Domestic Household Labor

Domestic Household LaborThe unequal Division of Domestic LaborWhy It Works Well for whatever FamiliesDomestic turn over is the scarper done in the crime syndicate by the members of the family and which is non paid. Domestic fag is work, which around wowork force do on crystallize of their exercising, and the amount of work they do after they come cornerstone from their employwork forcet varies (Aulette 164).From the late nineteenth century until 1950 the relationship between husband and married woman could be described as male domination (bread winner or patriarchy) (Speakman 83). The grow/husband was the undoubted thinker of the household his needs, his value, and his viewpoint were unendingly considered starting (Speakman 83).Women were regarded as inferior and pass their lives as arrives, looking after their children, as wives, looking after the husband, and as house wives, looking after the home (Speakman 84). The wifes role, that is the typical pattern of behavi or expected of a wife, reflected the attitudes held active women at the fourth dimension. These attitudes were basically that women were naturally inferior to men and should accept their authority (Speakman 84). However, it began to change, with great emphasis on a much shared home life. The equation between husband and wife, sharing of domestic tasks, leisure time spent together with the family and greater pride in the home began to change (Speakman 85). politic today domestic labor is stereotypical sexual urge roles predominate, which stereotypes show that women roles pre paramountly to do domestic labor in the household (Speakman 83).Even though the number of hours that men and women spend on housekeeping is starting to balance, women calm do more housekeeping than men do (Aulette 167). Generally, women still do the more feminine housework, while men still perform the manly tasks (Speakman 84). This information led me to ask the following questions why is housework di vided up raggedly and are married couples okay with this battle array?My family has a in truth old fashioned division of housework. My capture does all of the planning and cleaning, and my father does all of the manual labor in our house. Both of my parents work all-inclusive time, stock-still, my father whole kit and boodle upwards of 80 hours per week. Due to the recent d stimulateturn of the join States economy, my father has to work so many more hours than my gravel for them to aim ends meet. Because of the number of hours that my father works, he feels that it is my mothers responsibility to do the volume of the housework. When asked if they examine their housework division acceptable, both parents agree that it is what works trump for them, and they would not want it any other way. Despite the concomitant that housework is divided unequally, some families (mine in particular) agree that this distribution of labor is plainly what works best for their household.A study by Laura Sanchez and Emily W. Kane discusses how each spouses time availability, resources, and gender ideology affect a married couples division of housework. The dominant theme in this work suggested that the inevitable response to changing labor force participation and gender attitudes for most couples should be to become more equal in family work (Sanchez 358-359). check to their study, men and women should be working(a)(a) towards an equal division of household work, however, this is not necessarily the case (Sanchez 359-369). other main point in this study was that men and women both find the division of housework unfair towards women (Sanchez 379). Despite the general consensus that the division of housework is unfair, little is being done to change the division (Sanchez 379). This study demonstrates how housework is divided and overly shows that even though men acknowledge the fact that women do most of the housework, the division is still unequal.Sue Speakman an d Mick Marchington did a study, which also delves into the unequal division of housework. This study explores the attitude of men as breadwinners and their involvement in housework. They consider what being the breadwinner means to working men and how it translates into their wives doing the majority of the housework (Speakman 99). This study demonstrated that the nature of mens resistance to equivalence at home might be a particularly interlocking power and gender interaction in which the individual feels that his position as an authoritarian, patriarchal figure at home is under threat (Speakman 101). custody in this study showed that they acknowledge the idea that things are changing, however they demonstrate a resistance to the implications of that change in the construction of their own roles and responsibilities (Speakman 101). This study helps show that even though the division of household labor is shifting, many men intrust that they will not maintain the guide on of th e house position that they are used to. many an(prenominal) sociologists have ideas about why housework is divided unequally. The social forces of gender inequality, socializing, and rational prime(a) are some of the main influences on the unequal division of labor. These Brobdingnagian social forces have an impact on the way that decisions are do on the micro-level of families. In my own family, all three of these factors play a big role in the division of labor.Socialization is a operation where children realise how to understand people in their society and what is expected of them (Aulette 179). Many kinds of socialization take place, and gender socialization is a major type. Boys and girls learn what is expected from their gender and how they are supposed to act (Aulette 179). Many experts believe that peer interaction is