The domestic division of labour

Young and Willmott (1973) suggested the symmetrical family had arrived.
1. Shared and similar conjugal roles.
Young and Willmott said 72% of husbands help around the house.
Anne Oakley (1974) refused this claim.
1. Husbands only had to perform one household chore a week to count as 'helping around the house'.
Oakley's research was based on interviews with 40 women with children under 5.
1. Wives saw housework as their responsibility and received little help from husbands.
More recent research confirms that housework and childcare remain primarily the responsibility of the woman.
1. This is referred to as the triple shift.
  1. Women doing both paid and domestic work, and providing emotional care.
Women usually underestimate how long they spend on domestic labour because they are often performing two jobs at once.
Men tend to overestimate so it seems like they did more.
Many female jobs (such as cooking) are time specific whereas male jobs (such as gardening) aren't.
Men tend to see themselves as 'breadwinners' rather than an emotional counterpart.

Resource summary

	Created by WhisperedWishes almost 11 years ago