The idea of the new man is associated with a desire to make men and women more equal, and to change negative aspects of men’s behaviour.
The radical new idea was that housework was not only a relationship between a woman and a duster or an unmade bed; it also defined a relationship between human beings, typically husbands and wives. This marked a departure from the more conservative views of Betty Friedan who, in The Feminine Mystique, never thought to enter men into the equation. She raged against a society that consigned its educated women to what she saw as essentially janitorial chores, but men are virtually exempt from housework in her book. Educated women would just have to become more efficient, so that housework could no longer "expand to fill the time available".
The domestic workload may still be shared unequally in Britain but is not perceived as unfair. About three- quarters of men and women surveyed thought the division of housework time either “somewhat fair” or “fair”. This was a survey done on the general public in an interview.
The way household chores are divided between partners appears to depend also on the beliefs partners have about the role each should play in a partnership. Where both held more traditional beliefs, Ramos found, the division was more unequal and woman did the bulk of the domestic chores, namely food shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing and child care. Couples holding more egalitarian beliefs shared the housework load more equally.
For men, he found, the amount of time spent doing housework and paid work remained fairly constant throughout the 1990s. But for women, total work time decreased, reflecting a reduction in the time they now spend doing household chores - a reduction that has outweighed any increase in the time they spend in paid work.
In 1999, somewhere between 14% and 18% of households employed outsiders to do their cleaning, and the numbers have been rising dramatically since. (In the UK, a Work Foundation survey this year concluded that one in 10 working people employs someone to help with housework, while a survey by the electrical retailers Currys, also this year, put the figure at 40%; Datamonitor estimates that an additional 17.9m households across Europe will take advantage of home cleaning and home laundry services by 2006.)
The law, due to be passed in April, it has been introduced because it is likely to provoke a revolution in family affairs in a country where 40% of men reportedly do no housework at all. It will oblige men to "share domestic housework and the care and attention" of children and elderly family members, according to the Spanish parliament's justice commission. The idea of equality within marriage always stumbles over the problem of work in the house and caring for dependent people.
A questionnaire done throughout the English-speaking world shows that wives, whether they are working or not, perform 70 to 80 per cent of the housework and that many husbands whose wives work full time do not help any more than husbands whose partners stay at home.
Data prepared by Mintel suggests that 42% of British men, including many involved with childcare, shopping and other "new man" pursuits, accept that cleaning involves them "just a little" if at all. Some 6% of men among 25,000 respondents never do household chores and only 15% are tempted to try new cleaning products, however technological.
This is a table that shows how couples divide the household tasks in Britain. This survey was done in 1994. (percentages)
Sociology by A. Giddens 3rd edition, polity press, 1999 Social Trends 1996
This is a table showing the different tasks men and women do around the house for example if you look at the table 47 people said that the woman always does the washing and ironing. And 25 people said it’s always the man doing small repairs around the house. As apposed to these days if they were to do it again I think there would be a difference. Over all this table shows that women still tend to do more around the house than men. But I think if this survey was done again the results would be different.
Over all I think that the roles are changing as women are going into better paid jobs which are full time. As they are introducing new laws to make men do more housework as before it was just the women but now the men are started to get involved and they are starting to share the work load equally as they might both work but still need to look after the children and do the housework so more people are starting to divide it between them.
Findings and Analysis
For my primary research I made a questionnaire and handed it out to 24 people which is 96%. I then sorted the results. I handed out my questionnaire to 11 males 44% and 13 females 52%
88% of those people said that they lived with a member of the opposite sex and 8% of those people said that they didn’t live with a member of the opposite sex.
Who does the laundry?
19 people 76% of people said that the female does the laundry
5 people 20% of people said that they both do the laundry together.
Who does the dusting?
2 people 8% said that the male member of the household done the dusting.
19 people 76% said that the female member of the family usually does the dusting.
3 people 12% said that the dusting was done both by the male and the female member of the household.
Who makes the dinner?
2 people 8% said that the male member of the household cooks the dinner.
10 people 40% said that the female member of the household cooks the dinner.
12 people 48% said that the cooking was done by both the male and female in the household.
Who does the shopping?
4 people 16% said that the male member of the household does the shopping for groceries.
10 people 40% said that the female member of the household does the shopping.
10 people 40% said that the shopping was done by both the male and the female member of the family.
Small repairs around the house
17 people 68% of people said that the male member of the household done the small repairs.
3 people 12% of people said that the female member does the small repairs around the house.
4 people 16% of people said that the small repairs were done by both the male and the female.
Who does the hoovering?
4 people 16% of people said that the male does the hoovering in the household.
