Introduction

As described in Chapter 1, theoretical frameworks explaining the division of housework typically fall into two main categories: resourcebased and social-psychological/symbolic perspectives. Here, we argue that power can be derived from both material and ideological sources, often simultaneously and in complicated ways. We provide a short summary of two theoretical frameworks categorized as resourcebased— time availability and bargaining theory—emphasizing how material resources reflect power when used to avoid performing housework. We follow with a summary of two social-psychological/ symbolic theoretical frameworks—gender ideology and economic dependence—and discuss how the performance of housework is connected to the performance of gender beliefs. Each of these perspectives (with the possible exception of the gender ideology perspective) implicitly or explicitly assumes that housework is seen by wives and husbands as something to be avoided and that both wives and husbands attempt to minimize how much housework they do. We conclude the chapter by explaining the process through which housework reflects power dynamics in couples. This argument is the underpinning of the empirical analysis that follows, so we provide examples from empirical research throughout the section in order to help facilitate understanding of the process.

Time availability perspective

The time availability perspective is most closely associated with human capital theory (for example, Becker, 1981), which argues that households attempt to maximize utility through their members’ specialization in either market or non-market labor. This perspective suggests that men have a comparative advantage in market work while women have a comparative advantage in domestic or non-market labor (based largely on their role as mothers). It is also the case that due to men's higher wage rates, the opportunity cost for men to increase their non-market work hours at the expense of market work hours is greater than that for women. Consequently, men's comparative advantage and greater opportunity cost will lead them to concentrate on market work, while women will focus on non-market work due to their comparative advantage and lower opportunity cost in that sphere. As a result, this perspective predicts a strong association between the amount of market work performed and how much housework an individual does. Most studies suggest that employed wives do less housework than wives not in the paid labor market but the differences tend to be small (Arrighi and Maume, 2000).