Reach for the Star | Is the family patriarchal?

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Connect & Check → Share → Present → Apply → Recall & Review

Explain the key concepts, apply them accurately to the supplied case and answer the enquiry with a qualified, evidence-led judgement. Use fictional examples. You do not need to disclose personal experiences.

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Recall and connect

Retrieve the previous lesson, then record a view you can revisit.

Missed the preparation? Read the recap

Why can equal wages coexist with unequal opportunities? Wealth, debts, transfers and responsibilities may differ. What does a resource explanation need beyond a label? A mechanism connecting a resource or constraint to an opportunity or outcome. Why is background not destiny? Agency, institutions and other conditions can alter its effects.

R1 Why can equal wages coexist with unequal opportunities?

Check an explanation after your attempt

Wealth, debts, transfers and responsibilities may differ.

R2 What does a resource explanation need beyond a label?

Check an explanation after your attempt

A mechanism connecting a resource or constraint to an opportunity or outcome.

R3 Starting judgement: “Sharing a home and income means sharing power equally.” Explain your view.

A structural question

Patriarchy concerns patterns of gendered power; it is not a claim that every man controls every woman. Feminist analysis asks who does work, who controls resources and whose priorities influence decisions. Evidence about one dimension does not settle the others. A household can divide visible tasks fairly while leaving planning or major decisions unequally shared.

Open the vocabulary reference

Patriarchy: A pattern of social organisation in which men hold disproportionate power.
Feminism: Diverse approaches that analyse gender inequalities and seek their reduction.
Gender: Socially organised meanings, expectations and identities associated with sex categories.
Gender role: A socially expected pattern of behaviour associated with gender.
Domestic labour: Work involved in maintaining a household and meeting everyday needs.
Unpaid care: Support for another person’s needs without direct payment.
Division of labour: Allocation of tasks and responsibilities between people.
Mental load: Work of anticipating, planning and coordinating everyday responsibilities.
Emotional work: Effort used to manage feelings and sustain relationships.
Decision-making: Processes through which choices are made and priorities set.
Resource control: Capacity to determine how money or other resources are used.
Dependence: Reliance on another person for resources or support.
Gender socialisation: Learning and negotiating expectations associated with gender.
Double burden: Combining paid employment with substantial unpaid domestic work.
Negotiation: Discussion through which arrangements may be agreed or changed.
Intersectionality: Attention to how social inequalities combine and shape specific experiences.

D1 Define patriarchy without making a claim about every individual.

Check an explanation after your attempt

It is a patterned concentration of power among men in social arrangements. Individual relationships vary; the concept directs investigation rather than replacing evidence.

D2 Identify three different dimensions of family inequality.

Check an explanation after your attempt

Allocation of work, control of resources and influence over decisions. A fair split in one dimension does not establish equality in the others.

Making domestic work visible

Ann Oakley’s research helped treat housework as work worthy of sociological investigation. Counting only paid employment misses labour that sustains daily life. Completing a task differs from taking responsibility for noticing, planning and organising it. Emotional support also requires effort. Investigating these activities can reveal contributions that family members or researchers otherwise overlook.

Open the vocabulary reference

Patriarchy: A pattern of social organisation in which men hold disproportionate power.
Feminism: Diverse approaches that analyse gender inequalities and seek their reduction.
Gender: Socially organised meanings, expectations and identities associated with sex categories.
Gender role: A socially expected pattern of behaviour associated with gender.
Domestic labour: Work involved in maintaining a household and meeting everyday needs.
Unpaid care: Support for another person’s needs without direct payment.
Division of labour: Allocation of tasks and responsibilities between people.
Mental load: Work of anticipating, planning and coordinating everyday responsibilities.
Emotional work: Effort used to manage feelings and sustain relationships.
Decision-making: Processes through which choices are made and priorities set.
Resource control: Capacity to determine how money or other resources are used.
Dependence: Reliance on another person for resources or support.
Gender socialisation: Learning and negotiating expectations associated with gender.
Double burden: Combining paid employment with substantial unpaid domestic work.
Negotiation: Discussion through which arrangements may be agreed or changed.
Intersectionality: Attention to how social inequalities combine and shape specific experiences.

