Relationships and Health 417PARENTING AND HEALTH
During the 18th and 19th centuries, men
were regarded as the ultimate source of
moral influence on children (Pleck, 1987). If
marriages dissolved, men retained custody
of the children. Fathers’ custody of children
was partly due to the fact that fathers were
in greater proximity to work and children
were involved in work. This connection was
especially strong with sons. During the 19th
and 20th centuries, the role of mother in the
family expanded. Women were regarded as
pure and innocent, thus possessing the ideal
qualities to raise children. In addition, soci-
ety began to regard infancy and childhood as
critical times of development, times in which
a mother’s role was especially important. It
was at this time that it became the norm to
award mothers custody of children in the
event of divorce. Fathers were still regarded
as the moral authority but became far re-
moved from children, in part due to indus-
trialization shifting fathers’ work farther
from home.
Family roles again shifted in the middle
of the 20th century, specifically after World
War II, when women moved into the work-
force. The roles of mothers and fathers in the
family were not as distinct as they once were.
Partly as a result of the women’s movement
and partly as a result of women’s participa-
tion in the paid workforce, in the 1970s and
1980s a new father role emerged that was
more involved and more nurturing (Levant &
Wimer, 2009; see Figure 11.9). Fathers, today,
however, do not completely embrace this role.
Even when women work outside the home,
fathers typically think of themselves as eco-
nomic providers rather than family caretak-
ers. For example, the arrival of children in the
family is more likely to bring maternity leave
than paternity leave. The parenting role is stillmen (Gager & Hohmann-Marriott, 2006).
Thus women may be more unsatisfied with
the division of labor in the future because
they are using different comparison referents
to evaluate fairness. Find out to whom your
peers compare their contributions to house-
hold labor in Do Gender 11.3.TAKE HOME POINTS
■ The sex difference in the division of labor has decreased
over the past 40 years, largely due to the increase of
women in the employed labor force.
■ Even when women hold full-time jobs outside the
home, they spend more time than men on household
labor and child care.
■ One determinant of the division of labor is people’s
gender-role attitudes; the husband’s attitude is a stron-
ger predictor than the wife’s. For the division of labor to
be more equal, the husband must have an egalitarian
gender-role attitude.
■ Power is a major determinant of the division of labor
in heterosexual relationships. The person who makes
more money, works more hours outside the home,
and has a higher education typically participates
less in household labor—except in gay and lesbian
relationships.
■ Homosexual couples adopt a more egalitarian division
of labor and do not divide tasks in terms of female and
male gender roles.
■ The inequity in the division of labor is a prominent
source of marital distress for women.Yet, women are
not as dissatisfied with the unequal division of labor
as one might expect. One reason is that women do
not compare their own contributions to those of their
husbands; instead women compare themselves to other
women and compare their husbands to other men. This
kind of comparison usually results in a more favorable
view of husbands and leaves women more satisfied.M11_HELG0185_04_SE_C11.indd 417 6/21/11 12:43 PM