During class on Tuesday, we discussed an article that explored a recent rise in divorce rates, with special emphasis being placed on women's emergence into the work force. The article stated that a woman begins working two jobs upon entering the workforce: one, her actual job, and two, her job at home. The author followed 52 couples for 8 years. She observed their behaviors, their happiness, their division of house hold chores, their interactions with their children, etc. One of her main findings was that a woman would end up working 15-20 extra hours a week at home, getting done various house-hold necessities, on top of paid job. In conjuncture with this, the author also found that women were generally doing more around the house than men; however, if the labor was more split, if the man and woman did the chores together, a reported rise in couple happiness was documented. Conversely, if the labor wasn't split, if the woman was doing more around the house than the man, there was a significant decrease in couple happiness, easily playing a role in divorce. What I hope to do in this blog, is explore several facets of this phenomena from class difference to a gradual culture change.
To remain parallel to the author's findings and discussion, we can assume that an unequal distribution of house labor, such as cleaning, cooking, and taking care of the kids can lead to an unhappy marriage. But how does this play into upper-class couples? Members of the upper class should be able to avoid such an issue (they can hire nannies, hire gardeners, a maid, etc): the added help should decrease the unequal workload placed on the woman. However, it is very likely, unless the couple is extremely wealthy, there will still need to be some form of effort placed by the couple to take care of the house. Unless the burden is shared, an inequality will still arise. The presence of an inequality gives rise to the mindset of the other not doing enough. As happiness is a personal thing, a mindset that is determined by the individual, regardless of how vast the inequality is, or the magnitude of work a woman must do in relation to the man, so long as there is a perceived inequality unhappiness will still manifest itself: the woman is still doing more than the man.
Does this mean the inequality is not exacerbated in low-income couples? Doubtful. True, the existence of an inequality provides for unhappiness in the couple, but that doesn't mean that magnitude does not play a role. For example, if a woman comes home from a low-income job, and is then spending the next four hours taking care of the house while the husband watches television, the inequality will be much more apparent and more burdensome.
One of the main problems that contributes to the unequal distribution of labor among a husband and wife, is the cultural perception that it is a woman's job to take care of house and home. Traditionally the woman was the homemaker and the man was the breadwinner; however, this is changing. More women are proliferating into the work force, more women and now attending college than men, and there is a general change in traditional gender roles. Does this mean inequality among men and women do not exist? Of course not, a man making a dollar for every 75 cents a woman makes and most positions of power are held by men. But, just like things have changed in the past, things are bound to change in the future. Observably, women and men are becoming closer to equals than ever before in The United States. I cannot guarantee it, but it seems likely that as this generation begins to settle down and get married, the division of labor among married couples will begin to even out as we did not grow up with the idea that women belong in the kitchen, as oppose to the predominant married couples today.
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