Family Work Performance and Satisfaction

Abstract

Using data taken from a random sample of married and cohabiting couples (N = 96), we examine the factors associated with a couple's division of unpaid family work. We extend the usual analyses by testing, in addition to gender ideology and relative resource factors, the role of a partner's emotion-work performance. We find that all three perspectives are relevant to the discussion of unpaid family work: gender ideology and relative resources are associated with the division of housework and child care, and partner's emotion-work performance is the most predictive of domestic-labor satisfaction.

The influence of gender, age, education and household size on meal preparation and food shopping responsibilities

“…(36) The division of household labor has much to do with time availability, employment, work hours, occupational prestige, individual income, and relative resources. (8; 15; 19; 24; 25; 37; 38; 39) Generally, in less egalitarian couples, food chore responsibilities are assigned based on accommodating the primary breadwinner’s role. (40) And although women generally take responsibility for these food-related tasks, some work has argued that when women have an income, they tend to use it towards family expenditures, (41) while other work has argued that men ultimately control the finances and food decisions due to their greater economic resources.…”

“…Indeed, the gendered division of labour in the home can be a function of both 'doing gender' and the economic dependency of women (36) . The division of household labour has much to do with time availability, employment, work hours, occupational prestige, individual income and relative resources (8,15,19,24,25,(37)(38)(39) . Generally, in less egalitarian couples, food chore responsibilities are assigned based on accommodating the primary breadwinner's role (40) .…”

The Division of Labor in Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual New Adoptive Parents

“…The relative economic resource model suggests that the more equal husbands' and wives' financial contributions are, the more equally unpaid labor is divided (Coverman, 1985). Some studies have found that when women's incomes are more similar to their husbands, their own housework contributions are lessened, or their husbands' contributions increase (Deutsch et al, 1993;McFarlane et al, 2000;Presser, 1994;Stevens, Minnotte, Mannon, & Kiger, 2006). It is of note, however, that Bittman, England, Sayer, Folbre, and Matheson (2003) found that women's relative earnings decreased their own housework contributions only to the point of equality with their husbands; women whose relative income was more than 50% tended to do more housework.…”

“…A smaller literature has linked partners' relative resources (percentage of contribution) and discrepancies (simple differences) in relative resources to the division of child care. For example, Stevens et al (2006) found that higher relative income was associated with fewer hours engaged in child care for both husbands and wives. Patterson et al (2004) found that, among lesbian inseminating parents, but not heterosexual biological parents, discrepancies in education level between partners was linked to discrepancies in child-care contribution, but not housework.…”

Couples’ Communication Behaviour and the Gender Division of Family Work Across the Transition to Parenthood

“…Emotion work or emotional support often refer to behaviours like listening and talking about the other person's thoughts and feelings, expressing appreciation and encouragement and supporting one's partner when they encounter problems (Erickson, 2005). Results from the United States and Germany show that women's emotion work correlates with her lower share of housework, but has no effect on her relative involvement in childcare (Horne & Johnson, 2018;Stevens, Minnotte, Mannon, & Kiger, 2006). The same analyses reveal that men's emotion work is associated with a more equal gender division of housework and childcare.…”