4 - couples - resources/ DV

barret and mcIntosh 1991

• men gain far more from womens domestic work than they give back in financial support

• the financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with ‘strings attached’

• men usually make descisions about spending on important items

kempson 1994

among low income famillies, it was often women who denied their own needs, seldom going out, and eating smaller proportions of food or skipping meals in order to make enda meet

pahl and vogler 1993 identified two main controls over family income

allowence system - where men give their wives an allowence out of which they have to budget to meet the family needs, with the man retaining any surplus income for himself

pooling - both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure for example a joint bank account. paul and vogler 2007 found that men usually made most of the decisions even when money was pooled

finch 1983 observation

womens lives tended to be structured around their husbands careers.

hardilils 1997 study of 30 sual career professional couples

found that the important decisions were usually taken by either the man alone or jointly and that his career normally took priority when deciding whether to move house for a new job

edgells 1980 study of professional couples found that:

very important decisions like moving house, mew jobe were taken by the man, seldom jointly and men had the final say

important decisions like childrens education or where to go on holiday were taken jointly seldom by the woman

less important decisions like home decor, clothes or food were made by the wife

gershuny 2000 - more equal say

in 1995 70% of couples said they had an equal say in decisions, finding that women were high earning and well qualified were more likely to have an equal say

what do feminists argue about this

argue that its not simply because of more earnings, instead its because of gendered soicalisation and the cultural definition of men as decision makers

vogler et al on cohabitation money

less likely to be pooled perhaps because of greater need of independance. however, they are more likely to split tasks equally

PLP on money

smart 2007 found that some gay men and lesbians attached no importance in who controlled the money and were perfectly happy to leave this to their partners. they don’t see controlling money as equality or inequality in a rs

similarly, weeks et al 2001 found that the typical pattern was pooling some money for household spending, together with seperate accounts for personal spending. Money management system reflects a value of co dependance where there is sharing, but where each partner retains control over some money and maintains independance

smart found there is greater freedom for same sex couples to do what suits them best as a couple.

DV is labelled as

any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members. includes financial, physical, psychological sexual and emotional violence or abuse

evidence for DV being too far widespread

year ending march 2025. 15% of all crimes were domestic violence in england and wales

coleman et al 2007

found that women were more likely than men to have experienced ‘intimate violence’, and according to coleman and osborne 2010, two women a week are killed by a partner or former partner

dobash and dobash found that violent incidents could be set off by

what a husband saw as a challenge to authority, and they argue that marriage legitimises violence against women by conferring power and authoirty on husbands and dependancy on wives

walby and allen 2004

found that women were much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse and sexual violence

Dar 2013 found that it can be difficult to count and seperate DV incidents, because the abuse may be continuous or the victim may not accuratley be able to count it. also found that women are less likely to report because they might think the police think its too trivial or fear from reprisals

Yearnshire 1997

found that on average a woman suffers 35 assulrs before making a report DV is less likely to be reported

Cheal 1991 on police reluctance to record and investigate

reluctance to be involved in the family

• the family is private so access to it by the state agencies should be limitied

• the family is a good thing so there is reluctance to highlight the ‘darker side’

• individuals are agents so people assume women are free to leave, turning a blind eye to economic abuse

radical feminist explanation of DC

Millet and firestone 1970 argye that all societies have been founded on patriarchy. men are the enemy - the exploiters and oppressors of women

see marriage and family as key institutions of patriarchal society and the main source of womens opression. within the family, men dominate through DV or the threat of it

wide spread DV is inevitable in patriarchal society and serves to preserve the powerr all men ahve over women

male dominated state institutions help explain the relucatance of the state ans courts to deal effectively with cases of DV.

evals

elliot 1996 rejects this view claiming not all men are aggressive and benefit from violence against women.

fail to explain why child abuse by women and violence against male partners and violence in lesbian relationships. Crime survey for Eng and Wales found that 18% of men had experienced DV since 16

wrongly assumes all women are equally at risk.

the ONS from 2014 showed that women from these categories are at most risk: young women, lowest social class and deprived areas, high levels of alc consumption, long term illness and disability, low income, shared or rented accom

materialist explanatiom

economic and material factors such as inequalities in income and housing. Wilkinson and pickett 2010 see Dv as a result of stress on family members caused by social inequality. fewer resources, overcrowding leads to higher risk of conflict and violence. e.g worries about money hosuing and jobs may spill into domestic conflict

lack of money and time restricts peoples social circles

evals

useful in explaining why DV is more common with lower socioeconomic backgrounds

do not explain why women are more likely than men to be victims

marxist feminists see inequality as causing DV. e.g ansley 1972 describes wives as ‘takers of shit’ arguing that DV is the product of capitalism as male workers are exploited and letting their frustrations out on women