Domestic division of labour

I have chosen the domestic division if labour within society to discover how conjugal roles
have changed throughout generations. I have done this by gathering data from different age
groups to represent the decline in segregation of conjugal roles.

A Functionalist perspective would argue that roles are segregated but this is important as a
mother provides a nurturing role. This biological factor requires a mother to be a primary
caregiver as the male must carry out the instrumental role and provide for his family. Talcott
Parsons expresses that the nuclear family is equally balanced in terms of labour. The roles
that the male and females carry out are fundamentally different in terms of labour however
they play an equally important role in the maintenance of the family. Additionally, Young
and Wilmott, argued that gender roles within marriage were positively evolving in the
direction of equality in domestic labour. Women now increasingly take on more economic
responsibilities in the form of paid work and men now get more involved in childcare and
housework. This takes an opposing view to Parsons as it suggests that women’s role is
changing from predominantly being focused on housework and childcare. Young and
Wilmott additionally completed a study on working class families, where a clear segregation
was found. Men regarded themselves as heads of households as a result of their superior
earning power, which meant that made key decisions. The women were often economically
dependent on their husbands and were allocated ‘housekeeping money’. To conclude,
power relations in the home were therefore generally unequal.

Feminists would argue that roles within the home are oppressive and that male-dominance
exploits women. They were argue that women complete unpaid labour within the home and
their work isn’t regarded as real work. Betty Freidan wrote from a Feminist perspective 50
years ago, arguing that women were enslaved by marriage, male work was appreciated and
viewed as ‘actual work’, on the other hand society would undermine women. Ann Oakley
also writes from a feminist perspective, arguing that equality in domestic life is still not a
norm in society. She said “what people say is more egalitarian than what they do.” Oakley
responded to Young and Wilmott’s argument that roles within the home have started to
become more equal in society. Oakley responded with her own study as it was found that
housework had not been considered worthy of studying by male sociologists as it was
considered as an everyday private activity. Therefore, a conclusion based on limited
research is hard to draw, providing a weakness to Young and Wilmott’s research. Oakley’s
researcb consisted of interviewing 40 housewives living in suburban London and found
some quantitative evidence of husbands helping in the home but little evidence of
symmetry or equality. Only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework.

Some sociologists write from a biological perspective. Functionalists would agree with the
concept that biology plays a role in how roles within the home are created. The sexual
division of labour in the home is brought about primarily by biological differences between
the sexes. Parsons argued women are ‘naturally’ suited to the caring of the young because
of the fact they physically bear children.

Bernard’s discusses familial and patriarchal ideology is essentially patriarchal in outlook, in

Chambers produces a point on the ideology of mother and fatherhood, arguing that there is
an ideology of motherhood organised around the idea of putting children’s needs first.
Additionally Leonard argues that women who continue to see housework and childcare as
an essential part of being a ‘good wife and mother’ are more likely to be satisfied with an
unequal domestic division of labour than women who reject such roles.

Statistically there has been a growth of men’s participation in childcare, Fisher argued that
British fathers care of infants and young children rose 800% between 1975 and 1997, from
15 minutes to two hours on the average working day. However on the contrary Smith found
that fathers in nuclear families carry out an average of 25 percent of the families childcare
during the week.

Marxists such as Engels and Zaretsky acknowledge that women are exploited in marriage
and family life, but they emphasise the relationship between capitalism and the family,
rather than the family’s effects on women. All of the chores associated with the traditional,
expressive role, such as domestic labour, child care and emotion work are necessary to
‘keep the family going’ and so women’s unpaid work ultimately ends up benefiting the
Capitalist class.

The survey I provided to 30 individuals, between the ages 16 and 80, based on the domestic
division of labour within their households.

1. Who completes the food shopping in your house?

-Mum
-Dad

2. Who does the cooking?

-Mum
-Dad

3. Who does the cleaning?

-Mum
-Dad

4. Who does the washing and ironing?

-Mum
-Dad
 5. Who does the gardening?

-Mum
-Dad

6. Who does the DIY jobs?

-Mum
-Dad

7. Who is responsible for childcare?

-Mum
-Dad

8. Who has the final say in big financial decisions?

-Mum
-Dad

9. Does the female figure in your household do paid work?

-Yes
-No

My results

Q1-
MUM- 26 DAD- 4

Q2
MUM- 19 DAD- 11

Q3-
MUM-28 DAD- 2

Q4-
MUM- 26 DAD-4

Q5-
MUM-6 DAD- 24

Q6-
MUM-6 DAD-24

Q7-
MUM- 23 DAD-7
Q8-
MUM- 15 DAD-15

Q9-
YES- 26 NO-4

The use of me using a survey as my means of gathering data about the domestic division of
labour and whether these roles have changed during a progression of time does involve
various advantages and disadvantages. Practically, a survey was cheap and required little
time to draft and hand out. Additionally, access was simple, the majority of people who I
handed my survey to still lived with their mum or dad and the rest formally lived with their
parents. Finding participants was not difficult with this topic of research. My research
method gave me the ability to be ethical, all answers are anonymous and confidential, no
risk of participants information or answers being revealed to the public. Theoretically, my
research method may have some weaknesses. My survey would be considered a
quantitative form of data, favoured by positivists. This is strong in the fact it can be analysed
simply, and it is also easier to find trends. However, results that aren’t qualitative can lack
insight, depth and feeling. Qualitative data is usually favoured by interpretivists as
empathetic results are provided that can be used in analysis. Therefore, in this area my
research may lack rich detail as the results are purely statistical.

My analysis of my research findings

Result from tasks that

Result from
participants 50+ on who completes more domestic tasks.

Evaluating my findings

My findings were that roles are still segregated within the home, however developments
have been made. There is still a clear split between male and female roles. Males still
predominantly perform instrumental tasks and fulfil the breadwinner role. As shown in the
first pie chart, 80% of the participants said their dad carries out DIY tasks and jobs such as
gardening. However, 20% of participants said the female figure in the household carries out
these tasks. This number may have decreased if the survey was completed 50 or 60 years
ago, before the growth of feminism and increase of single parents. As shown in the 3 rd pie
chart, 100% of the participants aged 50+ said that their mother carried out domestic tasks.
This includes washing and ironing, childcare and food shopping. Roles within society and
attitudes towards these roles differed at the time they were living with their parents. It
should also be taken into account that 12 of my participants live with a single parent,
therefore the adult is likely filling all roles.

My results are most closely linked to the feminist perspective. Betty Freidan’s point that
women were enslaved by marriage and that only male work was viewed as actual work
could be supported by these findings as women are still the dominant domestic force.
Women are still completing unpaid labour. However, my findings have shown that steps
have been made towards a more symmetrical family, where roles are conjugal rather than
segregated. This result can link with Young and Wilmott’s view, who write from a
functionalist perspective, and argue that gender roles within marriage were positively
evolving in the direction or equality in domestic labour. Women now do complete paid work
in contrast to before, where a woman’s sole responsibility would be to fulfil an expressive
role.

To conclude, this research project has been successful in its aim to discover how divided
domestic roles are in this current age. If I were to complete this project once again, I would
use a larger sample size, in order to gain a larger set of results that will then increase the
validity of my research.