are couples becoming more equal?

explain the main view on whether couples are becoming more equal?

• most women now work part or full-time, this raises the argument about whether this has created more domestic equality or left women with a dual-burden

what is the march of progress view?

• women working has led to a more equal division of labour at home

• women in paid work has meant men are becoming just as involved in housework as childcare

what does research show about women and domestic work?

• that women who worked full time did less domestic work than other women

• trends from nationally representative data: women are doing less/ men are doing more domestic work, increase in number of couples equally dividing labour, more men doing ‘women’s tasks’

statistic?

British Social Attitudes Survey showed only 13% of men and 12% of women in 2013 believed in expressive/instrumental division of labour compared to 45% of men and 41% off women in 1984.

what are 3 feminist views for why couples aren’t becoming more equal?

• responsibility for children

• responsibility of quality time

• emotion work and triple shift

what is the feminist views briefly?

• Women entering paid work has not ‘liberated’ them, but created dual-burden (paid&domestic) with little to no evidence of ‘new man’

whats a statistic to support this?

explain?

• Men do an average of 8hrs housework a week compared to women who do 13hrs.

• This shows couples continue to divide roles in sex-types ways - e.g. women clean, men do DIY

explain the feminist views: responsibility for children?

• Surveys measuring who does what/how long for don’t tell us who has responsibility for ensuring the task is complete. e.g. fathers help with specific childcare tasks but mother takes overall responsibility for child’s wellbeing

a statistic?

explain?

• Research to show 78% of fathers has high involvement with 3 year olds but only 1% took responsibility towards children

• Research to show many fathers are ‘background fathers’ who help with childcare more for relationship with partner rather that responsibility towards children

explain responsibility for quality time?

• women must coordinate, schedule and manage the family’s quality time.

• men and women tend to have similar amounts of leisure time but different experiences, e.g. men more likely to have uninterrupted blocks whilst women more likely to have leisure time disrupted by childcare

explain emotion work and triple shift?

• feminists say women must perform emotion work and control own emotions

• Women must perform triple shift - emotion, domestic and paid work

evidence from a feminist?

• Hoschchild: emotion work involves managing emotions of family members - e.g. listening to husband stressed from work, mediating bickering between children

who says there are 2 explanations for the gender division of labour?

Crompton & Lyonette

what is the 1st?

the cultural/ideological explanation

explain?

• division of labour determined by patriarchal norms/values

• women do more domestic labour because society expects them to - socialised that way

what is one piece of evidence for this?

• most men claim to do more domestic work than their father and most women claim to do less domestic work than their mother due to changing norms leading to generational shift in behaviour

whats another?

• lesbian couples have more symmetrical relationships as there are no gender scripts in lesbian relationships

when does this mean equality will be achieved?

when gender role norms change

what’s the second explanation?

• the material/ economic explanation

explain this?

women earn less than men on average due to gender pay gap so financially rational for them to complete domestic work whilst man goes to work

whats the gender pay gap?

difference in average hourly wage of all men and women in workforce (affected by factors like women working part-time and in lower-paid positions in organisation)

one piece of evidence?

• for every £10,000 a year more a women earns, she does 2 hours less housework per week

when will equality be achieved?

• if women join labour force and earn as much as husbands (but men still earn more in 7/8 households and women are more likely than men to work part time)

who researched into gender scripts and lesbian couples?

• Dunne

what are gender scripts?

norms that set out gender roles men and women are expected to play - e.g. women cook, men clean car

explain the lesbian couples research?

lesbian couples with dependant children more likely than heterosexual women to describe their relationship as equal (sharing housework and childcare equally) and give equal importance to both partner’s careers

what does Dunne say this is because?

there are no gender scripts/ ingrained ideas about what each partner ‘should’ do - allows their relationship to be more negotiated and equal

lastly, what view does this support?

radical feminist view - heterosexual relationships are patriarchal so women will only achieve equality in a same-sex relationship (political lesbianism)