What Contributes to the (Im)Balanced Division of Family Work Between the Sexes?
Abstract
This study examines a comprehensive set of variables proposed to explain the imbalance in the division of family work between the sexes. The analyses use survey data of 735 dual-earner couples from Austria, the Netherlands, and Portugal. The results support theoretical explanations that refer to time availability, gender ideology, relative resources, and the importance of characteristics of the family system. No support was obtained for the doing-gender perspective. Additional findings suggest that increased consideration of psychological concepts adds to the understanding of why women do more family work than men. The analyses revealed similarities, but also differences between the factors that contribute to the division of household labor and childcare.
References
1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
(1998). Fathering over time: What makes the difference? Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 809–820.
(2000). Normative Geschlechtsrollenorientierung: Entwicklung und Validierung eines Fragebogens [
(Normative gender role orientation: Development and validation of a questionnaire ]. Zeitschrift für Differentielle und Diagnostische Psychologie, 21, 61–74.2003). Reconciliation of work and family life: External resources for families in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland (Research Report FamWork-A-03/02). Retrieved February 1, 2006, from www.eu-project-famwork.org.
(2003). When does gender trump money? Bargaining and time in household work. American Journal of Sociology, 109, 186–214.
(1991). Measuring the division of household labor: Gender segregation of housework among American couples. Journal of Family Issues, 12(1), 91–113.
(1993). The exchange value of housework. Rationality and Society, 5, 302–340.
(1994). Economic dependency, gender, and the division of labor at home. The American Journal of Sociology, 100, 652–688.
(1983). Thirty years of research on the division of labor in Australian families. Australian Journal of Sex, Marriage and Family, 4(3), 125–132.
(2004). Paternal involvement with children: The influence of gender ideologies. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 66, 40–45.
(2000). Research on household labor: Modeling and measuring the social embeddedness of routine family work. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1208–1233.
(2004). Cross-national variations in the division of household labor. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 66, 1260–1271.
(2008a). Gender pay gap in unadjusted form. Retrieved June 22, 2008, from epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&plugin=0&language=en&pcode= em030.
(2008b). Total fertility rate. Retrieved June 22, 2008, from epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&plugin=0&language=en&pcode=tsdde220.
(2004). Dependence within families and division of labor: Comparing Sweden and the United States. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 66, 1272–1286.
(2003). Doing domestic labor: Strategising in a gendered domain. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 28, 341–366.
(1996). Husbands’ participation in domestic labor: Interactive effects of wives’ and husbands’ gender ideology. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 585–595.
(2000). Economic dependence, gender, and the division of labor in the home: A replication and extension. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 322–335.
(2007). Autonomy, dependence, or display? The relationship between married women’s earnings and housework. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 399–417.
(1989). The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home. New York: Viking.
(2007). World economic outlook database, October 2007 Edition. Retrieved January 19, 2008, from www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2007/02/weodata/index.aspx.
(2004). Division of family work: Revising and expanding the theoretical explanations. Journal of Family Issues, 25, 900–932.
(2006). The division of household labor in Germany and Israel. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 68, 1147–1164.
(1994). Employment schedules among dual-earner spouses and the division of household labor by gender. American Sociological Review, 59, 348–364.
(1996). The division of household labor. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 299–322.
(1997). Marital equality. Its relationship to the well-being of husbands and wives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
(1991). Family work: Women’s sense of fairness. Journal of Family Issues, 12, 181–196.
(1989). Gender in families: Women and men in marriage, work, and parenthood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 845–871.
(