Gender, Housework, and Marital Quality in Japan

• In Event: 4251 - Macro-micro Intersections of Gender Inequality

Abstract

We examine how the division of housework and decision-making between spouses are associated with marital quality in Japan. Using data from the Survey of Midlife Development in Japan (MIDJA), we find that husbands who think their wives do more housework than they do report higher marital quality. We see no comparable pattern for wives, and this gender difference is significant. For wives, the level of joint decision-making appears to be directly and indirectly, i.e., through affectual solidarity, has a positive effect on marital quality. The gender difference in the effect of joint decision making within marriage is significant under various specifications. Our study calls into attention the effect of joint decision making on marital quality in a society such as Japan with serious gender inequality in the labor market.

Authors

• Hiromi Taniguchi, University of Louisville

• Gayle Kaufman, Davidson College