Instrumental: husband's role, breadwinner, going to work.

Expressive: wife's role, homemaker, doing domestic work.

Based on biological differences which benefit the family and society.

Young and Willmott: say that husbands and wives share roles more equally than they used to.

Feminists say that it does not benefit society, it benefits men and upholds the patriarchal society.

Segregated conjugal roles: husband provides through work, wife does the domestic work, spends leisure time apart.

Joint conjugal roles: both husband and wife participate in domestic work and providing through jobs, spend leisure time together.

'March of progress' - 1970s

Women have started to enter work, but mostly part-time.

Men have begun to help their wives with domestic tasks.

Have began to spend their leisure time together.

Not entirely equal, but going towards it.

Housewives not working: Do eight tenths (8/10) of the housework (83%).

Part-time working housewives: Do eight tenths (8/10) of the housework (82%).

Full-time working housewives: Do seven tenths (7/10) of the housework (73%). The longer they have been in full-time paid work, the more likely men are to help with domestic tasks.

Societial norms and values are gradually shifting to accommodate the full time working woman.

Critics argue that working class women may not be able to afford these services, meaning that this lessened burden is in fact a middle-class phenomenon.

Additionally, even though housework implements are now mass produced, it does not mean that the housework is more equal and therefore lessened.

Feminists argue that there is no 'new man' who participates in domestic housework, simply meaning that women have the dual burden of their jobs and housework.

Studies have found evidence of this e.g. Oakley interviews about housework.

May be more of a problem for working class women as they cannot afford child care like middle class women, so carry the burden of paid work and unpaid domestic work.

'Labour of love'

This is referred to work that deals with one's own and other people's emotions. A study found that women are more likely to be employed in this type of work than men. Some sociologists claim that this means women not only perform the dual burden, but the triple shift as they have to tend to everyone's emotional needs.

Study of 37 cohabiting lesbian couples.

More likely to describe their relationship as equal. Both participate in housework and childcare equally.

Equal importance given to both partner's careers.

Tend to view childcare positively.

This is because they are not pressured to conform to 'gender scripts' like heterosexual couples, and therefore masculine and feminine roles can be shared equally between both of them.

But, she found that paid work also has a factor on this equality - where one does more paid work, the other tended to do more domestic housework.

Money not shared equally in household - women went without for the rest of their family in working class families e.g. skipping meals to make ends meet.

Money given to wives often has 'strings' attached.

Men make most of the important decisions:

Very important - e.g. moving house - husband has final say. Moderately important - e.g. children's education - taken jointly.

Not as important - e.g. food purchases - made by the wife.

Claims that domestic violence is vastly understated in official statistics due to:

Family being considered a private sphere and therefore official institutions should only have limited access.

People are considered free agents and therefore if a woman is experience abuse, she is free to leave. Of course, this isn't true as men often have economic power over women.

Official institutions view the family positively and ignore the 'darker side'.

Claims that the stress of social inequality can cause domestic violence.

Overcrowding and lack of resources can be stressful, which can manifest through violent tempers.

Also, the lack of money and time reduces social support for those experiencing this stress, which means it manifests violently.

Those with less wealth, power or status are most at risk.