In the last 50 years we have seen changes in the family structure. In the process the roles of women have also changed however we still see inequalities in the home, workplace and public despite women having proven themselves equal to men.
Talcott Parsons (1955) proposed a functionalist model which suggest a clear division of labor where men have an ‘instrumental role’ geared towards succeeding at work and women have an ‘expressive role’ geared towards socialization of children and meeting the family emotional needs. He argues that division of labor is based on biological differences and states that women were more suited for nurturing and emotional roles whereas men tend to take on the role of the provider.
Young and Willmot (1973) support Talcott with their ‘March of Progress’ view and state that the household is increasingly becoming more equal in terms of labor divided equally. They state that families are taking one more symmetrical role where women go out to work and men help with housework and childcare. While not identical it can be seen that the roles have become and continue to become more similar.
Ann Oakley( 1974) argues that this is not convincing evidence as men over emphasize their contribution to the household with only 15% having high level participation with housework and 25% helping with childcare. She states that men are happy to contribute to housework and childcare however they would only help with the more ‘pleasurable’ aspects. Ann Oakley’s opinions are supported by Mary Bolton (1983) and Akan Warde and Kevin Hatherington (1993) who state that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare and that sex-typing is still major issue in the domestic environment.
While Ann Oakley has strong evidence ...
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...s to family income and the Allowance system where the husband gave the wife an allowance for food, children needs and depending on how much these would costs a small amount for herself.
Works Cited
Rachael Saunders theguardian.com, Wednesday 6 February 2013: date accessed 22/11/2013
Browne, K., (2008) Sociology for AS. Polity Press: Cambridge
Newbold, C., Peace, M., Swain, L., Wright, M. (2008) AQA Sociology AS. Nelson Thornes: Cheltenham
Webb, R., Westergaard, H., Trobe, K., Steel, L. (2008) A2 Sociology, Napier Press: Brentwood
Sociology in focus , 1998 , Causeway press LTD
Quotes used:
Ann Oakley (1974) Page 120
Mary Bolton (1983) Page 120
Young and Willmot (1973) Page 123
Key Ideas in Sociology , Martin Slattery , 2003
Information used:
Gender scripts
Financial violence
Dual burdens
Webb et al, 2008
http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335213200.pdf
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However, women have made optimistical progress towards equality and their role in the society has been changed dramatically since the last century. Many women stepped out of their home and start to work at factories and offices. The number of working women with children has more than doubled in the past 50 years. While working conditions for women may have improved, there is a lack of appreciation for the notion that work for most women doesn't end at the door of a factory or office. Despite an increase of women's participation in the labour force, women's share of housework has hardly changed in 50 years.
The roles women typically play in the family may not always be consistent with success in the occupational arena. Staying home to care for a sick child may conflict with an important meeting (Broman 1991:511). Sometimes there has to be a change of plans when it comes to the family. Most people believe that family comes first no matter what. Men 's engagement in paid work fulfills prescriptions of hegemonic masculinity by facilitating their ability to gain status in the public sphere. A man can judge his worth by the size of a paycheck (Thebaud 2010:335). Most research shows that women are more likely to be effected by the household and men are more likely to be effected by their job. Some people feel that the goal is to reach higher on the occupational
A gender role attitude is an individual’s interpretation and expectation on how a woman or man should behave. These assumptions create a socially accepted “norm” about each gender. In various lectures, we examined three common gender role ideologies; traditional, egalitarian, and transitional. A traditional gender role would fit into society’s fundamental outlook on a household. An individual holding this view would believe that men should work and earn money for the family, while women stay at home to do house work and take care of the kids. An egalitarian position believes that both women and men should equally distribute responsibility throughout every situation they are faced with. This would include dividing duties up evenly despite what type it is (more strenuous chores vs. easy chores). A transitional approach combines the traditional and egalitarian approaches together. A couple who practices this attitude would split up the tasks equally but in a way that still views men as holding the majority of the “household” power. For example, women would do the dishes and clean the house while men would cut the lawn and fix the car because those jobs are “more difficult”.