Engel’s a sociologist said that she saw women in a married couple as child producers after publishing his research results. He quarrelled that women are meant to be faithful to there husband as well as financially dependent on them.
Margaret Bonston (1989) a Marxist has evaluated that domestic labour in financial terms. She argues that a housewife adds importance to the husbands work by cooking, washing their clothes and cleaning their room.
However, Rutherford (1988) suggested that the feminism have fashioned a need for men to reappraise their location within society and the family. Working class men in particular have been threatened as traditional male employment gives way to more feminine working practices. He claims that men have responded to this treat in a variety of ways. Some have to reclaim there masculinity through expressions of overt rejection, but the ‘New Man’ is adaptive and takes on a different family role which involves active participation in parenting and domestic labour.
On the other hand Sheeran (1993), suggests, although men do take on more caring social roles within families, women still provide the bulk of the childcare and domestic work. Women’s employment tends to be a secondary to male work role however, be pragmatic rather than expression of male superiority within the home: men are more likely to earn higher incomes or be promoted.
Further more Morgan (1994) points out that the issue of domestic labour is likely to gain significance as the provision that the welfare State is able to offer is eroded by cost cutting and care in the community initiatives. Women are often the family members expected to take responsibility for the elderly and the sick. Once they were confined to the home to bear and care for children now they may be forced back into the home to support the elderly and long term sick.
Also Young and Wilmott published investigate findings, which he recommended women that the symmetrical family was now a typical form in Britain. Although women do the bulk of the housework men still spent equal time in the home. The family was seen as symmetrical as there is now more equal than the past.
Attitudes to household chores, 2000-01 national statistics show that women still do the majority of the household chores, despite their increased participation in the labour market. Women spend almost 3 hours a day on average on housework which is excluding shopping and childcare. This compares with the one hour 40 minutes spent by men. Women also spend more time than men looking after children. Men, on the other hand, work or study for an average of nearly 2 hours a day more than women (4 hours 20 minutes a day compared with 2 hours 30 minutes for women).
Women were also much more likely than men to say they ‘like’ most household tasks. The main exception is DIY repair. Of those who say they do this activity, three in five men but only two in five women say they like it. Ironing clothes is the least popular activity among both sexes. Around half of both men and women who do this activity say they dislike it.
Two in five men do not do the ironing and a similar proportion does not do the laundry, while the proportion of women who do not do these tasks is fewer than one in 12 women. The situation is reversed when it comes to DIY. Nearly half of women say that they do not do DIY repair work, compared with 16 per cent of men. However, roles are much more equal in both decorating and gardening.
Attitudes to household chores, 2000-01, United Kingdom, Percentages
METHODOLOGY
I am going to use many different research methods to gain a result for my hypothesis. I will carry out an Participant Observation which will enable me to understand the concept of my topic, as I can compare two couples of the different age groups and write a report on how the so called ‘new man’ does exist. I will also do a questionnaire as it is a quick and easy way to get information to help my project. In the questionnaire I will include simple questions open and closed. I will use open questions to get a response on a certain issue. I will use closed questions so I can get a better opinion on a certain issue using there own ideas and also I will be able to compare my findings with other responses.
In order for me to do a participant observation I will observe my parents as they fit in to the 31+ age group I will also observe my sister family as they are the age group 18-30 I will compare them both and see whether the ‘new man’ exists and whether household jobs are more equally shared out.
When doing my questionnaire findings I will go around my area handing it out to the local residents the sample number I have chose are 40. 10 married males and females aged between 18 and 30 and 10 married males and females that are 31+.
Another method I will use is past statistics. I have chosen this method as it has facts and figures that relate to my hypothesis I will use statistics to prove my hypothesis.
In this part of my project I am going to explain what the methods I have chosen and point the main strengths and weaknesses on these methods.
The first methods I have chosen participant observation. Participant observation is basically when the researcher takes part with the participant’s daily activities and observes what they do and say. The participant observation I will do will be covert so I can obtain good results.
