisions or earns significantly more.

What is the allowance system?

The allowance system is where one partner, often the man, controls income and gives the other a set amount for household spending. Feminists see this as evidence of financial power imbalance.

How can money management be evaluated?

Pooling does not automatically mean equality because women may manage money only to budget poverty, not because they have power. Real power depends on income, ownership, savings and who controls major decisions.

What did Smart find about same-sex couples?

Smart argues money control may be less of an issue in some same-sex couples because relationships are less shaped by traditional male breadwinner/female caregiver scripts. This suggests gender norms, not just family structure, create inequality.

What did Dunne find about lesbian couples?

Dunne found lesbian couples often had a more equal division of domestic labour because they were not tied to traditional heterosexual gender scripts. This challenges the idea that inequality is natural.

How can same-sex couple research evaluate heterosexual family studies?

Same-sex couple research suggests domestic inequality is socially constructed through gender norms rather than biologically natural. If couples without male/female scripts divide work more equally, Parsons’ natural role theory is weakened.

How does domestic violence show unequal power?

Domestic violence shows the family can involve control, fear and coercion, not just love and support. Feminists see it as linked to wider patriarchal power and gender inequality.

What did Dobash and Dobash argue about domestic violence?

Dobash and Dobash argue domestic violence is linked to patriarchy and male control. They found violence often occurs when men feel their authority is being challenged, such as over housework, money or women’s independence.

How can Dobash and Dobash be evaluated?

Their view is useful because it links domestic violence to gender power rather than treating it as random individual behaviour. However, it may underplay other factors such as poverty, alcohol, stress and violence in same-sex relationships.

What did Wilkinson and Pickett argue about domestic violence?

Wilkinson and Pickett argue domestic violence is more common in unequal societies and among disadvantaged groups because stress, insecurity and limited resources increase conflict. This adds class inequality to gender explanations.

What is a strong overall judgement on gender and power?

Family roles have become more equal in some ways through women’s paid work and changing masculinities, but inequality remains in routine housework, childcare, emotional labour, decision-making, money control and domestic violence.