Labor Orientations: The Role Of Husbands’ and Wives’ Relative Job Characteristics In Shaping Men’s Household Labor Participation Richard N. Pitt, Ph.D. Vanderbilt University - Sociology

Family Social Psychology Gender Education Human Capital Accumulation Men’s Studies Structure & Personality Household Labor 1. 1.Women do more housework than men, but only twice as much. Women average 26 hours per week, while men average 14 hours (NSFH1, 1987) 2. 2.Both men’s ACTUAL and RELATIVE contributions to housework are growing. BROAD QUESTION Why Do Men Do Housework? Job Characteristics

Three Common Predictors of Household Labor Allocation RELATIVE RESOURCES Education, age, income, occupational status, negative effects of possible divorce TIME AVAILABILITY Number of hours worked, employments shifts (e.g., off between 5pm and 12am, no weekends) GENDER IDEOLOGY Traditional attitudes of spouse and respondents

Labor-Type Orientations Environmental Preferences: Who You Are Working With Where You Are Working Activity Preferences: Activities Dealing With Things or Objects Activities Resulting In The Prestige/Esteem of Others Tolerances: Stress Lack Of Control Over Work Activities

P. Breer and E. Locke (1965) ● Beliefs, preferences, and tolerances developed in one task situation will generalize to all others. ● Preferences and tolerances generated in the work place are of predominant importance for generalization because of the very salient role which work has in the lives of most people.

M. Kohn and C. Schooler (1969, 1983) ● Occupational conditions affect the worldview and personalities of workers ● Traits cultivated at the workplace are generalized to other spheres of behavior, for example, interactions with children ● The relationship between conditions of work and personality is not solely the result of the selective entry of actors into appropriate jobs. The causal ordering is reciprocal, with the conditions and requirements of jobs both influencing and being influence by personality.

G. Becker (1976, 1981) ● People maximize the efficiency of a system by assigning tasks to people according to the resources they bring to the system. ● Women have a comparative advantage in domestic labor because they have been socialized to have the requisite resources (i.e., values orientation, task orientation) for domestic work..

Research Questions If preferences and tolerances developed in one task situation generalize to others AND Occupational conditions affect the preferences and tolerances of workers AND People maximize the efficiency of a [household] system by assigning tasks to people according to the resources they bring to the system... Are Men More Likely To Do Housework If Their Workplace Labor Has: High Levels Of The Same Labor Orientations As Household Labor? Higher Levels Of These Labor Orientations Than Their Wives’ Workplace Labor? AbsoluteRelative OR

“Housework remains primarily ‘women’s work’ despite substantial change in women’s employment patterns and in attitudes once thought to undergird the sexual division of labor.” Brines (1994) “Both sexes agree that women are primarily responsible for grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning the house.” Schooler et al (1984) “Most women experience family tasks as... essential work done for people they love; most women usually enjoy ministering to the needs of their loved ones and keeping the family going...” Thompson and Walker (1989) “... he would sometimes derive pleasure from cleaning the bathroom or picking up a sock if he looked at it as an act of caring for his family.” Coltrane (1989) “The family work most women do is unrelenting, repetitive, and routine. The family work most men do is infrequent, irregular, and non-routine.” Thompson and Walker (1989) “Men avoid [housework] because they are not accustomed to doing monotonous repetitive work...” Ahlander and Bahr (1995) Routine & Repetitive Characteristics of Female-Typical Household Labor ServiceOrientation High % Of Women Doing It Meal Preparation ● Shopping ● Cleaning ● Laundry

Characteristics of Female-Typical Household Labor “Most women experience family tasks as... essential work done for people they love; most women usually enjoy ministering to the needs of their loved ones and keeping the family going...” Thompson and Walker (1989) “... he would sometimes derive pleasure from cleaning the bathroom or picking up a sock if he looked at it as an act of caring for his family.” Coltrane (1989) ServiceOrientation “The family work most women do is unrelenting, repetitive, and routine. The family work most men do is infrequent, irregular, and non-routine.” Thompson and Walker (1989) “Men avoid [housework] because they are not accustomed to doing monotonous repetitive work...” Ahlander and Bahr (1995) Routine & Repetitive “Housework remains primarily ‘women’s work’ despite substantial change in women’s employment patterns and in attitudes once thought to undergird the sexual division of labor.” Brines (1994) “Both sexes agree that women are primarily responsible for grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning the house.” Schooler et al (1984) High % Of Women Doing It

Insurance Underwriters Proofreaders Tailors Actors Railroad Conductors Tour Guides Teachers Clergy Physicians Service Oriented Jobs Carpenters Architects Pilots Bakers Computer Programmers Financial Managers Secretaries Nurses Laundry Machn. Operator Female-TypicalJobs Nuclear Engineers Optometrists Actuaries Dancers Locksmiths Classified Ads Clerks Garbage Collectors Meter Readers Food Preparation Workers Routine & Repetitive Jobs Sample Jobs Which Rate High, Average, and Low On The Three Job Characteristics* *Source: Dictionary of Occupational Titles, 1977

Data National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH, 1987) Nationally representative sample of 13,008 adults aged 19 and older. The survey contains 17,000 housing units drawn from 100 sampling areas in the United States. My analysis uses the male married respondents whose spouses filled out a secondary survey (n=2990). Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT, 1977) Data from the US Department of Labor (DOL) on 12,000 occupations. The DOL observers visited employment sites to observe workers and then interview them and their supervisors. Each occupation was then coded based on the requirements of each occupation.