Advantages of participant observation
- What people say and the things they do are sometimes very different from what information they give in the questionnaires and interviews. Participant observation offers a chance to discover what people really do. This is a chance to obtain valid information
- It can provide the kind of insight, fresh information and new directions for research which is less likely to come from other methods.
- By watching and listening a participant observer has a chance to discover the main concerns, the meaning of peoples in their everyday situations.
Disadvantage of participant observation
- The people being observed can change the behaviour which will lead to wrong information.
- Sample sizes in participant observation studies are small.
Another method I have chosen is questionnaires. Questionnaires are lists of questions. They are the main method of gathering data in social surveys.
Advantages of questionnaires
- Inexpensive
- Fast and efficient analysis possible pre-coded closed questions Answers can be easily quantified.
- Postal questionnaires allow geographically dispersed sample to be contacted easily and cheaply.
Disadvantages of questionnaires
- Respondents may not understand the question or follow instructions.
- Answers may be incomplete, illegible or incomprehensible when respondents complete questionnaires themselves.
- Closed questions may seriously limit what the respondents want to say.
Also I will be using official statistics. Official statistics are numerical data produced by national and government bodies.
Advantages of official statistics
- Published statistics are readily available and cost little or nothing to use.
- Sample sizes are often large which may increase the likelihood of the sample being representative.
- Surveys are often conducted regularly
Disadvantages of official statistics
- Official statistics are often presented in a form which is not particularly useful to sociologists.
- Official statistics are government statistics. As such they may be politically biased in favour of the government of the day.
RESULTS
Questionnaire Results
The sample of people that answered my questionnaire consisted of both male and female of different age groups. I made sure that I gave my questionnaire out to people that are married.
After gathering the questionnaires results. I realised that my Hypothesis was correct. However I found that there has been an increase in the number of household work shared equally with both partners.
These are the results I got from the different age groups I studied:
(Shown in percentage and number)
18-31 Results
The Table above clearly shows that the ‘New Man’ does not exist as the gender segregation still remains in a marriage.
31 + Results
The Table above clearly shows that the ‘New Man’ does not exist as the gender segregation still remains in a marriage.
18 – 30 and 31+ Results Put Together
The Table above clearly shows that the ‘New Man’ does not exist as the gender segregation still remains in a marriage. However in the age group
18 – 30 there is more equally shared chores than 31+.
Participant Observation Results
For this method I used to two age groups to see whether segregation still remains within a married couple. I observed two families one aged 18 – 30 and one 31+ after doing this I found out:
18 – 30
The Table above clearly shows that the ‘New Man’ does not exist as the gender segregation still remains in a marriage.
31+
The Table above clearly shows that the ‘New Man’ does not exist as the gender segregation still remains in a marriage.
18 – 30 and 31+ Results Put Together
The Table above clearly shows that the ‘New Man’ does not exist as the gender segregation still remains in a marriage.
CONCLUSION
Primary data – Questionnaire Findings
In general from my questionnaire results I have noticed that women carry out too much housework, whereas the men do not. Although women do the majority the ‘mainly shared’ column was quite high.
From the questionnaire results I also found out that women still did more although they were working full time. For example a women that completed a questionnaire she was a full time teacher working 7 hours a day, whereas her partner does not work. She still does the majority of the work. Also the same circumstance is in three other female responders that done the questionnaire.
My results show that women did almost twice as much as housework than men. I also found out that eight of the women said that they did not enjoy the housework they do but said that ‘if no one does it someone has to’ this clearly shows that the husbands do not want to participate with the chores around the house. Furthermore a male respondent said that he thinks women should do the housework because ‘housework is a women’s job’ this shows that some people still think that the stereotyping of women is true.
However the majority of the males said that it should be shared equally nevertheless, even though they say that it should be equally shared they still do not take there opinion in action as they do not equally do the housework.
