416 Chapter 11be discussed in more depth in Chapter 12,
women and men make same-sex compari-
sons. That is, women compare what they do
at home to what other women do at home
but not to what their husbands do at home.
Women compare their husbands’ involve-
ment in household labor to that of other men.
A woman may be satisfied that her husband
performs 25% of household chores because
the neighbor’s husband does not participate
in any household chores. Wives’ evaluations
of husbands’ assistance at home may be even
more favorable if the comparison referents
become men of previous generations: fathers
or grandfathers. Thus one reason women
are not as dissatisfied with the division of
labor as we would expect is that they do not
directly compare themselves to men. How-
ever, the comparison referent may be start-
ing to change for women. One study showed
that women compared their contribution to
the division of labor to that of their husbands
as well as other women, whereas men only
compared their contribution to that of othermore time on household chores than men
who did not have marriage plans (Ciabattari,
2004). Women’s relationship commitment
was unrelated to their contribution to house-
hold chores. A study of married couples
showed that men’s dedication to the relation-
ship was associated with wives being more
satisfied with the division of labor (Rhoades,
Petralla et al., 2006).Satisfaction
Are women and women satisfied with an
inequitable division of labor? Not surpris-
ingly, women are less satisfied than men with
this state of affairs (Erickson, 2005; Stevens
et al., 2006). A wife’s perception of inequity
in the division of labor is associated with di-
vorce (Frisco & Williams, 2003) as well as the
breakup of relationships among cohabiting
couples (Hohmann-Marriott, 2006).
However, not all women value an equal
division of labor. Socioeconomic status,
egalitarian attitudes, and women’s employ-
ment status all influence how an inequitable
division of labor is perceived. One study of
working-class women showed that those
who spent less time on child care than they
expected and whose husbands spent more
time on child care than they expected were
more rather than less distressed (Goldberg &
Perry-Jenkins, 2004). This was especially the
case for women with a traditional gender-
role ideology.
Among women who value equity in
the division of labor, men do not have to
perform half of the chores for women to be
satisfied. In fact, rarely is household labor
divided 50:50, even when women and men
work equally outside the home. Why are
women satisfied with a less-than-equitable
division of labor? One answer has to do
with to whom women compare themselves,
that is, their comparison referents. As willDO GENDER 11.3
Is It Fair? To Whom
Do You Compare?Interview a few college students who are
involved in a romantic relationship and
living with a partner. These people can be
married or cohabiting. First, try to find out
who does what in the relationship. Sec-
ond, try to find out the rationale for this
division of labor. Third, ask about their
perceptions of fairness: Is the division of
labor fair? How do they decide if it is fair?
Ask about comparison referents; that is, to
whom do they compare themselves when
judging the fairness of how much time
they spend on household tasks?M11_HELG0185_04_SE_C11.indd 416 6/21/11 12:43 PM