Conjugal Roles | Sociology for GCSE/IGCSE - Year 11 PDF Download

Joint and Segregated Conjugal Roles

Conjugal roles refer to the domestic responsibilities of married or cohabiting partners, such as who handles tasks like ironing or gardening.

Bott’s Research (1971)
Elizabeth Bott (1971) conducted qualitative research, using in-depth interviews with husbands and wives from 20 London-based families with children under 10. She identified two types of conjugal roles:

Segregated Conjugal Roles and Relationships:

• Tasks are divided based on gender: husbands typically handle repairs and DIY, while wives manage washing and cooking.
• Partners spend little leisure time together, maintaining separate interests, activities, and friends.
• There is a clear, gender-based division of labor in the household.
• Financial decisions are primarily made by the husband.
• Roles are distinct and unequal.

Joint (Integrated) Conjugal Roles and Relationships:

• Tasks are shared, with both partners taking on responsibilities like cooking and cleaning interchangeably.
• Partners spend significant leisure time together, sharing interests and friends.
• There is no rigid division of labor in the household.
• Financial decisions are made jointly.
• Roles are collaborative and equal.

Changing Roles

In the early 20th century, conjugal roles were predominantly segregated. Married women were expected to manage housework and childcare, while husbands were the primary breadwinners. Roles varied by social class:

• Working-class women often faced a “dual burden,” juggling paid work with domestic responsibilities.
• Middle-class women typically supervised household staff (e.g., maids or nannies) rather than working outside the home.
• In both classes, families were male-dominated, with husbands as breadwinners.

Sociologists note a shift toward equality, with conjugal roles becoming more joint (integrated) rather than segregated.

Instrumental & Expressive Roles

From a functionalist perspective, Talcott Parsons (1956) argued that family roles align with its functions:

• In the nuclear family, men take the instrumental role as breadwinners.
• Women take the expressive role as housewives and mothers, managing the household and providing emotional support.
• These roles support the primary socialization of children.
• Parsons attributed these roles to biological differences, suggesting women’s childbearing capacity makes them suited for nurturing, while men’s assertiveness suits workplace leadership.

Key Thinkers: Willmott and Young (1973) on the Symmetrical Family

Willmott and Young (1973), writing from a functionalist perspective, studied London families using large-scale social surveys (nearly 2,000 participants in structured interviews) and a time budget study (411 participants completed diaries tracking their activities). Their mixed-methods approach provided both qualitative and quantitative data on domestic work time. They introduced the concept of the symmetrical family, characterized by:

• Greater equality between spouses.
• Different tasks performed by each partner, but with similar contributions to the household.
• Shared leisure time, with a focus on home-centered activities.
• Joint decision-making, including financial decisions (e.g., buying a car or moving house).
• A privatized nuclear family structure.

They explained changes in family life through the principle of stratified diffusion, where social changes begin in higher social classes (middle class) and gradually spread to the working class.

Reasons for the Move to Symmetry

Several factors have driven the shift toward symmetrical families:

• The rise of feminism since the 1960s has led women to reject the housewife role and pursue education and careers.
• Legal changes, such as the Equal Pay Act (1970) and Sex Discrimination Act (1975), have promoted workplace equality for women.
• Effective birth control has given women control over family planning.
• Women’s financial independence through employment has increased their freedom, equality, and status.
• Men are more involved in family life and home-based activities, such as DIY and home improvements.
• Technological advances have encouraged home-based leisure (e.g., gaming, streaming services like Netflix, watching sports).

Criticisms of the Symmetrical Family

• Ann Oakley (1974), a liberal feminist, challenged the symmetrical family concept, finding little evidence of equality in her research. Through 40 in-depth interviews with working- and middle-class London housewives, she found:
  • Women in paid work still bore primary responsibility for housework.
  • Only 15% of husbands were heavily involved in housework, and 25% in childcare.
• Radical feminists Delphy and Leonard argued that family relationships involve economic exploitation, with men benefiting from women’s unpaid domestic work.
• Despite changing attitudes toward gender roles, behavior has not shifted significantly:
  • Media stereotypes reinforce women’s responsibility for domestic tasks like laundry, while men typically handle repairs.
  • Women report doing more housework and caregiving, indicating an unequal division of labor.
  • The idea of a “new man” who equally shares domestic responsibilities is rare.
• Dual-earner households are now common, but women often work a double shift, balancing paid work with most housework and childrearing.
• Duncombe and Marsden introduced the concept of the triple shift, where women juggle emotional work alongside paid work and domestic tasks.
• Marxists argue that unequal gender roles in the family support capitalism by providing unpaid labor (housework and emotional work) that sustains healthy, productive workers for the capitalist system.