The term ‘symmetrical family’ refers to the idea that gender roles have become exactly that; symmetrical. That with time & equality between the sexes (referred to as the ‘march of progress’), the responsibilities that the genders previously held, have now been spread out evenly. Many sociologists have looked at this theory, each with different & often conflicting views. I will explore each aspect of the term ‘symmetrical family’ & the different perspectives that sociologists have. But to do this I must assess what has changed over the course of time & look at how family structure & gender roles have changed.
To begin, I must first explain that in the past, most household chores were divided between husband & wife. In 1955, functionalist; Talcott …show more content…
Michael Young and Peter Willmott (1973), both prominent sociologists for their time, wrote a book called; ‘The Symmetrical Family: A Study of Work and Leisure in the London Region’. They believed that over the course of history, both family structure & family systems were changing. They studies families in London and found that younger couples were adopting a more symmetrical way of dividing the household tasks. They acknowledged that although the roles were nowhere near identical, they were becoming more shared. They specified that this may have occurred for a number of different reasons, including; more & more women were going out to work (although this was mostly part time). Young & Willmott recognised that this was causing men to help out a little more with the housework & childcare. They also noticed (like Bott) that couples were spending their free time with each other, this was referred to as ‘home centred’ or …show more content…
Meaning they worked and were expected to complete most household tasks. Elsa Ferri & Kate Smith (1996) found that female employment did little to increase men’s role in housework. They researched 1,589 mothers & fathers (all in their early 30s), and found that fewer than 4%of men took the leading role, childcare-wise. Lidia Morris (1990) found that even if men were unemployed, many would refuse to complete household errands, Morris felt that this was due to men seeing domestic work as a woman’s responsibility & so as not wanting to lose their masculinity, they would not take on the role. This is a significant factor in the argument against the idea of symmetrical families. Yet Xavier Ramos (2003) found that if the female was the household’s sole breadwinner, then her partner would take up the full domestic labour role (19 hours a
To begin, I must first explain that in the past, most household chores were divided between husband & wife. In 1955, functionalist; Talcott …show more content…
Michael Young and Peter Willmott (1973), both prominent sociologists for their time, wrote a book called; ‘The Symmetrical Family: A Study of Work and Leisure in the London Region’. They believed that over the course of history, both family structure & family systems were changing. They studies families in London and found that younger couples were adopting a more symmetrical way of dividing the household tasks. They acknowledged that although the roles were nowhere near identical, they were becoming more shared. They specified that this may have occurred for a number of different reasons, including; more & more women were going out to work (although this was mostly part time). Young & Willmott recognised that this was causing men to help out a little more with the housework & childcare. They also noticed (like Bott) that couples were spending their free time with each other, this was referred to as ‘home centred’ or …show more content…
Meaning they worked and were expected to complete most household tasks. Elsa Ferri & Kate Smith (1996) found that female employment did little to increase men’s role in housework. They researched 1,589 mothers & fathers (all in their early 30s), and found that fewer than 4%of men took the leading role, childcare-wise. Lidia Morris (1990) found that even if men were unemployed, many would refuse to complete household errands, Morris felt that this was due to men seeing domestic work as a woman’s responsibility & so as not wanting to lose their masculinity, they would not take on the role. This is a significant factor in the argument against the idea of symmetrical families. Yet Xavier Ramos (2003) found that if the female was the household’s sole breadwinner, then her partner would take up the full domestic labour role (19 hours a