This study investigates whether gender inequality in the division of housework and child care may be an obstacle to childbearing and relationship stability among different groups of British couples. Furthermore, it explores whether outsourcing of domestic labor ameliorates any negative effects of domestic work inequality. The empirical…

Using new data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), the authors consider how educational and parental status influence the relationship between wives' relative earnings and the time they devote to housework in a climate of heightened gender egalitarianism and growing similarity between women's and men's time use. The authors capitalize on the…

Research on immigrants often points to the family as a source of support and a location for oppression. Using in-depth interviews with 38 first-generation immigrant Indians, this study adds to this literature by exploring families as sites of identity work where first-generation immigrants manage their gendered ethnic identities. Relocation into a…

In this article, we use feminist theories of the state to examine why the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has had relatively little impact on increasing men's caregiving after the birth or adoption of a child. An analysis of witness testimonies and of the language of the proposed bill at three different stages of its development revealed that…

Previous models of parental educational investments focus on the composition of the sibship (number, gender, ordering, and spacing) and on the social and institutional context in which investment decisions are made. Social-institutional models predict that parents in Japan are likely to underinvest in girls because of their transient status in the…

Social harmony is a valued relational rule in collectivism. Using data from in-depth interviews with 20 Chinese American couples, the authors study how husbands and wives interpret and negotiate marital harmony within a multicultural context and how gender relates to this process. Although all participants appear to seek harmony, the result…

This study tests status inconsistency theory by examining the associations between wives' and husbands' relative statuses--that is, earnings, work-time, occupational, and educational inconsistencies--and marital quality and global happiness. The author asks three questions: (a) Is status inconsistency associated with marital quality and overall…

Claims that to be fully achieved, change toward sex equality must occur in social, cultural, and personality systems and be apparent in economy as well as in marriage and individual identity. Suggests that high rate of marital disruption represents strain between macro changes in society and related changes in marriage roles and gender role…

This article analyzes gender attitudes and behaviors of husbands and wives across three urban Chinese cohorts. While women remain egalitarian in gender ideology across cohorts, the percentage of men who hold egalitarian gender attitudes declines significantly across cohorts. At the same time, the division of household labor has become somewhat…

Using microdata from the 2004 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this study takes a cross-national perspective to investigate the division of household labor among older couples (aged 50 years or more). Across nine continental European countries, the authors find considerable variation in the overall distribution of…

Studied fathers' participation in childrearing among 128 Swedish parents. Results showed most couples, even in dual-career households, do not share childcare equally. Socialization and work-related structural obstacles, especially related to the wife's occupation, were the most important variables. (Author/JAC)

Parental leave is a complex area of public policy. Concerns include health protection for working mothers, equal employment opportunities for women, access to adequate antenatal and birthing care, maternal recovery, optimal nutrition for infants, and gender equality within families. Given this complexity, the design of parental leave schemes,…