This article explored the association between economic activity and the contribution to domestic labor in a Middle Eastern society. Analyses were carried out on cross-sectional survey data from 5,998 individuals, aged between 18 and 64 years, in three poor communities in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Domestic labor was evaluated with a composite index that takes into account both the type of task performed and the level of involvement. Housework categories included core household chores, care giving, financial management, home management, and home/car maintenance. Results showed that women continue to do most of the domestic labor in the three communities. However, women's load of domestic labor decreased as they joined the labor market, whereas men's contribution to domestic labor increased with involvement in paid work. Relatively speaking, the difference in contribution to housework between house members engaged and not engaged in paid labor was much higher for women than it was for men.
KeywordsDomestic labor; Housework; Paid work; Patriarchy; Middle East; Lebanon Women have been traditionally designated to perform housework (Coltrane, 2000;Grana, Moore, Wilson, & Miller, 1993;Shelton & John, 1996). Studies in the literature have highlighted a shift in gender roles and an increase in women's participation in the labor force over the past four decades (Apparala, Reifman, & Munsch, 2003;Bolak, 1997;Corrigall & Konrad, 2006;Grana et al., 1993;McKeen & Bu, 2005;Spade & Reese, 1991;Starrels, 1994). A large body of literature has addressed the gendered division of household tasks in Western societies (Coltrane, 2000;Demo & Acock, 1993;Shelton & John, 1996;Twiggs, McQuillan, & Ferree, 1999). Studies have shown an increasing contribution of men especially when women participate in the labor force (Brines, 1994;Hossain & Roopnarine, 1993;Nakhaie, 1995). Research in Western societies has shown that the relative contributions of household members to domestic labor are affected by their labor force participation, whether they generate an income or not, and how dependent they are on others for economic support (Baxter, 2002;Bianchi, Milkie, Sayer, & Robinson, 2000;Blood & Wolfe, 1960;Brines, 1994;Coltrane, 2000;Greenstein, 2000;McFarlane, Beaujot, & Haddad, 2000). It follows that women contribute less to household labor when their involvement in paid work gives them an income and decreases available time to perform housework. As more women join the work force, researchers have hypothesized that their load of household tasks lessens and is absorbed by men within the household (Baxter, 2002;Brayfield, 1992) or by paid helpers.Correspondence to: Rima R. Habib.
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UKPMC Funders Group Author ManuscriptOn the other hand, the results of other research suggest that women's economic activity and income do not reduce their contribution to household labor in societies where marital power and financial resources remain in the hands of men (Diefenbach, 2002;Greenstein...