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Conjugal Roles
 Conjugal roles are those roles defined by a
society’s culture and values on a gender basis.
 Socio-biologists, such as Murdock, would argue
that they are biologically based, but this view is now generally
rejected by sociologists.
 Feminists (i.e. radical) see such roles as patriarchy in a society
whose organisation and purpose is the domination of women by and
for men.
 Marxist-feminists would see them as linked to the capitalist
structure.
 Conjugal roles can relate to a number of different facets within the
family structure, such as power within marriage, eg. Stephen
Edgell’s study, Middle Class Couples (1980).
 Conjugal roles can relate to ideological power, ie. the ability to
persuade people – usually women – to accept that which is against
their own interests, for example, a subservient role within
marriage.
 Segregated conjugal roles as opposed to joint conjugal roles.
 Segregated conjugal roles are seen as a feature of past societies.
 Many argue there are joint conjugal roles with a sharing of roles
and implicit equality, but this is rejected by many feminists who
argue that women now experience the dual burden of full/parttime employment coupled with still having to do all or most of the
domestic work.
Studies and an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses
● Willmott and Young’s The Symmetrical Family (1975):
 Supports functionalist approach.
 Argued there was now symmetry in domestic labour: household
chores and leisure time between husband and wife were now
fairly evenly shared.
 The conjugal bond in modern families was strong so joint
conjugal roles were prevalent.
 A strength of their study was it recognised changes that have
taken place since industrialised society.
 Feminists, such as Annie Oakley, are particularly critical of Young
and Willmott for arguing that symmetry has been achieved.
 Wilmott and Young’s findings were heavily criticised for being
misleading – eg. the conclusion that 72% of men do housework
based on their response to one question.
 Stephen Edgell’s study, Middle Class Couples (1980):
 Interviewed husbands and wives about decision making and found
that men dominated in the decisions that were conceived as
important – eg. finance and moving house.
 Annie Oakley’s Housewife (1974):
 Seen as a definitive Marxist/socialist feminist study.
 Argued that conjugal roles had changed markedly in the 20th
century.
 In pre-industrial Britain, women worked alongside men;
industrialisation led to the sexual division of labour.
 Women then became increasingly excluded from paid work and
reliant on the male wage.
 Thus came the development of segregated roles.
 A strength of her study is that it identifies and foregrounds the
development of separate conjugal roles with the inherent
inequality, subjugation and exploitation of women.
 Identifies differences on a class basis – greater equality amongst
middle class women than working class women.
 However, even here there existed little equality.
 Oakley, as with other feminists, is criticised for emphasising the
negative aspects of the family and neglecting positive aspects
and progress that women have made.
 Oakley was also criticised for basing conclusions on a very small
sample that was not representative of the population as a whole,
and for failing to study changes in conjugal roles over a period of
time between men and women within the family.