Housework Division and Perceived Fairness: The Importance of Comparison Referents

Abstract

A long-standing theoretical tradition underlines the importance of comparison referents for fairness evaluation, i.e., people, experiences and expectations that individuals choose to compare with their own situation. However, few studies on perceived fairness of housework division have measured and tested comparison referents, partly because of the lack of suitable data. Moreover, findings were sometimes mixed because small convenience samples were used. Previous literature also neglected the distortive effects of self-serving bias in the choice of referents. This study, conducted in an Italian context, seeks to overcome these limitations by using a probabilistic sample and two different designs: a survey data analysis and an experimental-vignette technique which avoids the distortions of self-serving bias. The survey's findings reveal that the effects of comparison referents are strong and in line with expectations, though limited to the domestic behavior of male referents. Moreover, unfavorable comparisons have a stronger effect on perceived fairness than favorable ones. The vignette analysis indicates that comparison referents affect perceived housework fairness even if the effect of self-serving bias is controlled for.

Chinese and South Korean Families' Conceptualizations of a Fair Household Labor Distribution

“…As a result, for those who reject principles of fairness in the home, other aspects of the distributive justice framework (i.e., comparison referent), may remain unconsidered because the situation is not being read as one that requires a certain type of distribution or justice. The acceptance or rejection of principles of fairness to the home context may explain variation in prior findings regarding the presence or absence of particular dimensions of the distributive justice framework (e.g., Carriero & Todesco, ; Nordenmark & Nyman, ).…”

“…are all factors that influence how individuals decide whether the division of labor between partners is fair (Major, ; Thompson, ). In support of this framework, Carriero and Todesco () found that comparison referents did impact fairness perceptions, but unexpectedly only in the case of men's comparison referents (i.e., comparing the behavior of a man with those of other men), where if the man was seen as doing less than other men, it was more likely to be considered unfair. In another study, Lachance‐Grzela et al () argued for the importance of investigating relational and interpersonal outcome values, such as whether women felt like they mattered.…”

“…Despite the near universality of women's greater overall participation in household labor, cross‐cultural research has found that on average almost half of women consider their family's distribution of household labor fair ( Carriero & Todesco, ; Greenstein, ; Lachance‐Grzela & Bouchard, ; Öun, ; Zuo & Bian, ). For example, based on the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) 2002 module on Family and Changing Gender Roles, Braun, Lewin‐Epstein, Stier, & Baumgärtner () found that across 25 countries (excluding China and South Korea), 44.6% of women described themselves as doing a fair share of their family's household labor.…”

Attitudes towards sharing housework in couple context: An empirical, factorial survey approach

“…Extensive research in the field of gender role attitudes has shown all kinds of individual socio-demographic variations in gender role attitudes, even for very different dimensions of housework (e.g., Askari et al 2010;Braun & Scott 2009;Cunningham 2001;Dempsey 2001;Grunow & Baur 2014;Kroska 2003;Ogletree, Worthen, Turner & Vickers 2006;Pampel 2011;Poortman & van der Lippe 2009;Robinson & Milkie 1998;Spitze & Loscocco 2000;van Berkel & de Graaf 1999). However, there is a knowledge gap if these attitudes differ in potential situations of couples that are independent of the respondents' own sociodemographic situation (Auspurg, Iacovou & Nicoletti 2017;Carriero & Todesco 2016Doan & Quadlin 2019).…”

“…Previous research has shown that attitudes are sensitive to contextual variations that may be independent of the actual socio-economic profiles of women and men (Pedulla & Thébaut 2015). Previous studies have emphasized the importance of equity (Auspurg, Iacovou & Nicoletti 2017;Carriero & Todesco 2016 and relative resources, as well as gender, (Doan & Quadlin 2019) in evaluating arrangements for housework sharing in couples. In addition, it is plausible that other signs of couples, such as marriage, influence the attitudes of the individual.…”