Thirty Years of Research on the Division of Labour in Australian Families

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Synopsis An analysis of the division of labour within Australian families is facilitated by the availability of over 30 years of research of a reasonably comparable nature. When this is drawn on to assess whether the division of labour between husbands and wives has become more equalitarian, we find evidence of some change. The more recent studies show that men are participating to a somewhat greater extent in certain household tasks which were previously carried out by their wives and possibly that they are taking a more active role in child rearing. However men’s participation in fathering has always been higher than in purely domestic chores. The research shows men’s increased activity in household chores to be linked to women’s greater participation in the work force though this does not seem to be the case with fathering. The changes overall are not, however, great and, without some considerable alteration of women’s subordinate position in the work force and other spheres of power in the wider society, this could not be expected to have a significant effect on gender equality. Indeed the possibility of a new loss in power for women must be contemplated since, in the past, power within the domestic arena, for Australian women at least, has been exercised in a relatively autonomous manner.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: