Since such paid work in many cases will be intermittent it
should be open to any married woman to undertake it as an exempt
person, paying no contributions of her own and acquiring
no claim to benefit in employment or sickness. If she prefers
to contribute ….. she may do so but will receive benefits at
a reduced rate.
(Beveridge, 1942 :50)
As the above quote states married women were given a different class of
insurance. By doing this it was accepted that the role of homemaker would be
the sole occupation of a married woman and that through marriage a wife
gained a legal right to maintenance by her husband. Post War social security
was set on male patterns of employment; married women’s employment was
classed as unimportant as women were presumed dependent on a man. The
Welfare State was expected to play a major part in establishing a ‘strong
British nation’. Pascall (1986: 198) identifies the three main features of ‘family
ideology expressed in the Beveridge Report’: women do housework, care for
children and look after elderly relatives, couples consist of a full time worker
(usually a male bread winner) and a ‘housewife’ whose work outside the
home is insignificant and finally women can look to men for financial support.
(Muncie et al, 1995: 44)
The foundation of the welfare state was formed around the idea that a family
was a traditional gender division and related to the economic issues of that
time. Karen Struening author of the book ‘New Family Values’ (2002: 4) stated
that historically this was often the case as the majority of men were employed
in manual roles within local industry. Struening (2002: 5) also stated that
labour and economic changes began to affect the gender structured
family in the 1970’s with the decline of industry leading to a decrease
in earnings for men without qualifications or specialist skills. The loss of the
family wage made it difficult for men to retain the traditional role of
breadwinner and whilst men’s salaries decreased, greater opportunities
for women developed.
According to the Office of National Statistics: 2004; in 1970 38% of
married women between the ages of twenty five and thirty four were
employed outside of the home. Women found employment in retail and
administrational roles and although the majority of jobs were low paid,
part time and did not include benefits this had a major effect on the
traditional gender structured family The role of homemaker continued to
disadvantage women in the labour market and changes in family form
and economic issues forced a reform and in 1979 the process was reversed.
State expenditure on welfare services was cut, private welfare was
encouraged and benefit fraud was confronted as a way of helping the
family and by the 1980’s the ’family’ was seen as an alternative to Welfare
State. The legislation was concerned with keeping men economically active,
assuming that a man’s salary would be sufficient to financially support his wife
and family. This however was not the case and the social security reforms
appeared to push both parents into the labour market for financial security.
According to the Office for National Statistics: October 2006; the number of
women returning to work has increased from 20% in 1990 to 70% in 2005
and since 1971 the rates of employment for men have fallen while the rates
for women have risen. The Beveridge Report of the 1940’s and the reforms
of the 1980’s illustrate how the implementation of health and social security
policies directly affected family life.
The level of change in the availability and structure of employment
opportunities have challenged one routine area of social life. Over the last 30
years the dramatic economic decline and industry restructuring forced major
levels of unemployment and changed the overall structure of the workforce.
The nuclear family with a sole male breadwinner and dependent wife were no
longer seen as a viable basis for social organisation.
What was to happen to domestic family life was at the centre of change and
from the 1970’s to the present day generational changes are apparent. Family
life is constantly developing and changes occur all the time, since the 1970’s
there have been significant changes to the key aspects of family and
household experiences. One of the changes particularly in Britain has been
the increase of divorce rates, as the rate of divorce rises it is becoming the
norm and according to the Office for National Statistics: July 2005;
in 2003 153,500 children under the age of sixteen were affected by their
parents divorcing in England and Wales. The level of divorce has contributed
to other changes in family demography in particular the increasing number of
lone parent households. In 2004 one in four children lived in a lone parent
family (Office for National Statistics : July 2005). It must be noted that it is not
just marital breakdown that generates lone parent families as some parents
have never married. The statistics highlight that lone parenthood is largely
concerned with women as it was recorded in 2004 that 22% of all parents
were headed by single women. The level of women who are not and never
have married reflects a change in social expectations. In this generation it is
acceptable to have children out of wedlock whereas in previous generations
unmarried pregnancies generally led to marriage prior to birth. A high
proportion of unmarried mothers are cohabiting with the child’s father at the
time of birth. Cohabitation is now a widely acceptable form of union, in 2004
statistics showed that 11% of all families were headed by unmarried parents
living as husband and wife.
The statistics show there has been an increase in the liberalisation of sexual
attitudes, this could be due to a number of reasons such as; contraception
with the introduction in 1967 of the National Health Service Family Planning
Act . Higher Education and changes to housing, gave young people leaving
home the opportunity to become independent whereas previously marriage
and employment had been the only routes. A further reason could be the
changes to household forms and childbearing. Women are having children
later in life and a proportion of women are choosing not to have children.
