The Gendered Division of Housework and Couples' Sexual Relationships: A Reexamination

• Published date: 01 August 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12313
• Date: 01 August 2016

D L. C University of Utah

A J. M University of Indianapolis∗

S S Cornell University∗∗

S H Georgia State University∗∗∗

The Gendered Division of Housework and Couples’

Sexual Relationships: A Reexamination

Although contemporary couples increasingly

express preferences for egalitarian unions,

previous research has suggested that sexual

intimacy decreases when routine housework

is shared. Yet this research was conducted

on data that are decades old. To update this

work, the authors compared data from the 2006

Marital and Relationship Survey (MARS) and

Wave 2 of the National Survey of Families and

Households (NSFH2), collected in 1992–1994.

The results indicated change in the association

between housework arrangements and sexual

intimacy across surveys. Although egalitar-

ian arrangements were associated with lower

sexual frequency compared to conventional

arrangements in the NSFH2, no such difference

Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of

Utah, 225 S. 1400 E. Alfred Emery Bldg. 228, Salt Lake

City, UT 84112 (daniel.carlson@fcs.utah.edu).

∗Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University

of Indianapolis, 1400 E. Hanna Ave., Indianapolis, IN

46227.

∗∗Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell

University,297 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY

14853.

∗∗∗Department of Sociology, Georgia State University,P.O.

Box 5020, Atlanta, GA 30302.

Key Words: gender, housework, sexual frequency, sexual

satisfaction.

was found in the MARS. In fact, reported sex-

ual frequency increased across surveys among

egalitarian couples only. In addition, how

housework was arranged mattered more for

sexual satisfaction among MARS couples than

NSFH2 couples. These changes appear to result

from the increasing roleof perceived equity as a

mechanism linking the division of housework to

sex.

Today’s adults, especially those born after 1960,

came of age during a period of great upheaval

in expected family and work roles for men and

women. They are the “children of the gender rev-

olution” (Gerson, 2010). As adults, many seek to

build families based on egalitarian roles, includ-

ing an equitable sharing of domestic and nan-

cial burdens (Gerson, 2010; Pedulla & Thébaud,

2015). They also desire high levels of intimacy

within their partnerships (Cherlin, 2004; Ger-

son, 2010). Indeed, these cohorts expect the “to-

tal package”: someone who will be helpmate,

best friend, and lover. Transforming conven-

tional gender roles can, however, be challeng-

ing. There may be consequences for seeking to

overturn normative gender scripts. Egalitarian

unions can be difcult to maintain (e.g., Miller

& Sassler, 2010; Risman, 1998; P. Schwartz,

1995), especially when there are few established

models for couples to follow. Sharing domestic

Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (August 2016): 975–995 975

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12313

976 Journal of Marriage and Family

burdens may also lead to less intimacy between

partners (Kornrich, Brines, & Leupp, 2013; P.

Schwartz, 1995). In a recent article published

in The American Sociological Review, Korn-

rich and colleagues (Kornrich, Brines, & Leupp,

2013) found that sexual frequency was highest

in married households with conventionally gen-

dered divisions of labor and declined as men and

women increased their shares of nontraditional

housework tasks.

Much of what we know about gender,

household tasks, and intimate relationships—

including the article by Kornrich and colleagues

(2013)—is based on analyses of data from the

second wave of the National Survey of Fami-

lies and Households (NSFH2; see http://www.

ssc.wisc.edu/nsfh/). The rst wave of data

for the NSFH was gathered in 1987–1988,

and the same respondents were followed up

in 1992–1994 (Sweet & Bumpass, 1996).

Although the revolution in men’s and women’s

roles has changed only a little since the 1990s

(e.g., today’s women do slightly more paid

work and men slightly more housework com-

pared to 20 years ago), men’s and women’s

attitudes about the gendered division of labor

have become increasingly egalitarian (Gerson,

2010; Sayer, 2010).

Given shifts in the family behaviors of

contemporary couples and adults’ aspirations

for egalitarian family lives, we might expect

changes in the association between the division

of domestic labor and couples’ sexual relation-

ships. Feelings of fairness and satisfaction with

the division of housework are central to cou-

ples’ relationship satisfaction (Amato, Johnson,

Booth, & Rogers, 2003; Frisco & Williams,

2003; Wilkie, Ferree, & Ratcliff, 1998), which

is strongly related to sexual intimacy (Call,

Sprecher, & Schwartz, 1995; P. Schwartz,

2007; Sprecher & Cate, 2004). In this study we

explored how the division of household labor is

associated with couples’ sexual frequency and

satisfaction in the early years of the 21st century

compared to couples initially surveyed 20 years

earlier. Data are from the second wave of the

NSFH and the Marital and Relationship Survey

(MARS), a 2006 survey that collected data from

a sample of low- to moderate-income couples

with a minor child living in the home (Lichter &

Carmalt, 2009; Sassler, Addo, & Lichter, 2012).

We limited the NSFH2 sample to be comparable

with the MARS sample and constructed mea-

sures that both replicate those of prior studies

and diverge in important ways that we suggest

better reect behavioral outcomes. Our ndings

provide further evidence that the gender revo-

lution has reshaped important aspects of family

life (Cotter, Hermsen, & Vanneman, 2011; C. R.

Schwartz & Han, 2014).

B

The Performance of Gender in Intimate Unions

An extensive body of research has examined

how gender is reinforced through interactions

with others (Potuchek, 1997; Risman, 2004;

West & Zimmerman, 1987). Researchers have

examined how couples do gender through union

progression, expressions of sexuality and sexual

pleasure, and decision making (cf. Blumberg &

Coleman, 1989; Miller & Sassler, 2012; Sassler

& Miller, 2011). Perhaps no area has been exam-

ined quite so much as the division of house-

hold chores (for reviews of the literature, see

Coltrane, 2000, and Sayer, 2010).

Men have increased their shares of routine

housework over time, and women have reduced

theirs, thereby narrowing the gender gap in

household labor (Bianchi, Sayer, Milkie, &

Robinson, 2012). Women’s greater respon-

sibilities within the home historically were

linked to their lower earnings, fewer hours

worked, or inferior educational attainment (cf.

Carlson & Lynch, 2013; Coltrane, 2000). But

as women increasingly entered the paid labor

force, attitudes toward domestic labor shifted

(Thornton & Young-DeMarco, 2001). Both

men and women now report in attitudinal sur-

veys that men should participate in domestic

labor; the vast majority of both sexes reject the

notion of separate spheres. Although women

persistently express stronger adherence to egal-

itarian beliefs, men do not lag that far behind

(http://ropercenter.cornell.edu/ipoll-database/).

Nevertheless, women continue to perform

disproportionate shares of domestic labor

(Bianchi et al., 2012). Even in households

where the female partner earns more than the

male, is more educated, or works more hours

per week, men do less routine housework than

their partners (e.g., Brines, 1994; Greenstein,

1996; Tichenor, 1999). It is clear that something

about the expected roles of men and women, and

not just the relative resources of each partner,

contributes to the ways couples organized their

household labor.