Predicting the Sharing of Household Labor: Are Parenting and Housework Distinct?

Abstract

Using a representative sample of married couples with preschool-aged children in the United States, this study analyzes the conditions under which husbands share household tasks conventionally performed by wives. Survey data are analyzed using LISREL VII procedures, with proportional hourly contributions to child care (feeding, bathing, dressing, or putting child to bed) and housework (housecleaning, shopping, cooking, meal cleanup or laundry) treated as conceptually distinct dependent variables. Husbands perform an average of 26 percent of the child care and 21 percent of the housework and contribute more to both child care and housework if they are employed fewer hours than their wives. For housework, couples share more if wives earn a larger share of the family income, have more education, and hold more favorable attitudes toward maternal employment. For preschool-aged child care, couples share more if they have more and older children and husbands hold more favorable attitudes toward maternal employment. Theoretical explanations for the observed findings are discussed; we advocate modeling and measuring child care and housework as distinct, but interrelated activities.

Division of Labor Among Lesbian and Heterosexual Parenting Couples: Correlates of Specialized Versus Shared Patterns

“…Fathers who spent more hours at work were less involved in childcare at home. Thus, our findings for heterosexual parents did not provide evidence for Relative Resources, Ideological, or Family Systems hypotheses, but they were consistent with Structural hypotheses about division of labor (Blair & Litcher, 1991;Cowan & Cowan, 1992;Ishii-Kuntz & Coltrane, 1992).Interestingly, the correlates of parental participation in childcare among lesbian mothers were different than those among heterosexual couples. For lesbian couples, we studied correlates of the second mother's participation in childcare.…”

“…Among lesbian couples, this view would predict, for example, that the partner who works fewer hours in paid employment will do more unpaid family work. In support of this view, Cowan and Cowan (1992) reported that fathers who spent fewer hours in paid employment were more involved in childcare; and similar findings have been reported by other investigators working with heterosexual couples (Blair & Litcher, 1991;Ishii-Kuntz & Coltrane, 1992;Kamo, 1991). Again, Blumstein and Schwartz (1983) reported anecdotal data from lesbian couples that were consistent with predictions based on this view, but more formal study has been lacking.…”

The Internal Structure and Ecological Context of Coparenting: A Framework for Research and Intervention

“…Third, work and family spheres compete for parents' time, and such tensions contribute to interparental conflicts (Guelzow, Bird, & Koball, 1991;Menaghan, 1991;Thompson, 1997;Volling & Belsky, 1992). For example, parent involvement in paid work influences the actual division of labor arrangements inside the home: When wives work outside the home, fathers tend to be more involved in chores and childcare (Ishii-Kuntz & Coltrane, 1992), However, dual-earner fathers are less sensitive to sons and more negative to wives compared to sole breadwinners (Braungart-Rieker, Courtney, & Garwood, 1999;Crouter, Perry-Jenkins, Huston, & McHale, 1987; also see Easterbrooks & Goldberg, 1985). Crouter et al (1987) suggested that, in general, husbands' may react negatively to the "push" to be involved in childcare in dual-earner couples and/or the conflictual interactions that stem from wives' efforts to achieve that end (also see Grych & Clark, 1999).…”

Mares sobrecarregades. Factors que causen més dedicació de les mares en el treball domèstic

“…Aquesta perspectiva està vinculada a la teoria econòmica de Becker, ja que postula la idea que en una llar «racional» hauria d'augmentar la dedicació a les tasques domèstiques per part d'aquells membres que passen menys temps en un treball remunerat i, per tant, tenen menys avantatges en el mercat laboral. En la mateixa línia, alguns estudis troben una relació positiva entre la feina remunerada de les dones i la seva dedicació (hores de feina) amb el treball domèstic dels seus marits (Bianchi et al, 2000;Greenstein, 1996;Ishii-Kuntz i Coltrane, 1992;Blair i Lichter, 1991;Kamo, 1988;Ross, 1987). Alguns autors, però, critiquen els estudis en què només s'entén la distribució de tasques a partir dels recursos relatius i de la disponibilitat de temps de cada membre, argumentant que és necessari incloure la «ideologia de gènere» per entendre la bretxa que hi ha entre homes i dones en la dedicació a la llar.…”