Changing the Division of Household Labor: A Negotiated Process Between Partners

Abstract

This short-term longitudinal study expands on previous theoretical approaches, as we examined how women's assertiveness and the strategies they use to elicit more household labor from husbands help to explain the division of labor and how it changes. Participants included 81 married women with 3-and 4-year-old children who completed two telephone interviews, approximately 2 months apart. Results based on quantitative and qualitative analyses show that (a) relative resource, structural, and gender ideology variables predicted the division of housework, but not childcare; (b) assertive women were closer to their ideal division of childcare than nonassertive women; (c) women who made a larger proportion of family income were less assertive about household labor than other women, but when they were assertive, they had a more equal division of childcare; (d) women who earned the majority of their household's income showed the least change; and (e) the nature of women's attempts to elicit change may be critical to their success.

Power and the gendered division of contraceptive use in Western European couples

“…This perspective states that partners engage in a relationship or marriage with differing levels of resources (Blood and Wolfe, 1960). The greater a partner's resources-such as level of education, income and occupational status-the higher his/her power (Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010;Mannino and Deutsch, 2007). This marital power can be employed to control decision-making in diverse areas (Mannino and Deutsch, 2007;Stolley, 1996).…”

“…Elaborating on Bertotti's (2013) and Fennell's (2011) studies, two alternative power perspectives-the relative resource theory and the gender perspectives-are applied. As studies consistently find that higher marital power, or a partner's ability to impose his/her will on the other (Blood and Wolfe, 1960), increases one's say in couples' decisions-making (Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010;Mannino and Deutsch, 2007), there is also a growing awareness that power within sexual relationships may affect individuals' ability to meet their reproductive goals (Grady et al, 2010).…”

“I Just Can’t Clean the Bathroom as Well as You Can!”: Communicating Domestic Labor Task Equity-Resistance and Equity-Restoring Strategies Among Married Individuals

“…Despite increases in women's presence in paid work, women are still the primary provider of domestic labor, including completing household tasks (Bartley, Blanton, & Gilliard, 2011;Lachance-Grzela & Bouchard, 2010), caring for children (Mannino & Deutsch, 2007;Mederer, 1993), and managing family time (Kinney, Dunn, & Hofferth, 2000;Schulte, 2014). These disproportionate allocations of domestic responsibilities provide one explanation for women's slower promotion and lower compensation compared to men in paid labor (Hewlett, 2007;Hochschild, 1997;Valian, 1999) when assumptions about gender roles lead to perceptions that women are not "serious" or "ambitious" (Stone, 2007).…”

“…However, Mannino and Deutsch (2007) report in a longitudinal study that 43% of women plan to change household task allocations. Further, the division of household labor is a frequent discussion topic among couples.…”

“…In such cases, the inequitable division of labor may be a domain-specific source of inequity perceptions that, nonetheless, can affect individuals' global perceptions of relational equity. In a longitudinal study, Mannino and Deutsch (2007) report that many women who perceive an inequity involving household task allocation indicate an intention to change this domain-specific issue. However, when both men and women perceive inequity in their relationship, this uneasy feeling can result in an attempt to restore equity (Weigel, Bennett, & Ballard-Reisch, 2006).…”