Role Structure of Dual Career Families

Abstract

After the traumatic experiences of World War II the Japanese people underwent radical changes in all spheres of their lives. The family, in consequence, has changed dramatically in its structure, functions, and the pattern of interpersonal relationships. The present article attempts to analyze the changing pattern of the decision-making process and the division of labor in contemporary urban families. The focus of attention was placed on the clarification of the differences between the internal structure of the “working wife” and the “non-working wife” families. During the summer of 1965 intensive interviews were conducted among 60 families of primary school teachers in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Three major findings emerged. First, in the nonworking wife families the traditional gender role identifications were clearly observed between husband and wife, whereas in the working wife families husband and wife tend to cooperate for the family management. Secondly, being financially powerless, these nonworking wives tend to be more dependent on husbands than the working wives during the final decision-making processes, especially in the case of important financial decisions. Thirdly, the social experiences of working wives contributed significantly to the enhancement of their consciousness, freedom of thought and independent- mindedness. The urban families could be divided into two types: the “division of labor-type-companionship family” where the wife does not participate in the labor force, and the “cooperation in labor-type companionship family” in dual-career families. Now that the development of capitalism has resulted in a striking increase in the number of married women in the labor force, the “cooperation in labor-type-companionship family” is one of the dominant features of the modern urban family. The growing popularity of dual-career families would certainly contribute to the gradual improvement of the internal structure of urban families.