Attitudes Toward Housework and Child Care and the Gendered Division of Labor

Research on the division of household labor has typically examined the role of time availability, relative resources, and gender ideology. We explore the gendered meaning of domestic work by examining the role of men's and women's attitudes toward household labor. Using data from the Dutch...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marriage and family 2009-08, Vol.71 (3), p.526-541
Main Authors: Poortman, Anne-Rigt, Van Der Lippe, Tanja
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude Measures
Attitudes
Child care
Child Rearing
Childrearing Practices
Cleaning
Division of labor
Division of labour
Educational standards
Effect Size
Employed Women
Employment
Families & family life
Family
family roles
Family studies
Female labour
Females
Foreign Countries
Gender and Family Processes
Gender Differences
Gender differentiation
Gender roles
General studies
Households
Housekeeping
Housework
Ideology
Influences
Labor
Males
Men
Netherlands
Psychological attitudes
Responsibility
Sex
Sex Role
Sexual Division of Labor
Sociology
Sociology of the family. Age groups
Surveys
Working women
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Summary:Research on the division of household labor has typically examined the role of time availability, relative resources, and gender ideology. We explore the gendered meaning of domestic work by examining the role of men's and women's attitudes toward household labor. Using data from the Dutch Time Competition Survey (N = 732), we find that women have more favorable attitudes toward cleaning, cooking, and child care than do men: Women enjoy it more, set higher standards for it, and feel more responsible for it. Furthermore, women's favorable and men's unfavorable attitudes are associated with women's greater contribution to household labor. Effects are stronger for housework than child care, own attitudes matter more than partner's, and men's attitudes are more influential than women's.
ISSN:0022-2445
1741-3737
DOI:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00617.x