Empty-nest Families Research Articles

Relationship between gender and food roles in the family

The purpose of this study was to examine male and female roles in the performance of food-related household tasks. A total of 336 couples in four life-cycle stages — young families, maturing families, middle-age empty-nest families, and retirement families — were interviewed in their homes. Despite major societal changes in sex-role definitions and the increased employment of women outside the home, husbands and wives at all life-cycle stages agreed that food selection and preparation should be the domain of women. Consistent with the normative expectation, spouses reported that food-related activities were conducted primarily by wives, with only minor help from husbands. There was little or no marital conflict over the equity of the role expectation and performance. Husbands in the younger life-cycle stages thought that they should do more food preparation, and did in fact do slightly more cooking than husbands in later life cycles, but no more food selection; younger wives also thought that husbands should do more in food-related tasks. Husbands in older families tended to be more involved in food shopping and food budget decisions.