THE IMPORTANCE OF DIFFERENCE - CONCEPTUALIZING INCREASED FLEXIBILITY IN GENDER RELATIONS AT HOME

In this paper we have three goals. First, to provide a critique of att empts to theorise in the area of intimate care and domestic division o f labour which do not pay adequate attention to issues of plurality/di fference. We argue that the ideological environment within which conte mporary couples operate consists of more than one existing normative s tructure, and that therefore an approach which can incorporate the ide a of change can only really arise in the context of a focus on plurali ty and difference among households. Secondly, to discuss large-scale e mpirical evidence relating to the domestic division of labour which se em to indicate an increasingly narrow basis for blanket 'no change' ar guments. Historical series of time-use diaries suggest that over a lon g period consistent changes have occurred in the amount of time that b oth women and men devote to domestic labour, such that (some) women ar e doing on average proportionately less, and (some) men proportionatel y more. Finally, to offer a framework for the discussion of difference and change in gender relations in the home. This focuses on the analy sis of the continuing marital conversation as the key arena where the institutional and interactional dimensions of gender relations are pla yed out. Our evidence suggests that the 'opening up' of the marital co nversation is an important indicator and facilitator of change, and th at mechanisms underlying this 'opening' can be shown to facilitate hig her levels of men's participation in family work.