The Family

Conjugal role and the family

Conjugal roles

“No wife of mine is going out to work while I’m getting the money round here!!” Is this any longer true?

What are conjugal roles?

•Roles played by men and women within a marriage

•It’s better understood through ‘the domestic division of labour’

•Roles can be joint or separated

It’s useful to focus on

•the distribution of housework•its effects on women’s lives•the dual-burden•the triple shift

Why are women housewives?

• Oakley (feminist) – due to industrial revolution, women were eventually banned from factories and so were encouraged into the home as carers

• Parsons (functionalist) – women fulfill an expressive role

• Parsons (functionalist) – therefore women were needed at home to look after children

Feminists see housework as being….

Oakley (1974) - housework is seen as being a predominantly female role - ‘non-work, unpaid, isolated and makes women economically dependent on men’

Delphy & Leonard (1992) - argue all the unpaid housework and childcare is done by women. “Women also make the largest contribution to family life, while men contribute the least but gain the most!”

Margaret Benston (1972) – “women are an unpaid workforce”- capitalism benefits from a large army of women –who are compliant and willing to do as they’re told because women have been socialised to act this way and women rears future workers to think the same way

In contrast Wilmott & Young (1973) argue

• Housework has….• Moved from segregated to joint• Moved towards greater equality as spouses share

domestic and leisure activities• Their study in Bethnal Green found 72% of husbands did

housework other than washing up

•Therefore they concluded the family is symmetrical

This change could have come from..• Changes in the status of women (through gradual rise of feminist

movement)• More working wives/women• Gradual move from extended to nuclear families• Improved rights and status of women• The importance of the female partner’s earnings to the family

However the truth is……• Oakley (1974) Men think even “ironing their trousers once

a week is contributing to housework”• Backed by British Social Attitudes Survey (1997) show

men do very little around the house - 88% of women were solely responsible for washing and ironing compared to 1% of men!

• Office for National Statistics (2001) found women spent three times longer than men doing housework

• The more housework a women does the greater dependence she has on her husband

But there are social-class differences?

• Dennis et al – found greater segregated conjugal roles in working-class mining community

• Men out at pub - female housewife at home• Women seen as inferior as they couldn’t work down the

mines but could do housework• While Elston (1999) found professional wives are still

expected to balance their careers with that of dealing with childcare, sick children and housework

• As Oakley says in her ‘Sociology of Housework’ “As long as the blame for an empty fridge or dirty house remains a woman’s then symmetry remains a myth”

Burden of housework means…

• Women’s careers can suffer as they have to take main responsibility for housework and childcare – triple-shift, dual-burden

• Consequently women have less pay, poorer promotion prospects and less secure employment

• Have to accept more part-time pay which tends to be poorly paid with less pension rights

• Because of the above employers see women as being less reliable

Points to consider…..

• Many of the studies are dated• Measuring housework is reliant on the researchers/respondents opinions. For example is DIY and gardening housework?

• Are we seeing a new wave of New Men as the media would like use to believe?

• Who makes all the major decisions around the home?