D3 Why was treating housework as work sociologically significant?

Check an explanation after your attempt

It made unpaid activity visible for analysis of effort, organisation and inequality, rather than treating it as a natural or insignificant part of women’s lives.

D4 Distinguish doing a task from carrying its mental load.

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Doing might mean attending an appointment; mental load includes noticing it is needed, booking it and coordinating transport. Both require effort.

Socialisation, resources and change

Repeated expectations can make gendered responsibilities appear natural. Resource differences may also affect bargaining power or the practical ability to alter an arrangement. Yet norms are contested and responsibilities can change. Examine paid work, time, preferences and available alternatives together. Feminist approaches differ over the central cause and remedy; L013 develops those disagreements.

Open the vocabulary reference

Patriarchy: A pattern of social organisation in which men hold disproportionate power.
Feminism: Diverse approaches that analyse gender inequalities and seek their reduction.
Gender: Socially organised meanings, expectations and identities associated with sex categories.
Gender role: A socially expected pattern of behaviour associated with gender.
Domestic labour: Work involved in maintaining a household and meeting everyday needs.
Unpaid care: Support for another person’s needs without direct payment.
Division of labour: Allocation of tasks and responsibilities between people.
Mental load: Work of anticipating, planning and coordinating everyday responsibilities.
Emotional work: Effort used to manage feelings and sustain relationships.
Decision-making: Processes through which choices are made and priorities set.
Resource control: Capacity to determine how money or other resources are used.
Dependence: Reliance on another person for resources or support.
Gender socialisation: Learning and negotiating expectations associated with gender.
Double burden: Combining paid employment with substantial unpaid domestic work.
Negotiation: Discussion through which arrangements may be agreed or changed.
Intersectionality: Attention to how social inequalities combine and shape specific experiences.

D5 Explain how gender socialisation could reproduce an unequal division.

Check an explanation after your attempt

Repeatedly assigning care to girls and praising boys mainly for technical tasks can normalise different responsibilities. The mechanism is learned expectation, not biological proof.

D6 Why should researchers examine choices and constraints together?

Check an explanation after your attempt

A stated preference may operate within limited alternatives. Income, time, expectations and accessible care affect which options are realistically available.

Apply the evidence

Fictional case: Maya and Leo both work for pay. They alternate cooking, but Maya organises appointments, tracks supplies and adjusts her hours when care is needed. Leo normally decides how shared savings are used. Maya proposes a planning rota and equal discussion of major spending. Neither person’s behaviour is explained by biology, and the case makes no claim about all women or men.

Adults examining materials together; their relationships and reasons are not established. — Identify what is visible and what needs further evidence.

A1 Describe what is visible in the photograph. What further evidence would be needed to apply this lesson’s concepts?

Check an explanation after your attempt

Adults are examining materials together. The image does not establish family ties, beliefs, gender identity or the reasons for their actions. Use participant accounts or relevant contextual evidence before applying the theory.

A2 Identify two dimensions of inequality in the case and explain each.

Optional scaffold

Name the concept → select a precise case detail → explain the connection → state what the detail cannot establish. Rehearse aloud, then write independently.

Check an explanation after your attempt

Maya’s coordination and adjustments show unequal responsibility beyond cooking. Leo’s control of savings indicates decision-making or resource power. Explain these separately.

A3 Explain what the proposed rota might change and what it would not automatically change.

Optional scaffold

Name the concept → select a precise case detail → explain the connection → state what the detail cannot establish. Rehearse aloud, then write independently.

Check an explanation after your attempt

A rota could redistribute planning if responsibility genuinely transfers. It does not by itself change control of savings, paid-work conditions or every expectation.

Challenge and judge

Make a precise claim, connect it to evidence and state its limits.

