Who Does the Dishes? Fairness and Household Chores

• In Event: 414 - Regular Session. New Directions in Research on Housework

Abstract

Women in industrial countries do most of the household chores and yet find this to be “fair.” Why does this happen? Using original data collected through a web-administered survey on Japanese married women aged from 25 to 54 (N=1496), this study tested four hypotheses: 1) economic resource theory; 2) time constraint theory; 3) gender value theory; and 4) relative deprivation theory. The results support time constraint theory and relative deprivation theory. Wife’s work hours affect sense of fairness, while income and gender values were not significant. Moreover, women are more likely to accept the division of household labor as fair, if they perceive that other wives with similar life settings in general public are faring poorly. In addition, those women who perceive their division of labor as fair are actually happier. By not knowing there are couples with a more equitable household division of labor, women managed to be happier, even when the division of labor is unbalanced.

Authors

• Mayumi Nakamura, University of Toyama

• Mito Akiyoshi, Senshu University