Final answer:
Functionalists, including Talcott Parsons, believe women are better suited for expressive roles within the family, handling domestic responsibilities and emotional support tasks, as part of a gendered division of labor that ensures family stability.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Talcott Parsons and other functionalists, women are better suited for expressive roles within the family. These gender roles were established in the pre-industrial era, where women took on domestic responsibilities such as child care and home maintenance due to physical restraints of pregnancy and nursing that made it impractical for them to spend long periods away from home. Functionalists consider this division of labor to be essential for the family system to function properly, with men taking on the instrumental roles that involve work outside the family and women managing the emotional and care-giving tasks within the household.