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The Division Of Labour Within Couples Essay

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The Division Of Labour Within Couples

Wilmott and Young carried out their research in London between 1950 and 1970. They believe that the family as we know it has developed and evolved through three stages to become as it is today.

In the first stage, the Pre-Industrial family was extended and everyone lived and worked together. They therefore had joint conjugal roles, meaning they shared duties. In the second stage, the Early Industrial family were extended families beginning to become geographically mobile, dying out and becoming less common. In this stage, there were segregated conjugal roles; the husband was uninvolved with the raising of children and household work, but was the …show more content…

If the middle class husbands become more involved in housework then the working class husbands will copy and also become more helpful around the house.

Wilmott and Young now believe that the family will change once again and become the Asymmetrical family. In it, partners would once more have segregated conjugal roles, with the male becoming more work centred because work would be more interesting, and the female looking after the children.

They argue that not only has the family evolved because of stratified diffusion, but also there are several other reasons for why there is now symmetry in households of today. One of these is that women have become more independent and become paid workers. Because of this the females are not at home as much to look after children and do all the housework and so it has had to be shared. Also, families have become smaller so jobs have been shared and living standards have rose and home has become a more attractive place to spend leisure time.

However, Stephen Edgell disagrees with Wilmott and Young's belief that there is more equality within couples. He studied middle class couples in 1980 and he found that from a sample of 38 professional couples that women controlled decision-making in areas such as food, clothes, and household decoration purchases and husbands had the main say in what were regarded as serious decisions such as moving

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