In their influential research, Duncombe and Marsden (1995) examined the continuing inequalities between men and women in domestic life. They developed the concept of the “triple shift”, which argued that women are not only responsible for paid work and housework (the “dual burden”), but also for emotional work – managing relationships, smoothing over conflicts, and providing emotional support for partners and children. Their research is widely used in A level sociology to illustrate feminist arguments about the persistence of gender inequality in the family.
Methodology
Duncombe and Marsden’s research was qualitative. They carried out in-depth interviews with 40 white, married, middle-class couples in the UK. This method was chosen because it allowed them to explore people’s feelings and experiences of family life in detail. The interviews focused on issues such as satisfaction in marriage, the sharing of domestic work, and emotional support. Using qualitative interviews meant they could go beyond statistics and reveal the subjective meanings behind everyday life, although their sample was not representative of all social classes, ethnic groups, or family types.
Findings and Examples
The key finding was that many women were deeply dissatisfied with their marriages, even when they appeared stable from the outside. Women reported that they often felt emotionally neglected by their husbands, who were described as poor communicators and unwilling to discuss feelings. Men, in contrast, frequently reported being satisfied with their marriages, suggesting that they were benefitting from women’s emotional labour without giving much in return.
Duncombe and Marsden found that women were responsible not only for the majority of housework and childcare, but also for ensuring that family life ran smoothly on an emotional level. For example, women described being the ones who organised birthdays, maintained relationships with extended family, comforted upset children, and managed their husbands’ moods after work. They argued that this emotional work was undervalued and invisible, yet crucial to holding family life together.
This led them to coin the term triple shift: women carry out paid employment, undertake the bulk of domestic labour, and perform emotional work, creating a threefold burden. While men might contribute to paid work and occasionally help with housework, the responsibility for emotional management remained almost entirely with women.
Conclusion
Duncombe and Marsden’s study shows how gender inequalities persist within supposedly modern and symmetrical families. It highlights the hidden pressures on women and demonstrates that, despite changes in employment and gender roles, the family remains a site of significant patriarchal inequality.
A Powerpoint for use in class can be downloaded from the link below:
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