Elsevier

Social Science Research

Volume 39, Issue 6, November 2010, Pages 976-986
Social Science Research

Mattering and wives’ perceived fairness of the division of household labor

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.04.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Using data on married women from the sixth survey wave of the Marital Instability over the Life Course (2000, N = 489), we examine the influence of mattering, or the extent to which wives believe they are important to their husbands, on wives’ perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor. Mattering taps into wives’ beliefs about their husbands’ supportiveness of them, as evidenced by respect, concern, and appreciation. We find that the more wives believe they matter to their husbands, the more likely they are to report the division of housework is fair, regardless of the share of housework wives perform, time availability, relative resources, and gender role attitudes. This research contributes to prior work on wives’ perceived fairness of the division of household labor by demonstrating the salience of broader emotional dynamics in the marriage.

Introduction

Although wives perform about twice as much household labor as their husbands, they usually report this division of labor is fair (Coltrane, 2000, Gager and Hohmann-Marriott, 2006, Lennon and Rosenfield, 1994, Major, 1993, Sanchez, 1994, Thompson, 1991). It is possible that this is because wives do not gauge fairness in terms of equality, or maybe appraisals of the fairness of the division of household labor are part of a broader calculus concerning gender-based exchange in marital relationships (Becker, 1981). However, most wives do not enjoy doing housework (Thompson, 1991). Wives often report negative emotions towards household labor, including stress, frustration, exhaustion, and boredom (Gager, 1998). Still, negative feelings about household labor typically do not translate into perceptions of unfairness of the division of household labor among wives, revealing a critical discrepancy between individual behavior and emotional dynamics. Indeed, Thompson (1991) calls for greater attention to emotional factors in research on wives’ fairness perceptions and household labor.

In this study, we introduce the concept of mattering as a predictor of wives’ perceived fairness of the division of household labor. In a marital relationship, mattering refers to an individual’s perception of the level of concern one’s spouse has for the individual, that is, how much a wife perceives she matters to her husband (Booth et al., 2003). We examine the association between mattering and wives’ perceived fairness of the division of household labor using data from the sixth survey wave (2000) of the national Marital Instability over the Life Course study. Prior studies show that the emotional rewards wives receive by performing household labor, such as providing care for loved ones and appreciation from husbands, are important factors for their fairness perceptions of the division of household labor (Blair and Johnson, 1992, Hawkins et al., 1995, Hochschild, 1989, Thompson, 1991). Thus, we expect that mattering enhances perceptions of fairness among wives regardless of the actual distribution of household labor. Wives’ perceptions of how they matter to their husbands should be positively associated with their perceived fairness of the division of household labor, net of their own appraisals of their obligations to their husbands and the amount of labor they perform.

The next section reviews the theoretical perspectives that guide the literature on the division of household labor among married couples. Then, we draw on distributive justice theory to elucidate how our concept of mattering might inform the apparent discrepancy between the actual distribution of household labor and wives’ reported fairness of the division of household labor. Next, we present empirical results of the association between mattering and perceived fairness of the division of household labor, net of other factors known to be related to either the division of household labor or fairness perceptions. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the salience of mattering and its role in future research on perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor.

Section snippets

The division of household labor

A majority of married women are in the paid labor force today (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). Still, married women–regardless of employment status–perform most of the household labor. Recent studies show married mothers spent an average of 19 h on housework per week in 2000, and married fathers spent an average of 10 h per week (Bianchi et al., 2006). Several theoretical perspectives have been invoked to account for this gendered division of labor. Early research on this topic led to the development

Fairness perceptions about the division of household labor

Despite the gender imbalance in housework performance, wives rarely report that the division of household labor is unfair (Coltrane, 2000, Gager and Hohmann-Marriott, 2006, Lennon and Rosenfield, 1994, Major, 1993, Sanchez, 1994, Thompson, 1991). Married women tend to perceive unfairness of the division of labor when they contribute at least 66% of the total household labor while the threshold for male counterparts is about 36% (Lennon and Rosenfield, 1994). Thus, married women (and men)

Current investigation

The emotional rewards wives receive from interactions within the marital relationship seem to be quite influential on their perceptions of the fairness of the division of household labor. However, previous research (e.g., Hawkins et al., 1995) showing that husbands’ feelings of appreciation for wives’ household labor are central to wives’ perception of fairness only considers emotional dynamics specific to the division of household labor. To decipher the discrepancy between behavior and

Method

In this study, data from the sixth wave (2000) of the Marital Instability over the Life Course (Booth et al., 2003) are used to examine the association between mattering and wives’ perceived fairness of the division of household labor. Data collection began in 1980 with a national sample of married persons. The respondents were re-interviewed in 1983, 1988, 1992, 1997, and 2000. We rely on this latest wave of data not only because it is the most recent, but because it is the only one that

Analytic plan

This study examines whether mattering is positively associated with wives’ perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor. Since the dependent variable is binary, 0 = unfair and 1 = fair, logistic regression is used in the analyses. In order to test whether mattering is positively associated with wives’ perceived fairness of the division of household labor, mattering and demographic characteristics are entered into model 1. Then, economic characteristics (i.e., indicators of time

Results

The results of the series of logistic regression analyses, which examine the influence of mattering on women’s perceived fairness, are shown in Table 2. Model 1 reveals that mattering is significantly positively related to perceived fairness, controlling for demographic characteristics. The more wives believe they matter to their husbands, the more likely they are to report that the division of household labor is fair. No demographic characteristics are significantly associated with wives’

Discussion and conclusion

This study aimed to examine the influence of mattering on wives’ sense of fairness in the division of household labor by using data from the sixth wave of the Marital Instability over the Life Course (Booth et al., 2003). We conceptualize mattering as wives’ perceptions that they are important to their husbands. As expected, mattering is positively related to wives’ perceived fairness of the division of household labor. Feelings of respect and concern from husbands are associated with a greater

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    Earlier versions of this paper were presented at 102nd American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 11–14, 2007 in New York, NY and at the 1st Annual BGSU-OSU Graduate Student Conference, October 26, 2007, in Columbus, OH. The authors thank Joan Huber, Claire Kamp-Dush, I-Fen Lin, and Laura Sanchez for their helpful comments on the paper. This research was supported, in part, by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD050959-01).

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