Question: Assess the view that conjugal roles have become equal.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Question: Assess the view that conjugal roles have become equal.

Different sociologists have had different views to whether conjugal roles have become equal. Researchers have measured different aspects of equality/inequality in conjugal roles. Some have concentrated on the division of labour in the home: they have examined the allocation of responsibility for domestic work between husband and wife and the amount of time spent by spouses on particular tasks. Others have tried to measure the distribution of power within marriage. Willmott and Young, and Gillian Dunne are amongst those who have argued that conjugal roles are equal. However many sociologists such as Ann Oakley, Ferri and Smith, Duncombe and Marsden, and Edgel, who have carried out research into the area of conjugal roles, have found little evidence that couples share equal division of domestic tasks.

Willmott and Young agree with the statement that conjugal roles have become equal. During the 1970's they announced the arrival of the symmetrical family, a family in which the roles of husband and wife were similar. In the home the couple 'shared their work and shared their time'. Husbands were seen to be increasingly helping with domestic chores, child rearing and