The Decline of the Male Breadwinner and Persistence of the Female Carer: Exposure, Interests, and Micro–Macro Interactions

Abstract

Although female labor force participation is rising across the world, men's share of unpaid care work has not increased commensurately. Why has there been a major change in one domain of gender relations yet marked continuity in another? This article tries to answer this question by doing three slightly unusual things. It uses the same theoretical concepts (exposure and interests) to analyze change and continuity across different domains of gender relations. It examines long-term processes of social change through ethnographic (rather than social survey) data from Zambia. Additionally, it explores commonalities in the Global North and South—thereby bringing together silos of knowledge. The argument is that flexibility in gender divisions of labor increases when there is a shift in both interests and exposure. This has occurred in the case of paid work: A decline in men's incomes and job security has led many to regard women's employment as advantageous. The resulting critical mass of women performing socially valued, masculine roles seems to have undermined gender ideologies, relating to competence and status—fostering a positive feedback loop. Few people are exposed to men sharing care work, however, as this mostly occurs in private spaces. Accordingly, many assume that such practices are neither common nor socially accepted. These norm perceptions furnish men with self-interested reasons to shun housework. These micro- and macrolevel interactions perpetuate asymmetric flexibility in gender divisions of labor.