The Change in the Domestic Tasks Between Women and Men

The Change in the Domestic Tasks Between Women and Men

In the past it was obvious that woman did considerably more domestic

work than men, this being mainly due to traditional views taken by

society. The husband was seen as the breadwinner and protector whilst

the woman was seen as a housewife and child carer. This view is known

as the traditional Nuclear family (not including the offspring). In

recent years it has become apparent that woman were not happy with

this 'traditional' system so began to try and change it through a

movement known as Feminism. The basic principle of the movement is to

work towards equality of the sexes (In most forms of Feminism anyway).

By comparison things have changed quite dramatically in recent times.

The fundamental view is that woman and men are equal. This is not seen

by many as entirely true. However the roles have become far more

equal, for example a woman now has a much better chance of being in a

well paid professional career and therefore gaining a higher status in

society. Women also have the right to vote. One of the major areas

where feminists are unhappy is the conjugal role. Women believe that

they are still doing the bulk of domestic tasks and this is the area

that I will be investigating.

Baxter and Western were two sociologists who claimed that there are

segregated conjugal roles in the family, they studied why this is.

They believe that women who see housework as part of being a good

mother a quite happy to do it, this is known as the 'housewife

experience' and is quite a plausible theory to support the reasons for

so much inequality within marriage and the family. The theory then...

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doing the majority of domestic tasks.

To add my personal view to the argument I would have to say that from

looking at both sides I believe that there is still quite a gulf

between the amount of domestic work that men do and the amount woman

do. I do not believe that marriages are at this moment in time

symmetrical, though I do not believe it is fair to rule out the chance

of marriages becoming symmetrical in the near future. There is strong

evidence to suggest that men are doing many more domestic tasks than

they used to, and are continuing to do more all the time. I believe

that Dunne sums up the argument well when it is suggested 'That an

equitable domestic division of labour can be achieved. However, it is

hard to achieve in a culture that still differentiates so clearly

between masculinity and femininity'.