The division of household labor among dual-earner couples: Distinguishing characteristics of egalitarian couples

In recent decades, women's labor force participation rate has begun to mirror that of men's however, their responsibilities at home still significantly outweigh men's. Working wives spend almost twice as many hours per week on housework as their working husbands. Past research has focused on how specific household chores are sex-typed and divided between men and women, but little investigation has focused on those couples who experience a more egalitarian division of housework.The goal of this research is to investigate couples who divide household labor more evenly and compare then to couples where the woman performs most of the housework. What is different about couples who more equitably divide household work? Are there certain background characteristics of men and women that can statistically predict an egalitarian (or inegalitarian) marriage?The study integrates three theoretical perspectives within the research model. Economic theories on comparative advantage suggest that the partner with greater skills or earning potential is more likely to specialize in paid work, leaving the other partner to do the housework. Life course theory points to the importance of the timing, sequencing, and duration of significant life events and transitions such as marriage and childbearing. Gender studies suggest that gender ideology affects allocation of time to housework because it is actually a symbolic representation of gender expectations between spouses.Data come from a nationally representative sample of 13,000 respondents to the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), which contains a significant amount of information on household labor as well as the gender ideology of both husbands and wives. Respondents were chosen for the study sample if they were married, worked fulltime, and had at least one child still living at home. Of the 1,600 couples that fit the sample requirements, approximately 37 percent divide family housework evenly and are considered egalitarian and 63 percent experience a traditional division where the wife performs more than 60 percent of the family housework and are defined as inegalitarian.Findings from this dissertation show that relative resources, life course factors, and gender ideology all significantly affect the marital distribution of household labor (holding other factors constant). As to wife's job prestige and husband's education level, the more resources a spouse possesses, the more likely that spouse is to engage in housework equitably with his or her partner. From a life course perspective, findings show the longer a woman waits to marry, the more likely she is to have an egalitarian marriage and the length of marriage is a positive predictor of an inegalitarian marriage. More important than any other factor, however, are men and women's gender ideologies in predicting an egalitarian relationship. There is a clear and irrefutable link between progressive ideologies and egalitarianism, as well as a link between conservative ideologies and inegalitarianism.