an important factor of gender socialization (Aulette 179). Girls performing house and doctor help each other learn how to be good housewives, while boys playing football and war do not (Aulette 179). In an interview with my parents, my mother discussed how through and throughout her entire life, she still treasured to be a homemaker. She told me, I grew up in the time where women cherished to go out and be something, but not me. I only wanted to be a mom and spend my days taking care of my children. This is exactly what my mother did until I entered elementary school. She was a digest at home mother and loved nearly every secondment of it. She had absolutely no issues with doing the day to day housework, since my father was the one working dependable time. I would have thought that when my mother began working full time, my father would help with some of these daily chores however this was not the case. When my mother began working, she still was creditworthy for the majority of the day to day running of the house, because gender stereotypes led her to believe that it was the womans responsibility.Another set of experts, beli eve that housework is divided in a way that is less related to childhood socialization and more related to the rational choice of who is better suited to do what (Sanchez 360). They believe that the fact that women do most of the housework in most families is explained as a result of rational cooperative decisions made by households (Sanchez 361). By following this line of thinking, the woman is more skilled at doing housework, therefore it makes the most logical sense for her to do things like cooking and laundry. My mother and my father agree that my mother is better suited to do the housework because she is very practiced in it, and simply better at cooking and cleaning. They also agree that since my father works more than my mother does, she has more time to spend on housework.Gender inequality also plays into the division of housework in my own household. My father is seen as the head of the household, which in turn entitles him to fewer responsibilities when it comes to housew ork. Even though my mother works full time, my father brings in almost double the money that she does. The findings in Sue Speakmans study are demonstrated by the ideas of my father. According to Speakmans study, men believe that if they take more housework responsibilities their position of head of the household will be in jeopardy (101). My father feels that he is authorize to less housework, because he is the breadwinner of the family. By not being the breadwinner of the family, women should be responsible for the day to day running of the household.My family can be analyzed development the sociological theory of functionalism. Functionalism is a theoretical perspective that views society as an organized and stable system that is made up of a human body of interrelated parts or structures (Aulette 10). The family from a functionalist perspective is regarded as a system that provides functions for the society and individual members (Aulette 10). It emphasizes that a differentia tion of gender roles indoors the family is a functional necessity (Aulette 10). My family is conservative in the family values debate, and it is apparent that my parents believe that families are a functional units in which the womans role is revolve around in the internal affairs of the family. The main way that my family does not sum into this perspective is by the fact that my mother is employed outside of the house. According to the functionalist perspective, men should be the sole monetary providers of the household (Aulette 10). Despite this fact, the sizeable difference in my parents incomes and hours worked per week reduce this argument to a token(prenominal) point.Overall, my parents have made the unequal division of household labor work for them. Despite many peoples opinions, they are both happy with the arrangement. They were placed into this arrangement by the social forces that dictated gender differences. The history of my parents gender differences is remote to o extensive for my family to even question. They were both raised to perform their gender-roles through childhood socialization, and see no need to change these roles. My father has always been good at fixing things, and my mother has always been good at the day to day running of the house. Both of my parents agree that the housework is unequally distributed to my mother, but neither of them question this distribution. Due to the recent downturn of the United States economy, my father has to work many more hours per week than my mother for them to make ends meet. With my father working so much, my mother believes that it is only fair that she puts in her share of work by doing the cleaning and cooking. My mother summed up her feelings on their situation by asking, If our arrangement works so well for us, why should I try to change it?Works CitedAulette, Judy R. Housework. Changing American Families. capital of Massachusetts Pearson Education, Inc, 2007. 163-189.Aulette, Judy R. How to Study Families in the Twenty-First Century. Changing American Families. Boston Pearson Education, Inc, 2007. 1-23.Clements, David. in-person interview. 20 Mar. 2008.Clements, Nancy. Personal interview. 20 Mar. 2008.Sanchez, Laura, and Emily W. Kane. Womens and Mens Constructions of Perceptions of Housework Fairness. Journal of Family Issues 17 (1996) 358-387. sharp Journals Online. Grand vale State University, Grand Rapids. 28 Mar. 2008 .Speakman, Sue, and Mick Marchington. unsure Patriarchs Shiftworkers, Breadwinners and Housework. Work Employment Society 13 (1999) 83-105.Sage Journals Online. Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids. 28 Mar.2008 .