As the task-oriented mate, a husband is assigned responsibility for being primary breadwinner and protector against imbalance or disequilibrium. in parsons' functionalist view of the family, this is an example of a(n)

sexual division of labor  

Sexual division of labor refers to the gender-specific roles that a husband and wife respectively perform in a nuclear family, wherein, the wife is the 'housewife' responsible for child care and overall household running, and the husband is the breadwinner responsible for supporting the family financially. Parsons refers to the husband's role an "instrumental role", and the wife's role as an "expressive role".