Assess the view that gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life.

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Suggest two reasons why lone-parent families are more likely to be headed by a female. (4 marks)

One reason why lone-parent families are more likely to be headed by a female are courts are under the misperception that women are better parents than men. They see the bond between a mother and child as stronger than the bond between a father and child. Another reason is women are more likely to willing to give up work to care for the children than the father.

Suggest two reasons why there has been an increase in one-person households. (Item 2A, line 3) (4 marks)

One reason for the increase in one-person household is the increasing levels of divorce and the breakdown of traditional family values and structures. These contributed to the rise in single divorcee households as well as single-parent households. Another reason is the trend of young people delaying marriage often in order to achieve career goals. This has led to the rise of young, wealthy one-person households particularly in large urban areas.

Using material from Item 2B and elsewhere, assess the view that gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life. (24 marks)

   There are a variety of sociologists that have different views about whether they think gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life. These are mentioned in item 2B, for example Gershuny. in the 19th century, the Victorian family was very patriarchal. For example, a woman's property became her husband's. Similarly, grounds for divorce were very unequal, a man oculd gain a divorce on the grounds of his wife's adultery, but a woman had to prove her husband's cruelty or another 'matrimonial offence' in addition to adultery. Nowadays, things have chnaged and generally gender roles and relationships have become more equal. There are many aspects of families that have changed considerably such as the domestic division of labour and domestic violence.

   The domestic division of labour refers to the roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare and paid work. Sociologists are interested in whether men and women share domestic tasks equally. Functionalists like Parsons (1955), have created a model to show there is a clear division of labour between spouses, the husband has an instrumental role, he is the breadwinner and the women has an expressive role, she is the homemaker, a full-time housewife rather than a wage earner. Parsons argues that this division of labour is based on biological differences, with women 'naturally' suited to the nurturing role and men to that of the provider. Some conservative thinkers and politicians such as the New Right, aso hold this veiw. However, Michael Young and Peter Wilmott have criticised Parsons and argue that men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and mroe wives are becoming wage earners. Also, Feminist sociologists reject Parsons' view that the division of labour is natural. They argue that it only benefits men. The old functionalist view seems insignificant nowadays as it fails to represent modern family life.

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    Elizabeth Bott (1957) categorised distinguishes between the two types of conjugal roles; that is roles with marriage: joint and segregated conjugal roles. The segregated conjugal role is where the couple have separate roles, the male breadwinner and a female homemaker/carer, as in Parsons intstrumental and expressive roles. Joint conjugal roles are where the couple share tasks such as housework and childcare. As suggested in item 2b, changing attitudes to gender roles and increased participation by women in the labour market have led to more equality in modern family life. Young and Wilmott identify a pattern of segregated conjugal ...

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