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Unlock This CourseFeminist perspectives have been crucial in challenging and reshaping our understanding of conjugal roles - the roles that partners play within marriage or cohabiting relationships. Since the 1960s, feminists have questioned the 'natural' division of labour that traditionally assigned women to domestic and childcare duties while men were expected to be breadwinners.
Key Definitions:
Feminists argue that the traditional division of labour in families isn't natural or inevitable, but socially constructed. They highlight how these arrangements often benefit men at women's expense and maintain gender inequality in wider society. By questioning these 'taken-for-granted' arrangements, feminists have helped drive significant changes in family life over the past 50 years.
Feminists focus on power relationships within families, particularly examining who benefits from traditional arrangements. They look at how domestic work is valued (or devalued), who performs emotional labour and how family structures can limit women's opportunities in education and employment. They also examine how media, education and other institutions reinforce traditional gender roles.
There are several different feminist approaches to understanding conjugal roles, each with its own focus and proposed solutions.
Key idea: Equal rights and opportunities
Liberal feminists focus on achieving equality through legal reforms and changing attitudes. They believe partners should have equal opportunities both inside and outside the home.
Example: Campaigning for equal pay laws and shared parental leave.
Key idea: Capitalism exploits women's unpaid work
Marxist feminists see women's unpaid domestic labour as benefiting capitalism by reproducing the workforce at no cost to employers.
Example: Women's unpaid childcare and housework saves the economy billions but goes unrecognised.
Key idea: Patriarchy is the root problem
Radical feminists argue that male power and control (patriarchy) is the fundamental issue. The traditional family structure is seen as a key site of women's oppression.
Example: Highlighting how domestic violence reflects wider patterns of male control.
Several influential feminist sociologists have shaped our understanding of gender roles in families:
In the 1970s, Ann Oakley conducted groundbreaking research into housework and gender roles. Her studies revealed:
Oakley argued that the sexual division of labour was learned through socialisation rather than being biologically determined. Her work challenged the idea that women were 'naturally' suited to domestic roles.
American sociologist Arlie Hochschild conducted research in the 1980s examining dual-earner households. She found that despite women entering paid employment, they still performed the majority of housework and childcare - what she called the "second shift".
In her study of 50 couples, women worked roughly 15 hours longer each week than their male partners when combining paid work and domestic labour. She found that even when couples believed they shared housework equally, observations showed women did far more.
Hochschild also identified the concept of "emotional labour" - the work of managing feelings and relationships that typically falls to women in families. This includes comforting upset children, remembering birthdays, maintaining family relationships and managing household tensions.
Feminists highlight how work traditionally done by women is systematically undervalued:
Unpaid domestic work doesn't count in economic measures like GDP, despite being essential for society. If paid at market rates, housework and childcare would be worth billions. Feminists argue this work should be recognised and valued.
Delphy and Leonard identified that many women work a "triple shift" consisting of:
This creates significant pressure and limits women's opportunities.
While traditional feminist perspectives remain important, contemporary debates have become more nuanced:
Modern feminists recognise that women's experiences vary greatly based on factors like social class, ethnicity, sexuality and disability. For example, middle-class women may be able to outsource domestic work to working-class women, often from minority ethnic backgrounds, creating different patterns of inequality.
Patricia Hill Collins highlighted how Black women's experiences of family roles differ from white women's experiences, shaped by different historical and cultural contexts.
Some feminist sociologists now focus on how men's roles are changing. Research shows younger men are increasingly involved in childcare and domestic work, though significant inequalities remain.
Feminist researchers like Gershuny identified a "lagged adaptation" where men's attitudes change faster than their behaviour - they support equality in principle but are slower to take on equal domestic responsibilities in practice.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided a natural experiment in conjugal roles. Research by the Office for National Statistics found:
Feminist sociologists suggest the pandemic both reinforced traditional patterns but also created opportunities for some families to develop more equal arrangements.
While feminist perspectives have been hugely influential, they face some criticisms:
However, feminist perspectives remain essential for understanding power dynamics in families and the persistent patterns of inequality in domestic labour that research continues to identify.
Feminist perspectives have transformed our understanding of conjugal roles by:
While significant inequalities remain, feminist perspectives have helped drive substantial changes in how we understand and organise family life, opening up possibilities for more equal and fulfilling relationships for all genders.