Connecting Gender, Power and the Household

  • Linda McKie
  • Sophia Bowlby
  • Susan Gregory
Chapter

Abstract

Theoretical and empirical research on gender, the family and the household has tended to focus upon work conducted within the home, and the negotiation and allocation of resources within households (Oakley, 1974a; Whitehead, 1981; Harris, 1984; Pahl, 1984; Berk, 1985; Morris, 1985; Brannen and Wilson, 1987; Mansfield and Collard, 1988; Van Every, 1995). The origins of many of these studies can be traced to Oakley’s work in the early 1970s which heralded a new approach to research on women, the home, and (paid) work. Oakley’s study of housework not only concerned an examination of the housewife role but also the division of labour in the household and ideologies of domesticity (Oakley, 1974a; Oakley, 1974b). She argued that ‘the kitchen is the symbol of women’s domesticity, and the lifelong activities and identities of women outside the kitchen are determined and defined by their domesticity’ (Oakley, 1974a: 222). Change in women’s role would only follow, Oakley argued, from the abolition of the housewife role, the family and gender roles. At the time this was considered a radical approach to the study of gender and the household and it was one which placed and re-emphasized conceptions of the household, power and hierarchy between men and women as central to the analysis of women in society.

Keywords

Gender Role Household Member Housing Study Domestic Space Harvester Wheatsheaf 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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© Linda McKie, Sophia Bowlby and Susan Gregory 1999

Authors and Affiliations

  • Linda McKie
  • Sophia Bowlby
  • Susan Gregory

There are no affiliations available

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