A Typology of Household Work Performance by Employment Demands

Abstract

A typology of husbands' and wives' performance of household tasks by employment demands is proposed, and the literature on division of labor in the household is reviewed for support of the categories. The components used to create the typology are employment or nonemployment of the spouses, type of boundary between employment and family responsibilities, and gender-or skills-based division of household labor. Type of household work performance by employment demands is viewed as traditional, additive, employment-transitional, family-transitional, or reversed traditional. Thus, the typology begins with and builds on traditional roles. It is unique in that it incorporates conceptually the husband's and wife's employment demands (beyond number of hours worked) in studying household work performance. Suggestions for using the typology in future research are presented.