The Domestic Labour Debate Since the 1970's the debate about just who is doing what in the household has been gathering momentum

Willmott and Young 1975 The Symmetrical family has become common Move from segregated (separate) conjugal roles to joint conjugal roles Growth of the privatised family More women are working

Oakley 1975 Interviewed housewives in London (Many married women expressed the desire for their men to be ‘men’ Anybody agree? Women carried out the majority of household tasks

Gershuny 1992 Looked at Canada & Europe Men are doing more domestic tasks particularly where partners work women still do more In recent research published in 2005, Gershuny says that men are doing twice as much as they did in 1961 but women still do twice as much as men on average

Edgell 1980 Looked at decision making between spouses Women made more decisions in areas of domestic spending and children’s clothes Men made the more ‘important’ decisions of moving house etc Male careers were seen as more important as they were the main breadwinners

Gillian Leighton 1992 Found that when men became unemployed this power balance shifted with wives taking over the main money decisions Pahl 1993 & Vogler 1994 In separate studies both found that in the area of financial matters there was more equality Why the change?

Morris 1990 found that even in families where the husband was unemployed – he did little or no more housework than when he was fully employed. concluded, was because they felt emasculated as a result of their job losses and household chores further exasperated this. What “role of women” may feed into this trend?

The Dual Burden Many feminists argue that although women have enjoyed the chance to work in paid employment many still do the large share of the domestic activities and thus have a dual burden

Dunscombe & Marsden (1995) Identified ‘emotional work’ as an important part of the woman’s role Added to the dual burden makes a ‘triple burden’ i.e. Women are involved in paid employment, do most of the domestic activities and take on the emotional support role.

The Triple Burden Women are usually primarily responsible for ‘emotional’ work within the family e.g. caring for a sick child, looking after ageing parents, showing emotional intelligence Hence a 3 rd task added to the dual shift of housework and paid work.

Studied cohabiting lesbian couples with children, found that there was more symmetry of roles than with heterosexual couples. They both saw their relationship as equal They shared household tasks and childcare equally believed was because with heterosexuals there is pressure to conform to stereotypical roles – ‘gender scripts’. With same sex couples don’t have “scripts” and therefore partners are free to work out the best division of labour. However, where one partner worked more than the other (paid employment) then that partner generally spent less time on domestic activities…paid employment has a big effect on the domestic division of labour whatever the relationship type. What else might be determined from this study in regard to heterosexual marriages? Lesbian Couples – Dunne 1999

In the early 1990’s many sociologists detected a change in the role of fathers. More attending the births of their children playing a greater role in childcare. Fatherhood

Dennis And Erdos 1992 Absence of an authority figure (dad) is a major factor in youths turning to deviance and crime. This has echoes of functionalism and new right philosophies recent government moves on making parents directly responsible for bad behaviour of young people, e.g. fines for parents of truants Should parents be responsible for teenagers actions? Fatherhood

Burghess 1997 Found fathers taking a more central role in the emotional development of their children Fatherhood

Beck 1992 In a post- modern world men can no longer rely on careers to give identity and fulfilment. Being a ‘dad’ gives a sense of purpose Fatherhood

Dermot 2006 Research at The University of Bristol led by Esther Dermott found that many modern men still work long hours after becoming fathers and have little desire to spend more time at home. After an initial surge of interest after the birth they soon settle back into their old working routine. As Dermott points out '.....If by new fathers we mean: is more emotional, turns up at sports day, wants to build a relationship with the child, then yes (we have them). If we mean: rearranges his employment in order to prioritise child care then we don't have that‘ However, most men stated that fatherhood had been a life changing experience and that their social life and personal relationships had changed. Men didn't want to work less hours but they wanted more flexibility to be able to take an afternoon off Fatherhood