Primary data - Participant Observation Findings
When carrying out my observation. Looked a two couples in the two age groups I studies (18-30 and 31+)
From the results I gathered I can involve that the female contribution to the housework is still high. I think that this method was better then the questionnaire as the people in the questionnaire could have lied. Whereas this method I secretly (covert) observing them.
Secondary Data
From the research I had found out from using the primary data I came to a verdict that my hypothesis was correct. I used some secondary data along with primary data in order to compare my results. I researched on some sociologist that did some of there own research on the same issue as mine. I did many researched on the internet and the library I found many interesting thing for example I found the British Social Attitudes survey in 1994 this was a good thing I found as it is near to the present times. I found out that the couples did not change much from the past and that women still remained doing the majority of the housework. However, this research may not be really reliable because the respondents may have not given the right information needed, also the postal method was not really good as the researcher did not receive al the questionnaires back to them.
EVALUATION
My hypothesis was ‘The ‘New Man’ does not exist; women still remain responsible for the bulk of domestic labour in the home.’ With all the information and research I collected I proved that my hypothesis was correct and that women contributed to the majority of the housework. My research also told me that the segregation of gender roles had decreased from the pass household jobs were more equally shared although, the majority was done by women.
There were many sociologists that supported my hypothesis. For example Sheeran (1993), suggests, although men do take on more caring social roles within families, women still provide the bulk of the childcare and domestic work.
The findings of my research also supported my hypothesis as I found out that 51% of the women carried out most the household labour while only 29% of the men did the majority housework. This clearly shows that gender segregation still exists and that women put in most to the housework.
I had many strengths in my project that helped me reach my result they that I had successfully obtained all the questionnaire I distributed in my local area with all the questions answered. I also did not let the couples no that I was observing them this was good because this meant that the couples did not change there behaviour and were still remaining normal. I also was able to get people to answer the questionnaires with my age ranges.
I had only a few minor weaknesses in my project these were that my participant observation a very small sample which meant that the results I found may only show the couples I studied not the majority of the people. Also the questionnaire sample was too few. Also the participant observation was time consuming as I had to see over a week to the household chores taking place.
The results that I got were reliable as I were many other researches with similar result to my ones also there research were done with a greater sample range. However one thing that I would my results was not very reliable was that I only questioned people in the east side of London so this meant that the generalisation was too little.
Overall I think that my results provided me the real truth of the gender roles. If I was to do my project again to improve it I would use a bigger sample of people also observe more than two couples another thing I would improve on is by using more research methods to obtain a better understanding of my hypothesis.
I think that my project was a big success as I managed to prove that my hypothesis ‘The ‘New Man’ does not exist; women still remain responsible for the bulk of domestic labour in the home’ was correct as I was able to find out myself using my research methods.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX
In my appendix I have included a copy of my questionnaire that I used and gave out to my local area
Questionnaire
I am a student in Sir John Cass’s Foundation Secondary School, studying Sociology for my GCSE’s. I have been assigned to conduct a coursework.
Would you please kindly take a few moments of your free time to complete the following questions? Thank You.
Q1 Gender (Please tick one box)
Male
Female
Q2 Age Group (Please tick one box)
18-30
31+
Q3 Who Works in your Family
a) You
Partner
N/A
b) Approximately How Many hours a day?
You ………
Partner ………
Q4 Do you have any children? (If yes please complete Q4b)
a) Yes
No
- How many Children Do you have? ………………
Q5 Who does/did the majority of the following:-
(Please tick appropriate boxes)
Q6 Do you think that gender roles have changed? (If yes please complete
Q6b)
a) Yes
No
Don’t Know
b) Why do you think the gender roles have changes?
………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………
Q7 Do you enjoy the household chores you carry out?
a) Yes
No
Sometimes
Don’t Know
- Why?
………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………
Q8
Who do you think should do the house work?
a) Husband
Wife
Shared Equally
b) Why?
………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………
Thank you very much for your time.
