Introduction

In this chapter and the next, we consider the worlds of home and work, the private and public spheres of social life. Record numbers of women in Western industrial societies are now in employment, and work from home is becoming ever more commonplace. Though for much of the twentieth century it was widely held that a woman's place was in the home and a man's in the world of work, outside the home, that distinction is rapidly breaking down. In these linked chapters we challenge such beliefs by asking whether men can keep house and provide satisfactory care for young children, and whether women have the abilities and motivation to fill skilled jobs and meet professional demands.

In considering the domestic sphere, it is useful to bear in mind a distinction between households and families. Recent research examining time spent doing housework clarifies this distinction. Sometimes a household is composed of a ‘traditional family’ consisting of a married couple and their dependent children; but families today include single parents and two parents of the same sex and their children. Recent changes in the structure of families challenges the assumption that children are generally cared for by their cohabiting, married, biological parents.

In chapter 7, we examined the argument advanced by some feminist sociologists and anthropologists that it is male power which keeps women in their place – the home. Even when women are engaged in full-time employment, they are expected to clean, cook, and shop – to keep house for their families.