Marital equality and work-family conflict and gains among dual-earner couples who successfully balance family and work

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between marital equality and work-family gains and conflict for dual-earner wives and husbands who believe that they successfully balance family and work. Using a complex associational design, the relationships between five equality variables (division of household labor, childcare, decision making, emotion work, and relative career priority) and work-family conflict and gains were determined. Many antecedents of work-family gains and conflict have been identified in the literature. As of yet, no study has directly explored the influence of marital equality on partners' experiences of work-family conflict and gains. This study was part of a larger, primarily qualitative, research project that was designed to discover the qualities of and strategies used by dual-earner couples with children who consider themselves to be successful in balancing work and family. Using non-probability sampling, 47 couples were recruited from Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado. Subjects participated in an interview and completed a quantitative questionnaire. Findings indicated that wives and husbands contributed almost equally to household labor and emotion work. Both partners reported that wives performed more childcare; wives reported that husbands' careers tended to be slightly more prioritized; and husbands reported that wives had slightly more decision-making responsibility. Findings also indicated both partners reported high levels of work-family gains but also some work-family conflict. Wives reported more gains than husbands, while wives and husbands reported similar levels of conflict. Using multiple regression analyses, only one equality variable significantly predicted work-family gains for both wives and husbands; for both genders, shared career priority was associated with greater work-family gains. None of the equality variables significantly predicted work-family conflict for husbands and wives. The findings are discussed within the context of current gender norms and expectations. Couples' tendency to prioritize the husbands' career and place primary responsibility for childcare on the wife is discussed within the context of the "norms of domesticity" that assigns men to the "public sphere" of work and women to the "private sphere" of family. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are provided.