C1 Design one appropriate evidence question for workload and one for power.

Check an explanation after your attempt

Ask who notices, plans and completes specified activities over a period; ask how a recent major spending decision was reached. Use fictional responses and avoid collecting classmates’ family data.

C2 Improve: “Maya does more planning because women naturally care more.”

Optional scaffold

Name the concept → select a precise case detail → explain the connection → state what the detail cannot establish. Rehearse aloud, then write independently.

Check an explanation after your attempt

The case establishes unequal allocation, not its biological cause. Investigate learned expectations, work schedules and negotiation; capacities should not be inferred from gender.

Prove: retrieval check

Answer without notes, then check explanations. Retry after correcting insecure ideas. This is separate from the 15-mark mini-test.

Q1. Which meaning best fits patriarchy? A pattern of social organisation in which men hold disproportionate power. Support for another person’s needs without direct payment. Processes through which choices are made and priorities set.

Q2. Which meaning best fits domestic labour? Processes through which choices are made and priorities set. Work involved in maintaining a household and meeting everyday needs. Combining paid employment with substantial unpaid domestic work.

Q3. Which meaning best fits mental load? Learning and negotiating expectations associated with gender. A pattern of social organisation in which men hold disproportionate power. Work of anticipating, planning and coordinating everyday responsibilities.

Q4. Which meaning best fits resource control? Capacity to determine how money or other resources are used. Attention to how social inequalities combine and shape specific experiences. A socially expected pattern of behaviour associated with gender.

Q5. An adult does half the visible chores. Does this establish equal power? Yes: chore counts measure every form of equality. No: planning, resources and decisions also require evidence. The question can be answered from a person’s appearance alone.

Q6. What can the supplied fictional case establish? It proves what all UK families do. It illustrates a mechanism to examine with further evidence. It establishes a causal law without further evidence.

Not marked.

Prove and improve

Complete retrieval, then write independently for eight minutes.

P1 Explain two ways gender inequality may occur within families. [6 marks]

Success criteria

Develop two distinct points. For each, identify the concept, explain how it works and use an accurate example or comparison relevant to the question. Extended writing needs teacher review. No automatic mark is given.

P2 Identify the two points in your response. Improve one missing explanation or example.

P3 Return to R3. Give a qualified judgement and identify one piece of evidence still needed.

Prepare for Lesson 13

Read the three short passages and answer the preparation questions.

Liberal feminist emphasis

Liberal feminist approaches focus on removing discrimination and widening equal rights and opportunities. Education, fair workplace practices and shared domestic responsibility may improve family relationships. This does not mean assuming equality already exists. A limitation to investigate is whether formal rights or individual negotiation are enough when access to money, time and care remains unequal.

Two connected concepts

Liberal feminism: An approach emphasising equal rights, opportunities and reform of discriminatory practices. Marxist feminism: An approach connecting gender inequality with capitalist relations and unpaid labour.

A question to bring

Link a liberal feminist diagnosis to one proposed change. If discriminatory expectations and unequal opportunities constrain women, reform workplace practices, education or shared care arrangements. Explain how the reform addresses the diagnosed barrier.

F1 Summarise the main idea in the first passage in one or two sentences.

Check an explanation after your attempt

If discriminatory expectations and unequal opportunities constrain women, reform workplace practices, education or shared care arrangements. Explain how the reform addresses the diagnosed barrier.

F2 Define liberal feminism and give an original fictional example.

F3 What evidence would you need to test the opening claim? Retrieve two current-lesson concepts tomorrow and next week.

Your progress summary

Completion records attempts, not correctness. Review your extended response with a teacher and use the feedback to choose your next practice.

Restore a backup

Choose a previously exported L012 JSON file. You will be asked before it replaces current answers.

Resource: RFTS-AQA-AL-SOC-7192-FAM-L012 · v1.0. Original Reach for the Star learning resource. The six-mark task is a classroom bridge assessment, not an official AQA Paper 2 format. Teacher mark guidance is supplied separately.