Conjugal Roles and Domestic Division of Labour

GCSE Sociology · Families

Conjugal Roles and the Domestic Division of Labour

This topic examines who does what within the household — housework, childcare, decision-making and emotion work — and whether the family has become more equal.

Key Concepts

Conjugal roles — the roles played by husband and wife (or cohabiting partners) within the household
Segregated conjugal roles — a sharp division: the man is the breadwinner and the woman is the homemaker/carer; partners have separate leisure activities
Joint conjugal roles — both partners share domestic tasks, childcare, decision-making and leisure; also known as symmetrical or egalitarian roles
Dual burden — when women do paid work AND most of the housework/childcare
Triple shift — Duncombe & Marsden (1995): women perform paid work, housework AND emotion work (managing the family's emotional wellbeing)
Emotion work — the invisible labour of listening, supporting, comforting and maintaining family relationships

The March of Progress View — Families Are Becoming More Equal

Young and Willmott (1973) — The Symmetrical Family

Young and Willmott studied families in London and argued that the family had become more symmetrical:

Both partners now do paid work
Men are doing more housework and childcare
Conjugal roles are becoming joint rather than segregated
This trend is driven by: women's employment, smaller families, labour-saving technology, and changing attitudes

They called this the symmetrical family — not perfectly equal, but moving towards greater equality. Change starts in the middle class and filters down (the principle of stratified diffusion).

Evaluation:

Criticized by feminists — their evidence was weak (they asked men "Do you help with housework?" — helping once a week counted as "symmetrical")
Overly optimistic about the extent of change
But they were correct that some shift has occurred over time

The Feminist View — Inequality Persists

Oakley (1974) — The Myth of Symmetry

Ann Oakley directly challenged Young and Willmott, arguing:

Their evidence was flawed — men "helping" occasionally is not equality
Women still perform the vast majority of housework and childcare
Housework is monotonous, isolated and low-status — it is real work that goes unrecognised
Men may "help" with the enjoyable aspects of childcare (playing) while women do the routine tasks (feeding, nappies, night waking)

Evidence of Continuing Inequality

Study	Finding
Oakley (1974)	Only 15% of husbands had a high participation in housework; only 25% in childcare
Duncombe & Marsden (1995)	Women perform a triple shift — paid work, housework and emotion work
Hochschild (1989)	Women work an extra month per year in housework compared to men — the "second shift"
Kan et al. (2011)	Men in the UK do 8 hours less housework per week than women
ONS data (2016)	Women do 60% more unpaid work than men on average

Why Does Inequality Persist?

Socialisation — girls are still socialised into caring/domestic roles
Gender pay gap — women earn less on average, making it "rational" for them to reduce hours when children arrive
Patriarchal ideology — cultural expectations that women are naturally better carers
Part-time work — women are more likely to work part-time, leaving more time for (unpaid) domestic tasks
Lack of affordable childcare — forces one parent (usually the mother) to reduce paid work

Decision-Making and Power

Equality is not just about housework — it is also about who makes the important decisions and who controls money.

Edgell (1980)

Studied professional couples and found:

Important decisions (finances, moving house, career changes) were made by the husband or jointly with the husband having the final say
Less important decisions (food, children's clothes, home decoration) were made by the wife
This reflects men's greater economic power — the main earner has more say

Pahl and Vogler (1993) — Money Management

Identified two main systems:

Allowance system — the husband gives the wife a set amount for housekeeping and controls the rest (most unequal)
Pooling — both partners have access to a joint account and make decisions together (more common among dual-earner couples)

Even with pooling, men often have more personal spending money because they earn more.

Hardill (1997)

Found that in most dual-career households, the man's career took priority when decisions about moving or lifestyle arose.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence reveals the extreme end of power inequality within families.

Affects 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men in their lifetime (ONS)
Women are far more likely to experience repeated violence and to be seriously injured or killed
Dobash & Dobash (1979) — marriage legitimises men's power; domestic violence is an extension of patriarchal control
Radical feminists — the family is the key site of patriarchal violence; the state has historically failed to protect women (police reluctance to intervene in "domestic" matters)
Wilkinson (1996) — linked domestic violence to stress caused by social inequality (poverty, unemployment, poor housing)
Reasons victims stay: financial dependence, fear, children, isolation, normalisation of abuse

Evaluation — Is the Family Becoming More Equal?

Arguments that it IS becoming more equal:

Men do significantly more housework than in the 1950s
Dual-earner couples are now the norm
Attitudes have shifted — most people support gender equality
Paternity leave and shared parental leave encourage men's involvement

Arguments that it is NOT equal:

The gap in unpaid work remains substantial
Women still do the triple shift
Men cherry-pick the "fun" domestic tasks
Decision-making and financial power still favour men
Domestic violence remains widespread

Exam Technique

Questions on this topic almost always require you to discuss both sides. Use the terms dual burden, triple shift and emotion work precisely. Always name Oakley and Young & Willmott as your minimum sociologists, and bring in Duncombe & Marsden or Edgell for higher marks.