I intend to investigate the concept of the 'double shift' of labour as experienced by women.

Candidate Number :7288

Centre Number :71526

Hypothesis / Aim

I intend to investigate the concept of the ‘double shift’ of labour as experienced by women.

Despite increasing female participation in the labour market most research points out that the responsibility for housework and childcare still lies with women. This has inspired me for further investigation. Secondly, most sociologists’ studies deal with time spent on domestic labour and types of tasks performed by gender. The idea of ‘2’ jobs carried out by women has a slightly different emphasis, which I am interested in investigating

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Context/ Concepts

An Official report, Social Focus on Men and Women, (1998) found that the traditional distinction between the man’s role as ‘breadwinner’ and the woman’s role as ‘homemaker’ is becoming less clear cut in the terms of women role at work. This represents a dramatic change in recent years. Despite this, they found that while the ‘New Woman’ is apparently prepared to share the burden in terms of earning income this does not appear to be matched by the ‘New Mans’ willingness to share the burden of domestic life. At home the traditional division of domestic labour between men and women has not changed much to adjust to the new situation, for example, the report notes women ‘always or usually’ do the washing or ironing in the majority of couples (bar 2% of couples). Men assume responsibility of grocery shopping ‘usually or always’ in just 55 of couples. Women continue to bear responsibility in childcare. This research provides a perfect framework for my own research because it clearly illustrates the concept of the ‘double shift’ as experienced by women. It is this very experience into which I wish to gain insight. I expect to find that women have added to their responsibilities, rather than exchanged them.

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Elsa Ferri and Kate Smith (1996) produced data based upon the large scale National Child Development Survey which found that it was still very rare for fathers to take primary responsibility for childcare even in dual-career families. The man was the main carer in 4% or less of families. Even when women had paid employment outside the home and the man did not; it was still more common for the woman than the man to take main responsibility for routine childcare or childcare in the event of illness. In terms of my study, this suggests that the increasing employment of women outside the home had made comparatively little impact on the contributions of their partners to childcare and ‘working women’ indeed have a ‘double shift’ of paid employment and childcare. Additionally in terms of types of housework engaged in, little change was noted. (2/3 of full time working mothers said they were responsible for cooking and cleaning, and 4/5 for laundry)

Clearly quantifiable evidence indicates that women are likely to have a dual burden, or in the terms of my aim a ‘double shift’- according to Smith and Ferri and The Social Focus On Men and Women this involves paid employment, domestic labour and childcare.

Some concepts relevant to my study are:

Domestic Labour – this will include main household tasks (e.g. cooking, cleaning and childcare).

Double Shift – dual role of women in terms of their contribution to the family through paid employment as well as contribution in terms of domestic labour and childcare.

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Proposed Method and Reasons for Method

I intend to use questionnaires, which will consist of a list of preset questions being given to the respondent in the same order so that any real differences between respondents can be seen, in this case in the participation of gender groups in domestic labour. Questionnaires are very useful for a number of reasons. My questions will be fixed choice so that the response can be more easily classified and quantified and correlations can be more easily seen between different genders in terms of economic activity and real participation in domestic labour and childcare – it will also allow concepts to be operationalised easily. It’s an efficient and cheap method of research. This was used by Smith and Ferri, to investigate this whole area, and will allow me to compare my findings with theirs. Large quantities of data can be easily collected from a considerable amount of people over a relatively short period of time and it will require relatively little personal involvement. With the assistance of computers the data can then be analysed quickly and efficiently, and the relationship between any variables can be examined, for example the economic activity of women and the time spent on domestic tasks or childcare etc..

This method also has numerous theoretical advantages. It is considered more reliable by positivists as each respondent answers the same question in the same order. Any difference in response, in theory, reflects any real differences between the respondents. One big advantage is research can be replicated, checked and compared with previous research, which increases its reliability. From a positivist point of view, statistical data can be analysed so that new theories can be produced and data can be used to try to establish causal relationships through multivariate analysis between female and male economic activity and contribution to the household. It facilitates use of larger samples so I will feel more justified.

I intend to use a snowball sample in my study, as I will be able to use personal contacts to build up a sample of the group to be studied. This will save time and resources and I will have already built up trust with the respondents.

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Potential Problems

The validity of statistical data generated by questionnaires is questioned by interpretive sociologists who believe statistics are inadequate for explaining behaviour, as they give no insight into meanings and motives. Additionally, using fixed choice question means I impose a tight framework on respondents, which impacts on validity as I may neglect issues important to respondents. So research becomes artificially created by me. This is true of my operationalisation of concepts where interpretivists argue you can present a distorted picture of social reality.

One cannot assume that different answers to the same question reflect the real differences between respondents (for example the amount of time on domestic tasks may be misrepresented). Respondents may interpret questions differently. Respondents also can’t provide information not requested from them. Those being studied are not allowed to reveal how they see social reality. The unwillingness or inability of respondents to give full replies may reduce validity of the data. They may lie and stated attitudes may not reflect real behaviour. Other studies in this area, such as that of Pleck, show that men overestimate the actual time spent on childcare and domestic tasks. Additionally, I will be unable to observe interaction, which would be useful when investigating the concept of women’s ‘double shift’. Some previous sociologists have found that quantitative studies tend to reveal contradictions between the domestic division of labour and perceptions of equality. Respondents often report satisfaction with what appears a very unequal division of labour while qualitative studies tend to uncover more critical attitudes. In addition, domestic work often involves the simultaneous performance of several tasks, which can make time-use estimates difficult to quantify. Women also tend to under-estimate time they spend on domestic tasks, particularly when simultaneously carrying out childcare while men tend to overestimate. Indeed, childcare can often become ‘invisible’. Conversely, men tend to define any time spent with children as childcare, as Pleck found. There is also the question of whether carrying out research concerning the private area of the home is ethically acceptable or correct as it imposes on peoples private lives. Confidentiality must be assured.

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