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INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND GROUP PROCESSES

Sharing of Home Responsibilities Between Professionally Employed Women and Their Husbands

Monica Biernat Camille B. Wortman University of Florida State University of New ~rlc at Stonybrook

A sample off 39 married couples with youDg children and with relatively equal status careers (wives were univen.ity professors or busiDesswomen) were interviewed about work and home life. Consid- erable, traditional inequity in the distribution of child-care tasks and chore responsibility was noted, but women were generally satisfied with their husbands' home involvement. In the academic sample, the longer hours each spouse worked, the more child care the other performed; io the business sample, child-care involvement was largdy determined by the husband's worlc hou.n, income, and education. Overall, women were more self-critical than were men about their perfor- mance in home roles, and women's role performance was rated more hi&hJy by husbands than by thernselve11- Women professionals' continued use of tniditional sex role standards and the imJXJr• tance ofattending to both panners' penpectives in studies of married life are discussed .

The female labor force in the United States is both larger and more demographically diverse today than it was just a few de- cades ago. Not only do women make up nearly 50% of the total Jabor force, but also they are more likely to be in administrative and professional occupations, to be married, and to have chil- dren under the age of6 years than they were in the past (Beller, J982; Hayghe, 1990; U.S. Bureau ofthe Census, 1988; US. De- partment of Labor, 1977). Women who represent the conjunc- tion of these demographic features-married professionals with young children-are growing in number as well: In 1975, about 720,000 married women with childKn less than 6 years old were employed in professional and technical occupations; by 1988 that number had increased by half (US. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1989; U.S. Department of Labor, 1977). These women, whose Jives reOect the elevation ofcareer to primary status along with marriage and parenthood, are, nonetheless, underrepresented in research on women's work and dual- e11rner couples.

Thiis rcsc:arch projc;ct wu supported by gmnts from the National Science Foundation (DNS•841-7745) and lhe National Institute of Mental Health (MH40255-01), both awarded to C.amillc B. Wortman and Carol-Ann Emmons. We extend warm thanks to our colleaaueson this project-Carol-Ann Emmons, Linda Beth Tiedjc, and Eric Lang – tor their extensive involvement in c,,,nccpluali1.ing, developing, and implementina tbe survey instnunent5. We 11lso thank our int.crvir..-wen; and office staff for their suppon and Chris Crandall, Roxy Silver, and several anonymous reviewers for their helpful commems on an earlier version of this article.

The data for this project were collected while we wereat the Institute for Social Research, University ofMichigan.

Correspondence com.-crning this article should be addre$Scd to Monica Biernat. Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida '.3261 1.

It seems. however, that underscandlng how working mothers who choose to remain fully involved in their careers experience and meet the competing demands oftheir multiple roles8hould be considered a research priority. Although there is evidence that paid employment can promote psychoJocica) well-being in married women (Gove & Geerken, 1977; Kessler & McRae, 198 l; Welch & Booth, 1977), it is also clear that the pressuresof managing multiple roles are the greatest, and the psychological benefits ofemployment are the least, under conditionsofh~y family respansibilities, that is, wbeo young children are at home (Gore & Mangione, 1983; Staines, Pleck, Shepard, & O'Connor, 1978; White, Booth, & Edwards, 1986). Further- more, the stresses faced by professionally employed mo1hers are costly not only in terms ofindividuaJ mental health, but also to the welfare ofthe family and to society as a whoJe. Dropping out of the labor force to meet family demands, even for a short time, can negatively atfecta woman'scareer(Rapo.,>Ort &Rapo- port, 1971 ), as well as career opportunities for women in gcm- eral (Fraker, 1984). And cutbacks on career involvement remove women from the labor market at a ti.me when they are DlOllt well-trained and valuable (Behrman, 1982). It seems essential, tben, that what happens in the homes ofmarried women profes- sionals, where joh and family pressures meet, be undentood. This is our prirnary objective in the presentarricle-to examine lhe inner workings of marriages characterized by the rclatively equ.al-st.o.tus careers of the partnen and the presence of YoWl& children in the horne. SpeciftcaJ~ we explore each spouse's perceptions of the distribution of cbild-QIC mponsibilities and then examine potential causes and consequences of the patterns of home respansibility we observe.

