Intensive Partnering: Gendered Partnership Aspiration and Household Inequality

• In Event: 20226 - Marriage, Civil Unions, and Cohabitation

Abstract

Existing scholarship addressing the discrepancy between rising egalitarian gender ideals and persistent household inequalities have either focused on structural/cultural influences on couple dynamics or on couples’ post-hoc justifications. This study identifies an overlooked perceptual mechanism - a “guideline for partnership” - that operates prior to the power dynamic and shapes couples’ interactions, resource distribution, and responsibility allocation. Using 89 interviews with college-educated individuals, I argue that their partnership ideals can be characterized as “intensive partnering,” a multi-layered concept emphasizing intertwining support for the partner, relationship, and household. Its maintenance demands intensive and extensive energy, cognitive capacity, and emotional investment; continuous adaptation and incorporation of cultural tools in adjustment to partner’s expectations; and persistent assessment of both parties’ personal and professional lives. Notably, female participants emphasized these demands more frequently than their male counterparts. These insights illuminate the perceptual underpinnings of household gender dynamics, opening new research directions on domestic gender inequality.

Author

• Yinan Wang, Harvard University