Housework among same-sex and different-sex couples: The roles of time and earnings

Objective

This study examined how paid work time and earnings are related to time spent in various types of housework tasks among people in same-sex couples (SSCs) and how these relationships differ from those among people in different-sex couples (DSCs).

Background

Prior research on housework among people in SSCs mostly relied on convenience samples and self-report measures of housework. These methods may have drawbacks related to the selectivity of the samples and the accuracy of the housework measures. Specifically, SSCs might try to portray their housework divisions as more equal than they actually are.

Method

The current study used nationally representative, time diary data from the American Time Use Survey (N = 50,899) to estimate the relationships between paid work time, earnings, and time spent in various types of housework tasks (feminine, masculine, and gender-neutral tasks) among people in SSCs and DSCs.

Results

Paid work time was related to housework time among both men and women in SSCs, but earnings were only related to housework among men in SSCs. Furthermore, some associations between paid work characteristics and housework were stronger among men in SSCs compared with men in DSCs. Among women, the pattern of couple-type differences in the associations of interest was more nuanced.

Conclusion

Using high-quality, nationally representative data, the results point to a greater level of specialization of paid work and housework responsibilities among people in SSCs relative to people in DSCs than has previously been observed in the bulk of the literature.