Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T15:04:17.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Past and Current Research

from Setting the Stage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2020

By
Francine M. Deutsch  and
Ruth A. Gaunt
Edited by
Francine M. Deutsch  and
Ruth A. Gaunt
Francine M. Deutsch
Affiliation:
Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts
Ruth A. Gaunt
Affiliation:
University of Lincoln
Get access

Summary

Chapter 2 reviews the extant theory and research on domestic labor including scholarship on relative resources, time availability, gender ideology, national context, and doing gender. It then argues that all of these theories are inadequate to explain how some couples are able to achieve equality, and proposes instead to examine the everyday interactions by which couples undo gender.

Keywords

domestic laborrelative resourcestime availabilitygender ideologycross-culturalfamily policydoing genderundoing gender
Type
Chapter
Information
Creating Equality at Home
How 25 Couples around the World Share Housework and Childcare
 , pp. 8 - 28
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aassve, A., Fuochi, G., & Mencarini, L. (2014). Desperate Housework, Relative Resources, Time Availability, Economic Dependency, and Gender Ideology across Europe. Journal of Family Issues, 35(8), 1000–1022.Google Scholar
Altintas, E. & Sullivan, O. (2017). Trends in Fathers’ Contribution to Housework and Childcare under Different Welfare Policy Regimes. Social Politics, 24(1), 81–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, N. (2017). To Provide and Protect: Gendering Money in Ukrainian Households, Gender and Society, 31(3), 359–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baxter, J. & Hewitt, B. (2013). Negotiating Domestic Labor: Women’s Earnings and Housework Time in Australia. Feminist Economics, 19(1), 29–53.Google Scholar
Becker, G. S. (1991). A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, P. E. & Moen, P. (1999). Scaling Back: Dual-earner Couples’ Work-Family Strategies. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61(4), 995–1007.Google Scholar
Berk, S. F. (1985). The Gender Factory: The Apportionment of Work in American Households. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bittman, M., England, L., Sayer, L., Folbre, N., & Mateson, G. (2003). When Does Gender Trump Money? Bargaining and Time in Household Work. American Journal of Sociology, 109(1), 186–114.Google Scholar
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.Google Scholar
Brines, J. (1994). Economic Dependency, Gender, and the Division of Labor at Home. American Journal of Sociology, 100(3), 652–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, T. (2016). Counterfactual Analysis of the Gender Gap in Parenting Time: Explained and Unexplained Variances at Different Stages of Parenting. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 47(2), 95–112.Google Scholar
Cooke, L. P. (2010). The Politics of Housework. In Treas, J. and Drobnič, S. (eds.) Dividing the Domestic: Men, Women, and Household Work (pp. 59–78). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, S. N. & Greenstein, T. N. (2004). Cross-National Variations in the Division of Household Labor. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66(5), 1260–1271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, S. N. & Greenstein, T. N. (2013). Why Study Housework? Cleaning as a Window into Power in Couples. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 5(2), 63–71.Google Scholar
DeMaris, A., Mahoney, A., & Pargament, K. I. (2011). Doing the Scut Work of Infant Care: Does Religiousness Encourage Father Involvement? Journal of Marriage and Family, 73(2), 354–368.Google Scholar
Deutsch, F. M. (1999). Halving it All: How Equally Shared Parenting Works. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Deutsch, F. M. (2007). Undoing Gender. Gender and Society, 21(1), 106–127.Google Scholar
Deutsch, F. M., Lussier, J., & Servis, L. S. (1993). Husbands at Home: The Predictors of Paternal Participation in Childcare and Housework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(6), 1154–1166.Google Scholar
Diefenbach, H. (2002). Gender Ideologies, Relative Resources, and the Division of Housework in Intimate Relationships: A Test of Hyman Rodman’s Theory of Resources in Cultural Context. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 43(1), 45–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domínguez-Folgueras, M., Jurado-Guerrero, T., Botía-Morillas, C., & Amigot-Leache, P. (2017). ‘The House Belongs to Both’: Undoing the Gendered Division of Housework, Community, Work & Family, 20(4), 424–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellingsæter, A. L. (2010). Feminist Policies and Feminist Conflicts: Daddy’s Care or Mother’s Milk? In Scott, J., Crompton, R., & Lyonette, C. (eds.) Gender Inequalities in the 21st Century (pp. 257–274). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Ely, R. J. & Meyerson, D. E. (2010). An Organizational Approach to Undoing Gender: The Unlikely Case of Offshore Oil Platforms. Research in Organizational Behavior, 30, 3–34.Google Scholar
England, P. (2011). Missing the Big Picture and Making Much Ado About Almost Nothing: Recent Scholarship on Gender and Household Work. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 3(1), 23–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
