It is quite evident that there are inequalities between husbands and wives, such as the division of domestic labour. However some sociologists would argue that the inequalities between husband and wife are beneficial for society. This essay will set out to assess sociological explanations for inequalities between husbands and wives.
Firstly feminists propose that there are inequalities between husband and wives, this is evident through the domestic division of labour. Feminists would blame underlying patriarchy for the inequalities between husband and wives. The domestic division of labour consists of men working and women staying at home to take responsibility of household labour, such as childcare and cleaning. Women take more of a role as the domestic worker, as seen by the survey in Item A, even though they worked. Men have more power because they are the primary breadwinner; Radical feminists would argue that this institution benefits men more than women. They would argue that men sometimes abuse this power, for instance through domestic violence if women do not accept the patriarchal order (Item C). Men earn the money and this takes power away from women, this may be an explanation to why women suffer more domestic violence than men (Mirrlees-Black, 1999). Another example of this would be that only very recently it became illegal for a husband to rape his wife (1991).
The idea of the husband as the primary breadwinner is portrayed through several institutions that reinsert conservative values. Education is an example of an intuition which illustrates that women’s primary role is maternal and that she should stay at home and take care of children. For instance in the early education system women were taught to learn more practical rather than academic, which would not have given them the skills to work and earn money. These beliefs