National Context, Family Satisfaction, and Fairness in the Division of Household Labor

• Published in: Journal of marriage and family Vol. 71; no. 4; pp. 1039 - 1051
• Main Author: Greenstein, Theodore N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-11-2009; National Council on Family Relations; Wiley-Blackwell; Wiley
• Subjects: Attitude Measures; Cohabitation; Comparative analysis; cross-national; Cross-national analysis; Disadvantaged Environment; division of household labor; Employed Women; Equality; Equity; Fairness; Families & family life; Family Life; Family relations; Family Relationship; Family studies; Females; Gender equity; gender ideology; Gender Issues; Households; Housekeeping; Housework; Husbands; justice; Labor; Life Satisfaction; Marital Satisfaction; Marital Status; Marriage; Married women; Modeling; Of General Interest; Referents; Relative Deprivation; Role Perception; Sex; Sex Fairness; Sexuality. Marriage. Family relations; Social justice; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Spouses; Wives; Woman social status. Women's emancipation; Women; Family Life; Satisfaction; Division of Labor; Crossnational Comparisons; Gender; Household organization; Married woman; Housework; Inequality
• ISSN: 0022-2445; 1741-3737
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00651.x

This study uses data from married women in 30 nations to examine justice processes involving perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor and satisfaction with family life. Relative deprivation theory suggests that national context—operationalized here as nation-level gender equity—might serve as a comparative referent used by married women when making determinations of the fairness of the division of household labor. Multilevel analyses confirm that the effect of inequalities in the division of household labor on perceptions of fairness is moderated by national context, as is the effect of perceptions of fairness on satisfaction with family life. The effects are strongest in nations with high levels of gender equity, confirming two hypotheses suggested by relative deprivation theory.