England, P. & Folbre, N. (2005). Gender and Economic Sociology. In Smelser, N. J. & Swedberg, R. (eds.) The Handbook of Economic Sociology (pp. 627–649). Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Evertsson, M. (2014). Gender Ideology and the Sharing of Housework and Childcare in Sweden, Journal of Family Issues, 35(7), 927–949.Google Scholar
Evertsson, M. & Nermo, M. (2007). Changing Resources and the Division of Housework: A Longitudinal Study of Swedish Couples. European Sociological Review, 23(4), 455–470.Google Scholar
Fahlén, S. (2016). Equality at Home – A Question of Career? Housework Norms and Policies in European Perspective. Demographic Research, 35, 1411–1440.Google Scholar
Ferber, M. A. (2008). A Feminist Critique of the Neoclassical Theory of the Family. In Moe, K. S. (ed.) Women, Family, and Work: Writings on the Economics of Gender (pp. 9–24). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Fox, B. (2009). When Couples Become Parents: The Creation of Gender in the Transition to Parenthood. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Fuwa, M. (2004). Macro-level Gender Inequality and the Division of Household Labor in 22 Countries. American Sociological Review, 69(6), 751–767.Google Scholar
Fuwa, M. & Cohen, P. N. (2007). Housework and Social Policy. Social Science Research, 36(2), 512–530.Google Scholar
Gaunt, R. (2005). Value Priorities as a Determinant of Paternal and Maternal Involvement in Child Care. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67(3), 643–655.Google Scholar
Gaunt, R. (2006). Biological Essentialism, Gender Ideologies, and Role Attitudes: What Determines Parents’ Involvement in Child Care. Sex Roles, 55(7), 523–533.Google Scholar
Gaunt, R. (2018). [Men’s Identities and Involvement in Housework and Childcare.] Unpublished raw data.Google Scholar
Gaunt, R. & Scott, J. (2014). Parents’ Involvement in Child Care: Do Parental and Work Identities Matter? Psychology of Women Quarterly, 38(4), 475–489.Google Scholar
Gaunt, R. & Scott, J. (2017). Gender Differences in Identities and their Socio-Structural Correlates: How Gendered Lives Shape Parental and Work Identities. Journal of Family Issues, 38(13), 1852–1877.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geist, C. (2005). The Welfare State and the Home: Regime Differences in the Domestic Division of Labour. European Sociological Review, 21(1), 23–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geist, C. & Cohen, P. N. (2011). Headed Toward Equality? Housework Change in Comparative Perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family, 73(4), 832–844.Google Scholar
Gough, M. & Killewald, A. (2011). Unemployment in Families: The Case of Housework. Journal of Marriage and Family, 73(5), 1085–1100.Google Scholar
Greenstein, T. N. (1996). Husbands’ Participation in Domestic Labor: Interactive Effects of Wives’ and Husbands’ Gender Ideologies. Journal of Marriage and Family, 58(3), 585–595.Google Scholar
Greenstein, T. N. (2000). Economic Dependence, Gender, and the Division of Labor in the Home: A Replication and Extension. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(2) 322–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grunow, D., Schulz, F., & Blossfeld, H. (2012). What Determines Change in Housework Over the Course of Marriage? International Sociology, 27(3), 289–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, S. (2007). Autonomy, Dependence or Display? The Relationship Between Married Women’s Earnings and Housework. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(2), 399–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardill, I., (2004). Juggling Work and Home in a Post-Industrial World: Case Studies of Dual Career Households. Hagar, 5(1), pp. 39–52.Google Scholar
Hinze, S. W. (2000). Inside Medical Marriages: The Effect of Gender on Income. Work and Occupations, 27(4), 464–499.Google Scholar
Hook, J. L. (2006). Care in Context: Men’s Unpaid Work in 20 Countries, 1965–2003. American Sociological Review, 71(4), 639–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hook, J. L. (2010). Gender Inequality in the Welfare State: Sex Segregation in Housework, 1965–2003. American Journal of Sociology, 115(5), 1480–1523.Google Scholar
Hook, J. L. & Wolfe, C. M. (2012). New Fathers? Residential Fathers’ Time with Children in Four Countries, Journal of Family Issues, 33(4), 415–450.Google Scholar
Kamo, Y. (1988). Determinants of Household Division of Labor: Resources, Power, and Ideology, Journal of Family Issues, 9(2), 177–200.Google Scholar
Kan, M. Y. (2008). Does Gender Trump Money? Housework Hours of Husbands and Wives in Britain. Work, Employment, and Society, 22(1), 45–66.Google Scholar
Kan, M. Y. & Gershuny, J. (2010). Gender Segregation and Bargaining in Domestic Labour: Evidence from Longitudinal Time Use Data. In Scott, J., Crompton, R., & Lyonette, C. (eds.) Gender Inequalities in the 21st Century: New Barriers and Continuing Constraints (pp. 153–173). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Killewald, A. & Gough, M. (2010). Money Isn’t Everything: Wives’ Earnings and Housework Time. Social Science Research, 39(6), 987–1003.Google Scholar
Kim, Y. M. (2013). Dependence on Family Ties and Household Division of Labor in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 19(2), 7–35.Google Scholar
Knudsen, K. & Wærness, K. (2008). National Context and Spouses’ Housework in 34 Countries. European Sociological Review, 24(1), 97–113.Google Scholar
