Power relationships

Power Relationships:

The distribution of power and authority concerns how much control over decision-making each partner has, and who is most able to get their own way, and make decisions about important matters affecting family life

Barrett and McIntosh -

Men gain far more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support
The financial support that husbands give to their wives often has strings attached
Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items

AO3- Kempson

Women in low income families deny their own needs in order to make ends meet e.g. skipping meals, not going out or having smaller portions of food. Women feel that spending should be for the children and she has no access to resources in her own right - if resources are shared unequally women may be left in poverty

Pahl and Vogler

Allowance System- - men give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget and meet the family's needs
Pooling - both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure e.g. a joint bank account

Even when there was pooling men usually made the major financial decisions

Pahl

Pooling money doesn't equal equality - we need to know who controls the money and whether each partner contributes equally

Vogler et al

Cohabiting couples were less likely to pool their money - perhaps from a desire to maintain independence yet they are more likely to have joint conjugal roles

Personal Life Perspective

Focus on the meanings people give to who controls the money

Dunne

No gender scripts

Weeks

Evidence of co-independence - the typical pattern was pooling some money for household spending whilst having separate bank accounts for personal spending

AO3 Inequalities in Money Management

59% married couples say they consult each other on all financial issues, less than half 44% of working women were mainly responsible for making financial decisions compared to 53% of working men (Opinium Research, 2011)

Pooling dropped to 1/3 for women who work part time (Pahl and Vogler)

Gender Pay Gap - means women have less disposable income to use and are likely to have a lower credit score to borrow money

Edgell

Study of professional couples found:

Very important decisions - change of job or moving house were taken by the man or jointly but with the husband having the final say

Important decisions
Important decisions - about children's education or holidays were usually taken jointly

Less important decisions - about home décor, children's clothes or food purchases were usually made by the wife

All of this is due to men earning more than women

AO3 - Crompton and Lyonette

Evidence of the ideological and material explanation for gender inequality - built into socialisation and the fact that women earn less than men

AO3 Marriage or Cohabitation?

Married couples tend to have more traditional gender roles and males have more power in relationships.

Is this applicable in contemporary society?
May not be as applicable - marriage at lowest ever levels
Cohabitation - pure relationship
Decline in stigma
Secularisation

AO3 - The effects of power imbalances in the family

Gender pay gap
Women more likely to take on triple shift
Maintains patriarchy - Walby
Career breaks/reduction in pay - lack of shared parental leave

Dunne

No gender scripts

Nyman

Couples can attach different meanings to money which can reflect the nature of the relationship - some couples may not see one partner controlling the money as unequal

Smart

Some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to who controlled the money and were happy to leave this to their partners

Hardhill

30 dual career couples - men alone or jointly couples made financial decisions. Men's career was a priority when deciding whether to move house for a new job