A number of studies have shown that the ~t majority of husbands and wives be~e that when the wife is employed, husbands should increase their iDV<>lvement in houschoJd chores (Ferber, 1982). 'et these beliefsdo not translate well into

Journal of P,:no11111ity ■ nd Social l's>dnlntl,.; 19'11, Vol. 60, No. 6, 8-4+-860 l"opyrip,t l!'91 t,y 11.. 1m,,;.,un Psychc,logical AUOCiatiofl, Inc. 0022-3jl4/91/S3.00

844

845 HOME LIVES OF WOMEN PROFESSIONALS

action, A wife's labor participation may be associated with a decrease in the hours of housework she performs, but does not increase her husband's level of involvement (Berheide, Berk, & Berk, 1976; R. Berk & Berk, 1979; S. Berk, 1985; Bryson, Bry- son, Licht, & Licht, 1976; Condran & Bode, 1982; Geerken & Gove, 1983; Model, 1982; Oakley, 1974; Robinson, 1977, 1980; Slocum & Nye, 1976; Stafford, Backman, & Dibona, 1977; Vanek, 1974). Furthermore, ahhough employed wives may de- crease their total amount of housework time, they nonetheless retain primary home responsibility, thus carrying on "double- duty days" (Firestone & Shelton, 1988; Hochschild, 1989). In short, the redistribution ofinstrumental roles within the home does not seem to match the sharing of these roles outside the home.

One might expect a more egalitarian pattern in marriages in which partners' careers are of equal status and their work re­ sponsibilities are equally demanding. There is evidence that people in professional occupations are more likely than others to express egalitarian sex role beliefs (Acock & Edwards, 1982; Huber & Spitze, 1983; Thornton, Alwin, & Camburn, 1983), but nonetheless, those few studies that have examined dual-car- eer couples as a special case of dual-earner couples have found that wives still perform a disproportionate share of household duties (Berardo, Shehan, & Leslie, 1987; Weingarten, 1978; Yo- ge' 1981 ). Almost nothing is known, however, about how care of young children is managed in such marriages. To our knowl- edge, there has not been a single published study focusing on the division of child care and home responsibilities in profes- sionally employed couples with young children. Our data pro- vide this focus and allow us to ask whether these couples have adapted to the recent cultural trend they represent, in which women work at careers rather than stay home during their chil- dren's preschool years. Adaptation is clearly necessary, as the traditional, "male" model of career involvement, in which job success is made possible in part by the wife's assumption of total responsibility for family life, is no longer a viable option for either member of these couples (see Hunt & Hunt, 1982). If the traditional model is maintained, wives cannot benefit from freedom from home responsibilities and consequent single- mindedness toward careers. With a nontraditional model, how- ever, husbands may find themselves competing at work with other men who do have wives in traditional roles.

How, then, are professionally employed couples with young children managing? How are child-care and housework respon- sibilities divided in these homes? Do equal-status careers make for equal division of home duties? This is the first issue we address in this article. The second is this: If home responsibili- ties are not divided equall)o; why is that the case? What are the likely causes and consequences of inequitable division oflabor?

Potential Causes of Inequitable Chore Division

Socialization by Employed Mothers

Families today are making decisions about division of house- hold responsibilities against the backdrop oflifelong socializa- tion in traditional sex role beliefs (Ferber & Birnbaum, 1977). Several studies have indicated that men have more traditional expectations about marriage than do women (Komarovsk),;

1973; Mason & Bumpass, 1975; Mirowsky & Ross, 1987; Os- mond & Martin, 197 5) and that when husbands take on house- hold responsibility, they typically choose tasks that do not threaten their masculine self-images {Weingarten, 1978; Yoge' 1981 ). One basis of continued inequity in professional couples may be their conventional sex role beliefs, built up through lifetimes ofsocialization by mothers and fathers who held tradi- tional roles. We expect to find greater equity in division of household responsibility in couples in which either spouse was raised by an employed mother or female guardian.