Kosakowska-Berezecka, N., Korzeniewska, L., & Kaczorowska, M. (2016). Sharing Housework Can Be Healthy. Health Psychology Report, 4(3), 189–201.Google Scholar
Kühhirt, M. (2012). Childbirth and the Long-Term Division of Labour within Couples: How Do Substitution, Bargaining Power and Norms Affect Parents’ Time Allocation in West Germany? European Sociological Review, 28(5), 565–582.Google Scholar
Kulik, L. & Tsoref, H. (2010). The Entrance to the Maternal Garden: Environmental and Personal Variables that Explain Maternal Gatekeeping. Journal of Gender Studies, 19(3), 263–277.Google Scholar
Langnes, T. F. & Fasting, K. (2017). Gender Constructions in Breaking. Sport in Society, 20(11), 1596–1611.Google Scholar
Lewin-Epstein, N., Stier, H., & Braun, M. (2006). The Division of Household Labor in Germany and Israel. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68(5), 1147–1164.Google Scholar
Luke, N., Xu, H., & Thampi, B. V. (2014). Husbands’ Participation in Housework and Child Care in India, Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(3), 620–637.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyonette, C. & Crompton, R. (2015). Sharing the Load? Partners’ Relative Earnings and the Domestic Division of Labor. Work, Employment, and Society, 29(1), 23–40.Google Scholar
Mannino, C. A. & Deutsch, F. M. (2007). Changing the Division of Household Labor: A Negotiated Process Between Partners. Sex Roles, 56(5–6), 309–324.Google Scholar
Maume, D. J. (2011). Reconsidering the Temporal Increase in Fathers’ Time with Children. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 32(3), 411–423.Google Scholar
McGill, B. S. (2014). Navigating New Norms of Involved Fatherhood: Employment, Fathering Attitudes, and Father Involvement. Journal of Family Issues, 35(8), 1089–1106.Google Scholar
Moon, S. H. & Shin, J. (2018). THE Return of superman? Individual and Organizational Predictors of Men’s Housework in South Korea. Journal of Family Issues, 39(1), 180–208.Google Scholar
Petts, R. J., Shafer, K. M., & Essig, L. (2018). Does Adherence to Masculine Norms Shape Fathering Behavior? Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(3), 704–720.Google Scholar
Pfau-Effinger, B. (2010). Cultural and Institutional Contexts. In Treas, J. and Drobnič, S. (eds.) Dividing the Domestic: Men, Women, and Household Work (pp. 125–146). Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Rostosky, S. S. & Riggle, E. D. (2017). Same-Sex Couple Relationship Strengths: A Review and Synthesis of the Empirical Literature (2000–2016). Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 4(1), 1–13.Google Scholar
Sayer, L. C. (2010). Trends in Housework. In Treas, J. and Drobnič, S. (eds.) Dividing the Domestic: Men, Women, and Household Work (pp. 19–38). Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Shaw, S. M. (2001). Conceptualizing Resistance: Women’s Leisure as Political Practice. Journal of Leisure Research, 33(2), 186–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelton, B. A. (2000). Understanding the Distribution of Housework Between Husbands and Wives. In Waite, L., Bachrach, C., Hindin, M., Thomson, E., & Thornton, A. (eds.) Ties that Bind: Perspectives on Marriage and Cohabitation (pp. 242–355), Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Shelton, B. A. & John, D. (1996). The Division of Household Labor. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 299–322.Google Scholar
Shows, C. & Gerstel, N. (2009). Fathering, Class, and Gender: A Comparison of Physicians and Emergency Medical Technicians. Gender and Society, 23(2), 161–187.Google Scholar
Starbuck, G. H. & Lundy, K. S. (2016). Families in Context: Sociological Perspectives. Abington: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sullivan, O. (2011). An End to Gender Display through the Performance of Housework? A Review and Reassessment of the Quantitative Literature Using Insights from the Qualitative Literature. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 3(1), 1–13.Google Scholar
Sullivan, O. & Gershuny, J. (2016). Change in Spousal Human Capital and Housework: A Longitudinal Analysis. European Sociological Review, 32(6), 864–880.Google Scholar
Tate, C. C., Ben Hagai, E., & Crosby, F. J. (2019). Undoing the Gender Binary. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Tesch, R. (1990). Qualitative Research: Analysis Types and Software Tools. New York: Falmer.Google Scholar
Treas, J. & Tai, T. (2016). Gender Inequality in Housework across 20 European Nations: Lessons from Gender Stratification Theories. Sex Roles, 74(11–12), 495–511.Google Scholar
van der Lippe, T. (2010). Women’s Employment and Housework. In Treas, J. and Drobnič, S. (eds.) Dividing the Domestic: Men, Women, and Household Work (pp. 41–58). Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Walzer, S. (1996). Thinking About the Baby: Gender and Divisions of Infant Care. Social Problems, 43(2), 219–234.Google Scholar
West, C. & Zimmerman, D. (1987). Doing Gender. Gender and Society, 1(2), 125–151.Google Scholar
Young, M. & Schieman, S. (2018). Scaling Back and Finding Flexibility: Gender Differences in Parents’ Strategies to Manage Work–Family Conflict. Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(1) 99–118.Google Scholar
Zhang, Z. (2017). Division of Housework in Transitional Urban China. Chinese Sociological Review, 49(3), 263–291.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×