The birth of children has a major impact on the way a domestic relationship is
organised. It is apparent that fathers participate far more in childrearing
duties today than ever before, however in the majority of cases childcare
continues to be seen as a female responsibility. I identified this was the case
by looking at employment patterns of mothers with young children. According
to the Office for National Statistics : October 2006;
Working-age women with dependent children are less likely than
those without to be in employment and 68% compared with
73% in 2005. The age of the youngest child affects the
employment rate of mothers. 56% of working-age
women with children under 5 were in employment. This compared
with 71% whose youngest child was aged 5 to 10 and 77%
whose youngest child was aged 11 to 15. Conversely, men with
dependent children are more likely than those without to be in
employment. The age of their children has no impact.
Around 90% of men with dependent children were in employment
regardless of the age of their youngest child. Women are
more likely than men to work part time, particularly if they
have dependent children. 39% of women with dependent
children worked part time compared with 22% of those without
dependent children. Only 4% of men with dependent children and
9% of men without dependent children worked part time.
(Focus on Gender: Office for National Statistics: October 2004)
The statistics show there is a clear significance between the age of the
youngest child and participation of the mother in paid employment with the
majority being in part time work. The introduction of ‘family friendly’ policies
in the work place have helped create a work life/family balance. Under ‘family
friendly’ legislation, leave is available to employees who have ‘parental
responsibility’ with both parents being able to take up to13 weeks unpaid
parental leave per child. Other ‘family friendly’ rights include paid adoption
leave, paid maternity support leave (paternity leave); the right for parents to
apply to work flexibly; improvements in maternity leave; and increases in tax
credits for children and childcare
To establish how house keeping duties are distributed within the family home I
have looked at the statistics relating to lifestyles recorded by the Office of
National Statistics: October 2006.
Men were more likely than women to take part in
leisure (224 minutes per day compared with 180
minutes per day for women in 2005). Women were
more likely than men to spend time reading or
socialising with other people (113 minutes per day
compared with 100 minutes per day). On average, men
spent 28 minutes per day using a computer and women
13 minutes. In 2006, 65% of men and 55% of women had
accessed the Internet, whether at home or elsewhere, in the
three months before interview. Of these, men used the Internet
more regularly with nearly two thirds (64%) using it every
day or almost every day, compared with 54% of women.
Internet shopping is becoming increasingly popular. A slightly
Higher proportion of men than women used the Internet to
purchase goods or services associated with leisure,
(53% of men compared with 48% of women) and videos or DVDs
(45% compared with 39%). Conversely a higher proportion of
women than men used the Internet to purchase clothing or
sports goods (42%of women and 34%of men), and food and
groceries (25% of women and 16% of men). Women in Great
Britain spent more time on shopping and other domestic work in
2005 than on paid work, 228 minutes and 146 minutes respectively.
In comparison, men spent more time on paid work (225 minutes) than
on domestic work (129 minutes). If paid work and domestic work are
combined, women still spent 20 minutes more on average per day on
work than men. Overall, women carried out about two thirds of the
time spent on housework (178 minutes a day compared with 100
minutes for men).Women spent more time than men cooking and
washing up, cleaning and tidying, washing clothes and shopping
(159 minutes per day compared with 71 minutes per day for men).
Men spent more time performing DIY repairs and gardening
(23 minutes per day compared with 11 minutes per day for women).
(Focus on Gender: Office for National Statistics: October 2004)
To conclude through researching the traditional and contemporary roles of the
famiIy I have found that over the last two decades the lives of men and
women have become more similar. However, there are noticeable differences
with regards to running the family home and employment. According to the
Office of National Statistics, 2006, with regards to labour, in 1985 there were
2.0 million more men employed than women. In 2005 men and women were
employed in an equal number of roles with each sex performing 13.3 million
jobs. However, half of women were in part time employment compared to one
out of six men being employed on a part time basis. The figures show that
more men are employed on a full time basis than women therefore it could be
said that a higher number of women are working part time in order to create a
balance between work and the role of homemaker. I have identified that
contemporary families are not made up solely of a married couple and
their children and that the traditional concept of a family excluded lone parent
families, same sex couples, female breadwinners and step families. I
found that the way a family operates reflects the different social and economic
positions of each individual within it and that the external factors and issues
that influence family life are extensive. The change in employment structure
altered the division of labour and financial responsibility within the family along
with demands on family support made by health and education authorities
all have had an impact on the domestic and family characteristics and
relationships. Overall I have found that each family will develop over
time as circumstances change and however conventional or unconventional
the family is, it will alter with age and dependency of children. Less
predictable factors could also influence the family roles such as divorce or
unemployment. The ideologies of parenting and childhood have dramatically
changed over the last 30 years and there appears to be an opportunity now
for parents to balance work and domestic duties with the assistance of ‘family
friendly’ policies. However, statistics do show that on average men spend
more time out at work than women and on average women spend more time
doing domestic duties than men do.
Bibliography
Graham Allan and Graham Crow, 2001. Families, Households and Society.
Basingstoke – Palgrave Publishers.
John Muncie, Margaret Wetherell, Rudi Dollos and Allan Cochrane, 1995. Understanding the Family. London – Sage Publishers.
Karen Struening, 2002. New Family Values – Liberty, Equality, Diversity.
Oxford – Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Ltd.