Education and Income

Power or status differentials between spouses (resulting, for example, from income, education, and occupational prestige) may be at the heart of who does what in the home (Blood & Wolfe, 1960; England & Farkas, 1986; Eriksen, Yancey, & Erik- sen, 1979). Traditionally, husbands have played the more power- ful role in marriages, primarily because they have provided the financial resources. In our sample ofprofessional couples, how- ever, this is obviously not the case, and it is possible to test the hypothesis that spouses (men or women) who earn more money and have attained higher educational levels are least responsible for performing chores and child care. It is also true, however, that college education has a liberalizing effect on attitudes (Newcomb, 1943). Therefore, one might expect highly educated husbands {despite their high status) to be less traditional and to participate to a greater extent in home chores. Of course, re- spondents in the present data set represent a relatively restricted range of education and income levels, thus these hypothesis tests are necessarily conservative.

A subsidiary goal in examining the income variable is to assess its relationship to respondents' self-evaluations of their role performances. Fulfilling the breadwinner role has tradi- tionally been very important to men's identity in that it is neces- sary to being a good husband and father {see Veroff, Douvan, & Kulka, 1981 ). Using the present data, we examine whether in- come has comparable evaluative implications for women whose primary life roles include a demanding career.

Time Spent on the Job

It seems plausible that "who does what" in the home is based, at least in part, on the simple reality of available time. More time spent on job-related activities means less time available at home. A number ofstudies have suggested that the more fathers work, the less involved they are with their children {McHale & Huston, 1984; Robinson, 1977), but little is known about this relationship among mothers. Again, women have traditionally had more time to engage in home chores; in this sample, how- ever, both spouses' careers demand considerable time. We ex- pect to find direct, negative relationships between hours spent at work and involvement in child care and household chores for both spouses.

Psychological Job Importance

Finally, although wives and husbands may have equally de- manding or equal-status careers, it is still possible for the career

846 MONICA BIERNAT AND CAMILLE B. WORTMAN

of one spouse to be more psychologically important than the other's. The spouse with the more significant job is likely to be absolved of home responsibilities. To operationalize relative job importance, we assessed spouses' perceptions of whose career took precedence.

Potential Consequences of Inequitable Chore Division

We suggest that a spouse's level of involvement in child care may affect his or her self-ratings of role performance and mari- tal and parenting satisfaction. Specifically, if women gain self- esteem and marital stability by taking primary responsibility for the home and therefore conforming to traditional sex role expectations (Yogev, 1981, 1987), those who do more child care and housework should rate themselves higher in subjective satis- faction with role performance. Evidence does suggest that work- ing mothers are often concerned about failing to fulfill tradi- tional home role obligations (Baruch & Barnett, 1986; Robin- son, Yerby, Fieweger, & Somerick, 1977). However, because employed husbands have traditionally not regarded the running of the home as a source of self-identity, their levels of involve- ment in housework and child care may be unrelated to self- rated role performance and satisfaction. Alternatively, because men have traditionally fulfilled their spouse and parenting roles through work involvement rather than direct care ofchildren or the home, husbands may feel resentful and negative about en- gaging in chores and child care (Crouter, Perry-Jenkins, Hus- ton, & McHale, 1987; Russell & Radin, 1983).

Behind these statements is the notion that women, men, or both may want women to maintain primary responsibility for running the home. A woman may derive a sense ofself-worth as a wife from doing so, and a husband's self-evaluation may bene- fit as well. Although equivocal findings have emerged on the association between wife's occupational achievement and mar- ital satisfaction (Hiller & Philliber, 1982; Philliber & Hiller, 1983; Richardson, 1979; Simpson & England, 1981), there is considerable evidence that men find marriage to an "over-edu- cated" wife to be stressful (Hornung & McCullough, 1981) and that a wife's higher earnings relative to her husband are related to marital dissatisfaction in both spouses, threat to stability ofa marriage, and divorce (Burker & Loughlin, 1980; Cherlin, 1979; OJ,mico, 1983;Pleck, 1978; Udry,1981). In this study, we exam- ined the association between child-care involvement and per- ceptions of one's performance as a parent and spouse. On the basis of the research described above, we hypothesized that partners in dual-career marriages would report the highest lev- els of self-satisfaction when traditional sex roles were main- tained in the home.

