The Division of Household Labor

Abstract

Although the question of division of household labor between wives and their husbands has been of interest to social scientists for quite some time, in general we do not know much beyond how much time each spends in such activity. While lack of detail and datedness hamper studies based on most large scale data sets, it is possible to glean some initial impressions from the existing work. Those data suggest that there are important qualitative differences between the work that men and women do within the household. This article reviews those findings and presents a gender stratification theoretical framework that appears promising for the examination of the qualitative differences in household and child care division of labor. Three general hypotheses focusing on the concept of the wife's “net economic power” are derived from this framework. Furthermore, the differential impacts of the earnings ratio between husband and wife, stability of that ratio, and presence of surplus income on household division of labor are considered by class. It is suggested that future study focusing on the qualitative aspects of housework and child care sharing within this framework can have social science and policy implications.