Gender Ideology and Perceptions of the Fairness of the Division of Household Labor: Effects on Marital Quality

Abstract

Under what circumstances will married women perceive inequalities in the division of household labor as unfair? This research develops and tests a model based on relative deprivation theory that suggests that gender ideology functions as a moderator variable in a process through which inequalities in the division of household labor come to be seen as inequities. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, three empirical tests of the model provide evidence that inequalities in the division of household labor are more strongly related to perceptions of inequity for egalitarian than for traditional wives, and that perceptions of inequity are more strongly related to perceived quality of the marital relationship for egalitarian than for traditional wives. The findings suggest that researchers studying the division of household labor need to shift their focus away from analyses of objective inequalities and toward the study of perceived inequity.