Are Conjugal Roles in Contempo
Discuss the view that conjugal roles are equal in contemporary BritainThere has been much debate over equality within family environments. Historically there have also been many issues relating to equal rights for men and women. Women have often been treated differently to men, in the early 1900s a group of women called the Suffragettes successfully campaigned to give women the right to vote. Recently there have been disputes over equal pay for men and women which has led to anti discriminatory laws being passed. There have also been movements such as feminism which has challenged the views of society towards men and women. There are many pieces of research which study equality within roles although comparing them can be difficult. This is because equality is not something that can be measured or represented in a clear way. The notion of equality in itself is multi faceted and hard to define. This has led to researchers studying equality in several different ways. These include looking at levels of involvement in domestic tasks and exploring the distribution of power in relationships.Willmott and Young (1973) devised a four stage model of family life. In the 1971 book, the symmetrical family they used historical
This further reinforces the view that housework is a responsibility primarily performed by women. This view suggests that conjugal roles may be potentially more unequal than ever. Data published for the Office for National Statistics researched tasks including shopping, cleaning and child care within various families. Notably this was also a task which takes up a very small proportion of time in terms of hours per week compared with the others. The results show that women regularly spend two or three times the amount of time as men on such tasks. This system occurred mostly in low income families where neither partner worked and money was tight. The least popular system according the Pahl's research was wife controlled. Stage four also explores how they feel the family may change in the future. For example, whilst the wife will typically look after the children and do housework the husband contributes by working in paid employment to support the family. Oakley studied 40 married women aged between 20 to 30 with children under 5. This means the roles within the family are different whilst also being similar in terms of contribution and involvement. The second most popular system was wife controlled pooling where money was also shared with the wife having the dominant say in how it was spent. They also cited an increasing number of women undertaking paid employment as a reason for growing symmetry within roles. The four stage model covers pre industrial in stage one to present day in stage three. Duncombe and Marsden (1995) strongly disagree with the functionalist view of family roles.
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