Method

The data reported here are part of a larger longitudinal research project investigating role conflict, stress, and coping among women professionals with young children (for more detail on methodology, see Emmons, Biernat, Tiedje, Lang, & Wortman, 1990; and for reports on other aspects of the studi,; see Marshall & Lang, 1990, on optimism, masteri,; and depression; Reifman, Biernat, & Lang, in press, on stress and social support; Tiedje et al., 1990, on perceptions of role compati- bility; and Wortman, Biernat, & Lang, in press, on occupational stress).

Subjects

Respondents were 139 women professionals with preschool children and their husbands. 1 The women were selected from two broadly de- fined occupational fields: university professor and businesswoman. We chose to study these two groups ofwomen for several reasons. First, academia and business are professional fields that seem to attract sub- stantial numbers of women and demand relatively high levels ofeduca- tion and commitment. Second, the occupational groups differ in the types of job stress commonly experienced (e.g, academics have more flexible work schedules but are less able to leave their work at the office, businesswomen are more likely to work under the pressure of strict deadlines). One ofour goals in the broader study was to compare the differential impact ofthese various stresses on women's home lives. The professors were identified from lists of instructional faculty at the four largest universities in Michigan and the two largest universities in the Chicago area. The businesswomen were selected from companies in geographic proximity to the universities (in a five-county area in Michigan and in Cook County, Jllinois) that had one of four Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. The SIC codes corresponded to four industries that tend to attract female professional employees: ac- counting, advertising, banking, and law.

All respondents were identified through their employers. To be eligi- ble for the studi,; the women had to be working at least 30 hr per week, be married and currently living with their husbands, and have at least one child between the ages of I and 5 years. Every university we con- tacted agreed to cooperate with the study and did so by providing us with lists ofall female instructional facuhy. Telephone screening inter- views with departmental administrators were conducted to determine the eligibility (in terms of marital and parenting status) ofevery woman on each list. A total of 116 eligible female university professors were identified, of which 108 (93%) agreed to participate.

To locate eligible businesswomen, we first identified all the compa- nies that met our target SIC codes and were in the geographic areas described above and that also had at least 50 employees. We stratified our sampling frame into small, medium, and large companies, and then randomly selected from within these strata to obtain an even distribution of participants across the four types of professions (ac- counting, advertising, banking, and law) and three sizes ofcompanies. A total of 104 companies were contacted-72 in Michigan and 32 in Cook County. Sixty-eight of the Michigan companies (94%) and 26 of the Chicago-area companies (81 %) agreed to cooperate.

Most of the companies were reluctant to release the names of their employees, so the women could not be contacted directly. Instead, we relied on the personnel director in each company to identify all profes- sional women in the company who fit the eligibility criteria for the study. In 70% of the companies, the personnel director was willing and able to identify such women (usually there were only a few). After ob- taining the women's permission to be contacted by us, these personnel directors released the eligible women's names. Personnel directors in- dicated that nearly every eligible woman agreed to be contacted. In those cases in which the personnel director preferred not to identify eligible respondents, he or she was asked, instead, to distribute letters to all professional female employees. The letter described the study and contained a reply postcard on which the woman was to indicate her eligibility for and interest in participating in the study. Follow-up letters and postcards were sent until we obtained a high response rate (at least 90%) from each company. Using these procedures, 98 eligible businesswomen were identified; 93 of these agreed to participate. As- suming that the personnel directors did a thorough job ofscreening for eligibility and correcting for potential nonidentification of eligible

1 The entire sample included 200 women, but we are analyzing data only from those women whose husbands also participated (n = 139).

847 HOME LIVES OF WOMEN PROFESSIONALS

women because of unreturned postcards, our response rate was ap- proximately 85.5% of all eligible businesswomen in the 94 participat- ing companies.

The analyses we report in this article are based on those cases in which both the woman and her husband agreed to participate (70% of the total sample). This subsample included 68 university professors and 71 businesswomen. We compared women whose husbands did and did not participate in the study on both demographic characteris- tics and the variables of interest in this article. Out of more than 50 comparisons, the only variable significantly differentiating the two groups was job tenure-women whose husbands refused to participate in the study had been in their current jobs significantly longer (M = 5.4 years) than women whose husbands agreed to participate (M = 4.2 years), 1(198) = 2.54, p < .05.

