Affecting the Degree of Marriage Satisfaction for Both Sexes and Family Tendency to Fall to Poverty - Research Paper Example

Over the years, one of the most pressing issues in the study of gender inequality. At the heart of this problem is the division of labor in the household because it is links to inequalities in the labor market, in decision making and politics, etc (Hook, 2010). Traditionally, men are expected to earn the income for the family while women are left at home taking care of the children. This specialization based on sex has put women at economic risk and men at social risk as societal values and economic circumstances change and men and women are forced to perform non-traditional roles (Hook, 2010). “Women’s responsibility for the home limits employment and advancement, and men’s responsibility for breadwinning limits relationships with children (Hook, 2010, pp. 1480-1481). The sharing of household work is multifaceted – it affects the degree of marriage satisfaction for both sexes (Kobayashi, 2010) and the family’s tendency to fall into poverty (Daniels, 2005). There are actually numerous resources tackling the differences in the household contribution between men and women, and most of them agree that it is the women who have to perform the majority of household chores. In a 1999 study conducted by Chloe Bird it was discovered that “men’s lower contributions to household labor explain part of the gender difference in depression” (p.38). Apparently, women are performing household labor which is no longer beneficial for their psychological health. This statement in itself is not significant unless one looks at the different chores that men and women have to perform. Coltrane (2000) says that women typically have to perform time-inflexible chores such as cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry and attending to the children’s needs. It is these tasks which have low schedule control which can affect psychological distress because it limits work and leisure opportunities (Hook, 2010). Hence, in order to relieve women of their burden, Coltrane stipulates that men should help in the “repetitive chores of cooking, cleaning and washing … [to] contribute [to women’s] sense of fairness, and hence lowers their chances of getting depressed” (Coltrane, 2000, p. 1225). The good news is that a numbe of modern researches have indicated that households are becoming egalitarian and men are increasing their contribution to household work. While most men still work outside the home and women have to take on household work, “US women do considerably less housework today than in 1976, while the amount of housework men do has increased” (Mixon, 2008). This claim is corroborated by a discussion paper prepared by Oriel Sullivan and Scott Coltrane for the 11th Annual Conference of the Council on Contemporary Families (2008) which stated that “more couples are sharing family tasks than ever before and the movement toward sharing has been especially significant for full-time dual-earner couples”. A study conducted by Kimberly Daniels (2005) provides the additional information to backup this claim. “Economic dependency and household labor has suggested a curvilinear relationship between dependence and domestic labor contributions” (Daniels, 2005, p. 6) which means that when wives have to become the family’s breadwinner, men compensate by taking on the household labor. The increase in men’s participation in housework is considerably larger in social-democratic nations where women have greater economic and political power (Hook, 2010). In the developing world. however, the change is far from happening. A 2010 research involving households in Tanzania, it was found that women were already aware that they were doing more household work than men but they do not know how they can change the situation because these gender roles are inculcated in them from childhood (Feinstein, 2010, p. 100). The survey shows that women desire a more egalitarian household while most men think that household work as the sole responsibility of women. Why is it important for men and women to share household work? One is economic in nature. As the prices of goods and services increase, men find it more difficult to earn income adequate for the family’s needs. In order to help their husbands, women have to enter the labor force. In the case of rural communities, this essentially means that the amount of housework women decreases significantly (Habib, 2006). Yet, it is important to note that even when women are working fulltime, they still retained responsibility for maintaining the household and ensuring that things are done in the home, even when they do not do the work themselves. Often, the women have to delegate the work to other members of the household, especially the female children. In case the children are still too young to perform household tasks, women may choose to hire household help or the husbands can take on the slack. Often, however, a man’s willingness to perform core household tasks which were traditionally associated with women depends highly in their cultural values. For example, in a study of communities in Beirut, Lebanon (Habib, 2006) , men who are engaged in paid labor contribute more to household chores compared to their non-working counterparts. This is because men prefer to help out with the keeping of the household when their “masculine status is not threathened wherein non-earner men contribute less to housework as a means of asserting their traditional gender roles” (Habib, 2006, p. 326). Another reason why sharing of household tasks is important is because it affects marital satisfaction. In a study involving couples residing in China, Japan and Korea (Kobayashi, 2010), it was found that in general, wives are unsatisfied with their marriage because they have to do more household work than their husbands. It is important to note, however, that there were subtle differences in household dynamics per country (Kobayashi, 2010). For example, in China, both men and women favor equal sharing of household and market work. On the other hand, Japanese couples support traditional specialization but women may shift efforts between housework and market work. In Korea, traditional gender roles are still highly preferred and women have to continually choose between housekeeping and labor force participation. Because of these differences, marital satisfaction ratings also varied wherein Japan and Korea had lower scores compared to China. Marital satisfaction is important when one has to factor in divorce and its effects to families and children. In a Huffington post (Hughes, 2011), the author claimed that marital dissatisfaction can predict divorce but what’s more important is the timing of such low rating. For example, in the case of Korean couples wherein “husbands are sensitive to a higher share of housework…Korean couples often experience frictions and frutrations when adjusting to wives working outside the home” (Kobayashi, 2010, p. 19), women are prone to higher psychological distress and may choose to opt for divorce to escape the pressure. In a speech presented by Gordon Berlin to the US Senate (2004), he said that the failure of parents to marry and the increasing divorce rate are the most important causes of teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency and the higher dropout rates. The sharing of household tasks is just one way of relieving women with marital