who chooses who does what and who gets what why should policy makers care about men and women having equal opportunities to participate in paid work in becker s rational choice model the family is viewed as a single entity with common preferences all family members work together to maximise the wellbeing of the family unit and to achieve maximum returns becker argues members participate in a strict sexual division of labour one partner typically the man specialises in paid labour while the other typically the woman specialises in unpaid housework