Procedure

The larger study consisted of four structured interviews with the wife and two self-report surveys from her husband over the course ofa year. The first interviews and surveys took place between January 1986 and February 1987; each couple's participation ended after I year. The data discussed here come primarily from Wave I ofthe study, although several analyses focus on Wave 4 data. For convenience in this article, we refer to the Wave I and Wave 4 interviews (which were approxi- mately I year apart) as Time I and Time 2.

Each woman was interviewed, in person, hy a trained interviewer who came to either the home or the office ofthe respondent (depending on her preference). The interviews at Times I and 2 averaged about 2 hr each (the two intervening interviews were conducted by telephone and were much shorte~. Before the face-to-face interview, each respondent received a questionnaire that was to be completed and returned to the interviewer at the time of the interview. Along with this preinterview questionnaire, each respondent received a spouse questionnaire for her husband to complete. This spouse questionnaire included instructions to the husband to complete the instrument on his own and to mail it directly hack to the research site. The women's face-to-face interviews also included periodic "stops" during which the wife was asked to answer questions in a response booklet on her own. This was done to maximize the amount ofdata collected while minimizing time involve- ment and to make the women feel comfortable about answering rela- tively sensitive questions. We note the exact source of the women's data (interview or questionnaire) as we describe our measures belo>:

Measures

The interviews covered a wide variety of topics ranging from basic demographics; to stresses in the work, marriage, and parenting do- mains; to coping strategies; and to personality dispositions, among others. Those questions and measures to which we refer specifically in this article are described belOv.

Child-care tasks. We asked each spouse, "When your (child is/chil- dren are) at home with you and your husband, who . . . ." This stem was followed by eight specific child-care tasks: caring for physical needs, teaching skills and things about the world, getting up during the night, playing interactively, staying home with a sick child, responding to requests, making alternative child-care arrangements, and driving children to day care and other activities. These items were developed by our research staff, but are based on work by Hill and Stafford (1980). Responses ranged from my spouse does much more than me (I) to I do much more than my spouse (5). These questions were part ofthe wife's preinterview questionnaire. Instructions clearly indicated that couples should describe child-care involvement during times when no paid child-care provider was present. Thus, these data only describe child-care involvemem on occasions when parents were present.

Household chores. The wife, but not the husband, was asked in her preinterview questionnaire,

For each household chore listed below, please indicate how much of the time that chore is done hy you, and by your husband, by circling the appropriate number in each column.[2] Circle one number in every column for each chore. Use the following key to select a number: I = never or almost never, 2 = less than half the time, 3 =about halfthe time, 4 = more than halfthe time, 5 =all or most of the time.

The tasks were grocery shopping, cooking, doing laundry, house clean- ing, managing household finances, and making repairs and doing home maintenance. The wife made 12 ratings in all-one for wife's and one for husband's involvement in each of the six chores. As a follow-up to this series of questions, the women were also asked, "Now, please indicate who has responsibility for seeing to it that each of the tasks below get done." Respondents rated responsibility for each ofthe above chores on scales ranging from wife much more than husband (I) to husband much more than wife (5).

To assess women's general satisfaction with their husbands' involve- ment in running the home, the interviewers asked, "Overall, how would you describe the contribution your husband makes toward household chores and child care?" Responses could range from my husband does much too little (1) to my husband does a satisfactory amount (3) to my husband does much /CO much (5). Men were asked about their general satisfaction with their wives' home involvement as well. For them, however, we asked separate questions on wife's contri- bution toward household chores and child care.

Role performance evaluation. Women and men were both asked a series of questions assessing their sense of"how well'' they were per- forming as spouses and parents (for women, these questions were part ofthe interview). Three comparable questions were asked about perfor- mance in each role: (a) "Overall, you feel that you are a very good (spouse/parent)," with responses made on a scale ranging from strongly disagree (I) to strongly agree (5); (b) "You often feel guilty about not being a better (spouse/parent);' using the same response scale; and (c) "At this point in your life, how often, if ever, do you feel as though you're not the kind of (spouse/parent) you would like to be," with re- sponses ranging from never or almost never (I) to always or almost always (5). The former two questions were adapted from the Parenting Stress Index (Ahidin, 1983), and the last question was adapted from Baruch, Barnett, and Rivers (1983).

