Increasing the workload of the overloaded housewife
Kenneth C Dempsey
School of Politics, Sociology and Anthropology, La Trobe University, Bundoora VIC
PP: 003 - 020
Abstract
This article shows that although wives are usually bearing an inordinate share of a household's unpaid workload, a substantial minority of husbands request or demand wives perform additional tasks, or carry out those they are already performing more frequently or in a more thorough way.
Quantitative and qualitative data for the study were collected from a quota sample of 114 female and 80 male Melbourne residents selected from 125 households. The study found that most wives were distressed by their partner's attempts to increase their workload. Nevertheless, ultimately most of them complied. Power, time availability, and ideological theories are drawn upon in an attempt to explain why husbands pressed wives to do more work at home than they were already performing and why most wives deferred.
It is argued that if we are going to increase our understanding of these complex social processes, it is necessary to conduct longitudinal studies that focus on negotiation processes and which take into account the judgements of actors about the fairness of their relationships, and the role that their feelings play in their relationships as well as the impact of wider and more immediate structural forces.
Keywords
marital inequality, housework, power, change, compliance
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