Mother Like Mothers and Work Like Fathers: U.S. Heterosexual College Students\u2019 Assumptions About Who Should Meet Childcare and Housework Demands

Annie McConnon,Allegra J. Midgette,Clare Conry-Murray

doi:10.1007/s11199-021-01252-3

Annie McConnon, Allegra J. Midgette + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01252-3

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Abstract

Many U.S. women report balancing competing demands for labor within the family and the workplace. Prior research has found that young adult heterosexual U.S. women are still anticipating doing the majority of their future family’s childcare and housework, though they hold more progressive gender role attitudes than in the past. The aim of the present study was to investigate the assumptions of 176 heterosexual college students in the U.S. (M age = 20.57, 88.64% European American, 51.70% ciswomen, 48.30% cismen) about how childcare and housework should be balanced in the context of work responsibilities. Participants were asked to rate their level of agreement with two items about working mothers and childcare and working fathers and household care, and provided open-ended responses to explain their justifications for their rating. Open-ended responses were thematically coded. Results revealed that most participants wanted mothers to have the choice to work but considered childcare a limiting problem that (primarily) mothers should solve. Similarly, participants believed that working full-time did not excuse a husband from helping with chores, however they did not express concerns with the term “helping” which implies that the husband would not hold any primary responsibility. Overall, the findings suggest the importance for educational and policymaking interventions and future research to highlight practices that support and encourage the role of men in addressing childcare and household needs.

Highlights

Many women report having to balance competing demands for care labor within the family and paid labor within the workplace (Perry-Jenkins et al, 2007; Shockley et al, 2021)
Married women in the United States in heterosexual relationships who lost access to childcare as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic were more likely to take on childcare duties while working remotely, and this dual labor was associated with a negative impact on women’s well-being as well as their career performance (Collins et al, 2020; Shockley et al, 2021)
Investigating emerging adults as a population (18–25 years old) is important because they are in a period of transition and how they understand and make sense of how paid work and care work should be balanced is likely to affect their division of labor in their future homes (Askari et al, 2010).investigating gender ideologies in the form of open-ended questions (Davis & Greenstein, 2009) can provide much needed insight into how emerging adults make sense of gender roles, the gendering of labor, and balancing work and life demands

Summary

Introduction

Many women report having to balance competing demands for care labor within the family and paid labor within the workplace (Perry-Jenkins et al, 2007; Shockley et al, 2021). According to a study of 21 American heterosexual couples (other demographics not reported) where the woman was earning or had earned 80–100% of the family’s income, 43% of women reported that they felt added pressure and demands such as housework and childcare in addition to the primary breadwinner role (Chesley, 2017) This gender inequality in the home leads to work-life inequalities for U.S women, as they contribute about 96 min more unpaid labor per day than men, and spend about 49 min less than men on leisure activities (i.e., hobbies, watching tv, outdoor activities; OECD, 2019). Prior research suggests that women are often engaged in doing the double shift of paid and unpaid labor

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