17 people 68% of people said that the female does the hoovering around the household.
3 people 12% of people said that the hovering was done by both the male and the female member of the household.
Who pays the bills?
4 people 16% of people said that the male member of the household pays the bills.
8 people 32% of people said that the female member of the household pays the bills.
12people 48%of people said that the bills were paid by both the female and male member of the household.
Who does most of the housework?
1 person 4% of people said that most of the housework was done by a male member of the household.
21 people 84% of people said that most of the housework was done by a female member of the household.
2 people 8% of people said that the housework was mostly done by both of them the female and the male member of the family.
Look after a sick family member
4 people 16% of people said that the male member would look after a sick family member in the household.
20 people 80% of people said that the male member would look after a sick family member in the household.
Do both of you go out to work?
18 people 72% of people said that both of their parents / them went out to work.
6 people 24% people said that only one of their parents went out to work.
Are gender roles now more equal?
13 people 52% of people think that gender roles are now more equal.
11 people 44%of people think that gender roles are not equal.
My graph shows that women are still doing more of the housework but men are getting more involved with helping around the house.
From my results you can see that men and women are becoming more equal in their roles as they do things together or organize it so that they both have an equal share.
In the questionnaire I handed out thirteen people said that gender roles are now more equal than they were before. They also said that both of their parents or themselves went out to work.
This also means that they would probably share the housework or the women would do a “double shift” of work.
I think that men are now doing more work around the house than before as both men and women seem to be working and more women seem to be going into higher education.
However it is still hard for women to break into some traditionally male occupations and difficult for women to reach the top in any occupation as there reach a ‘glass ceiling’ for example it is harder for a woman to get a job that is at a higher status than a male and also because women tend to take a break to have children but still more and more women are going into higher education so the ‘glass ceiling’ is weakening. Women still earn less then men on average.
Conclusion
I have found my project very interesting. I tested my hypothesis and found it to be true ‘Men are now doing more work around the house.’ I have also covered what I set out to do in my objectives; my main focus to begin with will be on the traditional roles of husbands and wives, when fifty years ago these were a clear separation of tasks. I shall then consider how and why any changes have occurred, to see whether or not these have been a greater sharing of roles. I shall then look at the position today to see whether men are really doing more work around the house.
There are a new rules being introduced to make men and women more equal they are also trying to get men to go into childcare so they will find it easier later in life if they decide to have kids.
This broadens the job opportunities for women as they know that if they work longer hours or go into full time work or education that there will still be someone to look after their children if they have any.
Evaluation
Throughout my investigation, I had to test if my hypothesis was correct or not, mine was found to be correct. I was faced with a couple of problems. I didn’t know what types of questions to include into my questionnaire and if they were relevant or not, I also didn’t know who to give out my questionnaire out to I then finally made the decision that I would hand it out to my class my cousins as they are reliable. I also found that some people missed out questions as they had their name on it I handed it back to them and explained the question properly to them.
My hypothesis was correct ‘men are now doing more around the house’ so I would not change my hypothesis. If I were to change anything I would change the questionnaire as I felt that the questionnaire is too long I would also change some of my questions and group them properly. I would also change the scale of people I handed it out to and the age of people I handed it out to as all the pupils in my class are all teenagers and my cousins aren’t much older either so I would have a wider range of variety of results.
Bibliography
Blundeil, Jonathan “Active Sociology” 2004 Longman.
www.guardian.co.uk
Giles Tremlett in Madrid Friday April 8, 2005
Jenny Booth Tuesday May 11, 2004 the Guardian
Ivor Gaber Wednesday July 30, 2003
Zoe Williams Tuesday June 28, 2005
Martin Wainwright Wednesday July 7, 2004
Akin Ojumu Sunday June 12, 2005
Saturday July 12, 2003
Appendices
Here is a copy of the questionnaire I used.
Questionnaire
1) What is your gender?
Male Female
2) Does a person of the opposite sex live with you in your home?
Yes No
3) Who usually does the laundry?
Man Woman both
4) Who usually does the dusting?
Man Woman both
5) Who usually makes the dinner?
Man Woman both
6) Who usually does the shopping?
Man Woman both
7) Who usually does the small repairs around the house?
Man Woman both
8) Who does the hoovering?
Man Woman
9) Who usually pays the bills?
Man Woman both
10) Who does most of the housework?
Man Woman
11) Who is more likely to take time off work to look after a sick family
Member?
Man Woman
12) Do both of you go out to work?
Yes No
13) Do you think the gender roles are now more equal?
Yes No
Thank you for filling in this questionnaire and for your time.
