Symmetrical Family

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 Symmetrical Family

Marwa Radwan

Aim/Hypothesis

Hypothesis: Husbands in the UK share the domestic labour equally with their wives.

Willmott and Young did a survey in 1973 to test this hypothesis out. Their conclusion was that the majority do help; I want to find out whether the results from their survey are can still be applied to today. My dad does 50% of the domestic labour and so it is a symmetrical relationship between my mum and dad but I want to know if the majority of relationships are also symmetrical. I want to do my research in my area of London, Maida Vale to see if my family are like the majority of my area.

(113 words)

Context and concepts

“The symmetrical family” is the concept in my research, used by Willmott and Young. They have suggested that the modern family is symmetrical; by this they mean that couples have a more balanced arrangement of tasks such as the domestic routine, and carry out similar tasks. This is taking in to mind that there is a difference between men and women and what or how much they are capable of, so they do the same due to their capability. Evidence for this is a survey they did in 1973 to see whether the husbands and wives in Bethnal Green share the domestic labour equally. “Domestic labour” is the term to describe the chores of family life these are three main things cleaning, cooking and childcare. The survey looked at the type of jobs done by the husbands and then looked at the percentages of how much the men helped their wives per week. But it doesn’t define how much in that week it splits it up into three categories which are “none”, “washing up only”, “other tasks (e.g. cleaning, cooking, child care and washing up)”. The washing up doesn’t state whether it was just once a week or everyday of the week or was it only after dinner or every single washing up? And the last option is far too vast and would need more specification to be precise. Out of “all men” 72% chose this last option, but these results aren’t satisfactory to most people (especially feminists), a husband that puts the quilt over his children every night could consider that as childcare every week. I intend my research to be on a similar study to that of Willmott and Young, but using a different method, to see how my results would compare to theirs.

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Ann Oakley is the main feminist that felt this test was inadequate, because of the survey’s closed questions. Oakley used a different research method, instead of survey’s she did interviews with house-wives, which she felt would be more appropriate and personal then a survey. The results give a contrasting image, and they showed that the majority of men and women had the old fashioned segregated conjugal roles. Segregated conjugal roles are the “individual” roles between men and women are separate, men’s work is usually outside of the home and women’s are inside. The “symmetrical family” theory contradicts this. Although ...

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