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The Change in the Domestic Tasks Between Women and Men Essay

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The Change in the Domestic Tasks Between Women and Men

In the past it was obvious that woman did considerably more domestic work than men, this being mainly due to traditional views taken by society. The husband was seen as the breadwinner and protector whilst the woman was seen as a housewife and child carer. This view is known as the traditional Nuclear family (not including the offspring). In recent years it has become apparent that woman were not happy with this 'traditional' system so began to try and change it through a movement known as Feminism. The basic principle of the movement is to work towards equality of the sexes (In most forms of Feminism anyway).

By comparison things have …show more content…

However Baxter and Western then counter this argument by stating that men have more control over their leisure time. Paid employment is normally regular fixed hours whilst housework needs to be done constantly. This argument also rejects the idea of a symmetrical family stating that woman do the housework and domestic chores for the reason that it simply 'suits men not to do it'.

One of the articles from the sheet also suggests that the family is not symmetrical. It is form Sociology Review written by M. Jones. He is a functionalist and believes that the question of 'is the family symmetrical' to be irrelevant, as he believes that it is not important 'who does what' but focuses more on the family sharing their social time together. He writes how his study indicates 'inequality rather than symmetry is the defining characteristic of the majority of present day marriages'.

Wilmott and Young carried out a study in the 1970's believe that the 'symmetrical family' is actually in development. They believe that there has been a change from segregated conjugal roles to joint conjugal roles because of the wife withdrawing from her relationships with her female kin and because the husband is then drawn into the 'family circle'. So this is in direct conflict with Baxter and Westerns idea of segregated roles still being visible within the family. So Wilmott and Young do

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