stress, and indirectly, a good means of preventing family break up. About this research Through structured inteviews and questionnaires, the researcher hopes to determine how men’s contribution to household chores have changed over time. What are its implications to marriage and relationships between women and their husbands? This is one of the questions this research hopes to determine. One of the main issues a researcher has to face is deciding how to gather data. One of the most effective ways of collecting data is through survey research. Alan Bryman (2008) says that one of the most common methods employed in survey research is the structured interview. It is used in both qualitative and quantitative research and it often involves the “administration of an interview schedule by an interviewer. The aim is for all interviewees to be give exactly the same context of questioning…each respondent receives exactly the same interview stimulus as any other” (Bryman, 2008, p. 193). Of course, some of the pitfalls of the structured interview is that a poorly worded question, an incorrectly recorded information by the interviewer can lead to errors. Despit these problems, structured interviews are still preferred because it “promotes standardization in the asking of questions and the recording of answers… [which is valued for] reducing error due to variation in the asking of questions and greater accuracy and ease of processing respondent’s answers” (Bryman, 2008, p. 194). Moreover, a disadvantage of structured interviews is that it is a long and encumbering process that involves making arrangements before the exact interview, for example, the researcher has to contact the interviewee and schedule an appointment. Another preferred method for survey research is through self-administered questionnaires. “With a self-completion questionnaire, respondents answer questions by completing the questionnaire themselves” (Bryman, 2008, p. 216). It comes in several forms – mail or online. The advantages of self-administered questionnaires compared to a structured interview is that it is cheaper and quicker to administer, respondents are not affected by inteviewer variability and it can be completed by the respondent at a convenient time (Bryman, 2008, pp. 217-218). The main disadvantages of questionnaires is that it is difficult for the researcher to gather additional data which are not included in the questionnaire. There is no room for probing and there is also a greater risk for missing relevant data. Lastly, low response rates can also skew the results of the survey (Bryman, 2008, pp. 218-219). Bibliography Berlin, G. (2004, May). The Effects of Marriage and Divorce on Families and Children . Retrieved April 6, 2011, from MDRC: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/386/testimony.html Bird, C. (1999). Research on Household Labor: Modeling and Measuring the Social Embeddedness of Routine Family Work. Journal of Health and Social Behavior , 40 (1), 32-45. Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Coltrane, S. (2000). Research on Household Labor: Modeling and Measuring the Social Embeddedness of Routine Family Work. Journal of Marriage and Family , 62 (4), 1741-3737. Coltrane, S. S. (2008). Mens Changing Contribution to Housework and Child Care. 11th Annual Conference of the Council on Contemporary Families. Daniels, K. (2005). Economic Dependency and the Division of Household Labor: A Longitudinal Examination of the Impact . Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Population Association of America 2005 Annual Meeting Program: http://paa2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=50680 Feinstein, S. F. (2010). Gender Inequality in the Division of Household Labor in Tanzania. African Sociological Review , 14 (2), pp. 98-109. Habib, R. R. (2006, November 23). Paid Work and Domestic Labor in Disadvantaged Communities on the Outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon. Sex Roles , 55 (5-6), pp. 321-329. Hook, J. (2010). Gender Inequality in the Welfare State: Sex Segregation in Housework, 1965-2003. American Journal of Sociology , 115 (5), 1480-1523. Hughes, R. (2011, March 10). Does Marital Satisfaction Predict Divorce? Retrieved April 6, 2011, from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-hughes/does-marital-satisfaction_b_832824.html Kobayashi, M. O. (2010). Division of Household Labor and Marital Satisfaction in China, Japan and Korea. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Institute of Economic Research: http://www.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/pie/stage2/Japanese/d_p/dp2010/dp502/text.pdf Lee, Y.-S. a. (2005). Husbands and Wives Time Spent on Housework: A Comparison of Measures. Journal of Marriage and Family , 67, 328-336. Mixon, B. (2008, April 28). Chore Wars - Men, Women and Housework: Study confirms wives do most household chores. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from National Science Founation: http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111458 Works Cited Berlin, G. (2004, May). The Effects of Marriage and Divorce on Families and Children . Retrieved April 6, 2011, from MDRC: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/386/testimony.html Bird, C. (1999). Research on Household Labor: Modeling and Measuring the Social Embeddedness of Routine Family Work. Journal of Health and Social Behavior , 40 (1), 32-45. Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Coltrane, S. (2000). Research on Household Labor: Modeling and Measuring the Social Embeddedness of Routine Family Work. Journal of Marriage and Family , 62 (4), 1741-3737. Coltrane, S. S. (2008). Mens Changing Contribution to Housework and Child Care. 11th Annual Conference of the Council on Contemporary Families. Daniels, K. (2005). Economic Dependency and the Division of Household Labor: A Longitudinal Examination of the Impact . Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Population Association of America 2005 Annual Meeting Program: http://paa2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=50680 Feinstein, S. F. (2010). Gender Inequality in the Division of Household Labor in Tanzania. African Sociological Review , 14 (2), pp. 98-109. Habib, R. R. (2006, November 23). Paid Work and Domestic Labor in Disadvantaged Communities on the Outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon. Sex Roles , 55 (5-6), pp. 321-329. Hook, J. (2010). Gender Inequality in the Welfare State: Sex Segregation in Housework, 1965-2003. American Journal of Sociology , 115 (5), 1480-1523. Hughes, R. (2011, March 10). Does Marital Satisfaction Predict Divorce? Retrieved April 6, 2011, from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-hughes/does-marital-satisfaction_b_832824.html Kobayashi, M. O. (2010). Division of Household Labor and Marital Satisfaction in China, Japan and Korea. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Institute of Economic Research: http://www.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/pie/stage2/Japanese/d_p/dp2010/dp502/text.pdf Lee, Y.-S. a. (2005). Husbands and Wives Time Spent on Housework: A Comparison of Measures. Journal of Marriage and Family , 67, 328-336. Mixon, B. (2008, April 28). Chore Wars - Men, Women and Housework: Study confirms wives do most household chores. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from National Science Founation: http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111458 Read More