Study Confirms Living In Sin Means Fairer Housework Distribution

Not-so-new news, but I’ve failed to mention it earlier: this 27 August 2007 press release from George Mason University brings to attention a study which confirms the sad truth: married men do less housework than live-in boyfriends.

The study, published in the Journal of Family Issues, looked at over 17,000 people in 28 countries.

The issue at hand isn’t as simple as married men just not doing the work. The problem, this study suggests, is that the institution of marriage changes division of labor. Even if an egalitarian viewpoint is present in a married relationship, those men still reported doing less housework than their wives.

The study of more than 17,000 people in 28 countries found that married men report doing less housework than men who are live-in boyfriends.

According to Davis, the key finding of the study is that it suggests the institution of marriage changes the division of labor. Couples with an egalitarian view on gender—seeing men and women as equal—are more likely to divide the household chores equally. However, in married relationships, even if an egalitarian viewpoint is present, men still report doing less housework than their wives. According to Shannon Davis, one of the co-authors, “Marriage as an institution seems to have a traditionalizing effect on couples—even couples who see men and women as equal.”

The research does leave room for hope, though: the study did not follow cohabitating couples to see if the distribution of housework changed from before to after marriage. It may be that those who are most concerned with traditional ideas of gender may voluntarily choose to forgo marriage due to its role in prescribing roles and duties to the sexes (particularly in modern times).

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