In addition to rating themselves on these questions, husbands also were asked to rate their wives on three of the six items. Specifically, husbands rated their wives on Question a(above) in regard to her perfor- mance as a parent and on Question c in regard to her performance as a spouse and as a mother. The only question on which we asked the wife to rate her husband was Question a (above) as applied to his parenting performance. Some of our analyses refer to these items individually; others are based on the relevant three-item indexes (i.e., evaluation of performance as a parent and as a spouse for each spouse, and an overall evaluation of the wife by the husband).

Satisfaction in life roles. Spouses rated their own sense ofsatisfaction in their jobs, in their marriages, and as parents. Wives completed these measures during the intervie>: Specifically, respondents were asked to "think about all the pleasures and problems that go into daily life (on the job/with your spouse/as a parent). Taking everything into consider- ation, during the past month, how often have you . . . ." For the women, six items followed; these assessed how often they had felt "happy;• usatisfied," ••frustrated or angry," "insecuret and "unhappy"

2 Women were also asked to indicate how often "someone else" per- formed these tasks. These data are not considered here because we are most concerned with the distribution of chores between spouses.

848 MONICA BIERNAT AND CAMILLE B. WORTMAN

and how often they had "enjoyed" themselves in the relevant life role. For the men, we dropped two of the items: "unhappy" and "enjoyed."' All of the items were answered on scales ranging from never or almost never (I) to always or almost always (5). To create indexes of satisfac- tion, we first created separate averages on the negative and positive items, then subtracted the mean negative rating from the mean positive rating. Satisfaction refers, then, to the difference between positive and negative aspects of a life role. These items are based on Pearlin and Schooler'• (1978) work.

Problems around the home. We asked each spouse (by means of a questionnaire) to tell us how often he or she experienced a set of com- mon "problems" having to do with home life. Those problems were as follows: the house not being as clean as you would like it to be, big projects ( like cleaning out the garage, attic, basement, or closets) not being done, little projects and errands (like taking clothes to the cleaner or getting things repaired) not being done, meals not being well balanced, being too tired to enjoy time with the family, not having time to manage family finances well, and having to worry about coordinat- ing schedules with your spouse so that child-care responsibilities are taken care of. The response scale for each item ran from never(!) toa/1 the time (5 ).

Job involvement. To assess respondents' degree of commitment to or sense ofinvolvement in their jobs, the questionnaires contained two questions developed by Lodahl and Kejner (I 965): "The most impor- tant things that happen to me involve my job" and "I live, eat, and breathe my job." Both wives and husbands responded to these ques- tions on a scale ranging from strongly disagree (I) to strongly agree (5). Our measure of job involvement is based on the average response to these two items.

Balancing roles. Each spouse answered this question about the wife: "Compared to other women in your/her situation, how well would you say you/your wife balance(s) the demands of job, marriage, and fam- ily?" Responses ranged from much worse than other women (I) to much better than other women (5). This question was asked of women during the face-to-face interviews.

Results

Sample Demographics

In Table I , we present the demographic characteristics of the women and men in our sample, stratified by woman's occupa- tion. Given that we chose our women from professional occu- pations, it is not surprising that they were more educated, on average, than their husbands and that their husbands were more likely to be in nonprofessional occupations. Husbands, none- theless, were older and earned higher salaries than did their wives. As for differences between the professions, academic women (and their husbands) were significantly older, more edu- cated, and wealthier than their business sample counterparts. Academic women had also been married longer than business- women, and husbands ofacademics were more likely than hus- bands of businesswomen to be in professional/technical occu- pations and less likely to be in clerical/sales or managerial posi- tions (all ps < .05).

The last two rows in this table are also of interest. Here, we compare the levels of psychological job involvement of women and men from each occupational sample, as well as their aver- age hours at work per week.4 Businesswomen reported spend- ing significantly more time working than any other group

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