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Gender, Entitlement, and the Distribution of Family Labor
Author(s) -
Major Brenda
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1993.tb01173.x
Subject(s) - entitlement (fair division) , contentment , division of labour , distribution (mathematics) , social psychology , labour economics , sociology , psychology , demographic economics , gender studies , economics , political science , law , mathematical analysis , mathematics , mathematical economics
Research is reviewed demonstrating that although wives contribute a disproportionate share of the unpaid labor of the family (e.g., housework and childcare) compared to their husbands, they nonetheless report relative contentment with this unequal distribution. It is argued that wives' paradoxical contentment can be understood by considering men's and women's sense of personal entitlement with regard to what they should put into and receive from marriage in the domain of family work. Gender differences in entitlement are hypothesized to result from societal norms regarding women's and men's roles within the family, comparison processes, and justifications that legitimize an unequal division of family labor.