What Is Included In Each Model? INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (Source: DOT) PERCENT FEMALE (Absolute and Relative) PERCENT FEMALE (Absolute and Relative) : Job requires a preference for/tolerance for working with a high percentage of women in work, presumably, seen as female-typical. SERVICE ORIENTATION (Absolute and Relative) SERVICE ORIENTATION (Absolute and Relative) : Job requires a preference for/tolerance for working for the presumed good of people ROUTINE OR REPETITIVE WORK (Absolute and Relative) ROUTINE OR REPETITIVE WORK (Absolute and Relative) : Job requires a preference for/tolerance for activities of a concrete, routine, or organized nature DEPENDENT VARIABLE (Source: NSFH) PROPORTION OF TOTAL FEMALE-TYPICAL HOUSEWORK DONE BY MALE RESPONDENTS: Meal Preparation, Laundry, Housecleaning, and Shopping

What Is Included In Each Model? Control Variables (Source: NSFH) Age, father’s education, mother’s education, race, religiosity, enrolled in school, years of education, current employment status, military background, income (logged), living in a home, interracial relationship, length of current relationship, age at start of current relationship, previously married, previously cohabitated, number of kids, percent children under 5yo, teen girls in household, and physical disability Theoretical Control Variables (Source: NSFH) RELATIVE RESOURCES: Income, education, age, job status, loss if divorce TIME: Number of hours worked by each partner, “normal” 8-5 work schedule with weekends off GENDER IDEOLOGY: Traditional attitudes of each partner Other Job Characteristic Control Variables (Source: DOT) PHYSICAL FACTOR: Job has high physical demands (e.g., talking, seeing, stooping) COGNITIVE FACTOR: Job requires many cognitive skills (e.g., math aptitude) or training SOCIAL FACTOR: Job requires ability to handle complex relationships with people

Percent Female0.002 Service Orientation0.044 Repetitive & Routine Work0.018 Physical Factor-0.095** Cognitive Factor0.031 Social Factor R contributes more income R only with college a *** R is older than spouse b R’s job has higher status Divorce would worse for spouse0.003 Number of hours S is working0.061** Number of hours R is working-0.075*** Spouse home btwn 3p and 12a-0.058*** His traditional attitudes-0.117*** Spouse's traditional attitudes-0.039* ABSOLUTE Regression Results of Models of ABSOLUTE Job Characteristics and Proportion of Female-Typical Housework Done By Married Men Relative Resources Time Availability Gender Ideology *** p<.001 ** p<.01 * p<.05 a Omitted both with college b Omitted both are same age R 2 = 0.14 All coefficients are standardized. Job Type Controls

Percent Female0.055** Service Orientation0.047* Repetitive & Routine Work0.048* Physical Factor-0.057** Cognitive Factor0.032 Social Factor R contributes more income R only with college a ** R is older than spouse b R’s job has higher status Divorce would worse for spouse0.003 Number of hours S is working0.060** Number of hours R is working-0.076*** Spouse home btwn 3p and 12a-0.059*** His traditional attitudes-0.118*** Spouse's traditional attitudes-0.041* RELATIVE Regression Results of Models of RELATIVE Job Characteristics and Proportion of Female-Typical Housework Done By Married Men Relative Resources Time Availability Gender Ideology Job Type Controls *** p<.001 ** p<.01 * p<.05 a Omitted both with college b Omitted both are same age R 2 = 0.15 All coefficients are standardized.

Proportion Female-Typical Housework Done When Wife Is a Secretary Relative Job Characteristic: Work Done For Presumed Good Of Others

Proportion Female-Typical Housework Done When Wife Is a Secretary Relative Job Characteristic: Work is Routine and Repetitive

Proportion Female-Typical Housework Done When Wife Is a Teacher Relative Job Characteristic: Job Is Higher In % Female

Conclusions ● Relative resources, time availability, and gender ideology are all indicators of men’s household labor allocation. ● Men’s absolute holdings of particular job characteristics is not an indicator of their household labor allocation. ● Men’s holdings of particular job characteristics—relative to their spouse’s holdings of those characteristics—is a significant indicator of the men’s household labor allocation.