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Unlock This CourseConjugal role relationships refer to the roles that partners play within a marriage or cohabiting relationship. These roles have changed significantly over time, with traditional relationships giving way to more equal arrangements in many households. In this section, we'll critically evaluate different perspectives on conjugal roles and examine the evidence for and against equality in modern relationships.
Key Definitions:
Traditional conjugal roles typically involved men as breadwinners and women as homemakers. Modern relationships tend to be more equal, with both partners often working and sharing household responsibilities. However, the extent of this change is debated by sociologists.
Young and Willmott's study (1973) suggested a move towards the 'symmetrical family' with more equal roles. However, later research by Oakley (1974) and others questioned whether this equality was genuine or merely superficial.
Young and Willmott's influential research suggested that families were becoming more symmetrical (equal), but this view has been challenged by various sociologists. Let's examine the strengths and limitations of their model:
• Increased female employment
• More men participating in childcare
• Changing social attitudes about gender roles
• Rise in shared decision-making
• Women still do most housework (the 'dual burden')
• Men often 'help' rather than share equally
• Persistent wage gap between genders
• Childcare remains primarily women's responsibility
• Self-reporting can be unreliable
• Different perceptions of 'equality'
• Sample bias in many studies
• Difficulty measuring domestic labour
Feminist sociologists have provided important critiques of conjugal role relationships, arguing that apparent changes towards symmetry mask continuing inequalities.
Ann Oakley's research in the 1970s challenged Young and Willmott's optimistic view of the symmetrical family. She found that women were still doing the vast majority of housework, even when they worked full-time. More recent feminist research has identified several ongoing issues:
Many women now face a 'triple shift' of paid work, housework and emotional labour (managing family relationships and wellbeing). This concept extends Hochschild's idea of the 'second shift' to include the mental and emotional work that women often do.
Connell argues that men receive a 'patriarchal dividend' - benefits from gender inequality even if they don't actively support it. This includes having more leisure time, higher wages and greater career opportunities than women.
The UK Time Use Survey (2015) found that women spend an average of 26 hours per week on unpaid work (cooking, housework, childcare), compared to 16 hours for men. Even when both partners work full-time, women still do 60% more unpaid work than men. This suggests that despite progress towards more symmetrical relationships, significant inequalities remain.
Several social factors influence how conjugal roles are distributed and experienced:
Working-class families may have more traditional divisions of labour due to economic necessity and work patterns. Middle-class couples often report more egalitarian relationships, though this may be partly performative.
Cultural expectations vary significantly between ethnic groups. Some cultures emphasise more traditional gender roles, while others have different patterns of household division of labour.
Younger couples tend to have more egalitarian attitudes and practices than older generations, reflecting changing social norms and expectations about gender roles.
Recent research has introduced more nuanced ways of understanding conjugal roles:
Rather than simply asking whether relationships are equal or unequal, contemporary sociologists examine:
Technology has transformed conjugal roles in complex ways. Remote working can allow more flexible sharing of childcare, but also blurs boundaries between work and home. Household appliances have reduced some domestic labour but haven't necessarily led to more equal sharing of what remains.
Same-sex couples often have more equal divisions of labour than heterosexual couples, challenging the idea that inequality is inevitable. Single-parent families, blended families and other diverse family forms may develop different patterns of roles and responsibilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided a natural experiment in conjugal roles. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (2020) found that during lockdowns, women took on more additional childcare and homeschooling than men, even when both were working from home. However, some fathers increased their involvement in family life significantly, potentially creating lasting changes in their roles.
When evaluating conjugal role relationships in your exams, consider these key points:
Remember to use specific studies and evidence to support your evaluation points and consider different theoretical perspectives including functionalist, Marxist and feminist approaches to conjugal roles.