Working in small groups, explore and discuss the following:
- Who makes the major decisions in your household? These might include things like a house move, a major purchase, booking a holiday or choosing a new school.
- How does your answer fit with Pahl & Vogler’s argument on page 24?
- What factors do you think contribute to deciding who makes these decisions, or are decisions made jointly and equally?
- What do you understand by the term ‘New Man’ in the context of gender roles?
- Can you think how the invention and wide availability of the contraceptive pill and more liberal (easier) divorce reforms might have affected couples power relationships?
