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GENDER EXPLOITATION AND THE DOMESTIC DIVISION OF LABOUR AMONG THE ELDERLY: AN AUSTRALIAN CASE STUDY
Author(s) -
Dempsey K.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
australian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 0726-4240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.1989.tb00763.x
Subject(s) - autonomy , division of labour , observational study , quality (philosophy) , position (finance) , psychology , servant , proposition , demographic economics , business , labour economics , social psychology , sociology , political science , economics , law , medicine , philosophy , epistemology , pathology , finance , computer science , programming language
Drawing on survey and observational data from a longitudinal rural community study this paper argues that the domestic division of labour is a mechanism for the exploitation of elderly women by their husbands. This proposition is sustained by demonstrating qualitative as well as quantitative differences in the nature of the tasks members of each sex perform. Even when husbands retire they leave their wives with major sole responsibility for the routine tasks which are the most repititious, most likely to place their performer in a subordinate position and to interfere with their leisure activity. Retired men help with, rather than share responsibility for, most traditional female domestic tasks whilst the tasks they do take responsibility for require much less time, are not usually servant‐like in quality and do not seriously reduce personal autonomy.