Divide Feel Like a Kid Again
Men, women often divide child care and house care tasks by attitudes rather than expectations, researcher says
| Judy Berthiaume
Photo caption: A study by Dr. April Bleske-Rechek and her student research team looks at whether the often talked well-nigh disparity in how women and men split child care and home care tasks is influenced by their ain preferences, rather than by entrenched expectations effectually gender roles. Their findings have recently been highlighted in professional person journals.
Countless stories have been written in contempo years nigh research that finds that women — including those in dual-income households — continue to spend more time than their spouses caring for their children and cleaning their houses, while men spend more time at their formal jobs.
What'due south non talked about is how men and women feel almost that division of labor, says Dr. Apr Bleske-Rechek, a professor of psychology at the Academy of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
"Story afterward story talk in generalities and broad strokes nigh women continuing to invest more time in child intendance and firm care but none of them considers the possibility that men and women may differ in how they want to spend their time," Bleske-Rechek says. "They as well never talk nigh the massive array of tasks involved in household maintenance and kid care."
So, Bleske-Rechek and her team of undergraduate student researchers launched their own report to see if the disparities in how couples carve up labor may reflect differences betwixt men'south and women's attitudes toward dozens of typical kid care and abode maintenance tasks.
Their research findings, published in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and recently highlighted by the Institute for Family unit Studies, support their hypothesis that the ofttimes-discussed disparities in how men and women engage in dwelling and child intendance tasks don't necessarily reflect entrenched, traditional gender roles, but rather that many men and women are doing the tasks that they prefer, Bleske-Rechek says.
People often presume that men spend more time in their formal jobs and women spend more time on household and child intendance tasks because women are oppressed, Bleske-Rechek says. Their inquiry suggests, however, that tasks often are divided by an individual's involvement in doing them, regardless of gender.
For instance, she says, many men in their study reported that they like to set things around the house and maintain the vehicles, while most women in their report reported no interest in doing those sorts of tasks. On the flip side, many women did report that they like to shop for gifts or decorate the house, while men reported not enjoying those tasks and preferring their spouse do them, she says.
"This research is of import because it addresses a gap in discussions regarding sex differences in housework and child care — men's and women's attitudes," Bleske-Rechek says. "Stories quondam describe women equally 'shouldering' most of the caregiving and household duties, which implies that women view these tasks as a burden. They don't consider the possibility that some men and women might truly enjoy or take pride in some of these tasks."
UW-Eau Claire research findings
In the written report, Bleske-Rechek's research team surveyed two groups of men and women: college-going emerging adults between the ages of xviii and 23, none of whom notwithstanding had children; and middle-aged adults betwixt the ages of 31 and 46, almost of whom were partnered and raising i or more young children. Those surveyed all were current UW-Eau Claire students or graduates of the university.
In the survey, the researchers asked emerging-aged adults to rate how much they expected to savour xl specific child care tasks and 58 specific household tasks. They asked middle-anile adults to charge per unit their electric current attitude toward each of those same tasks. Participants in both groups also reported how they would ideally carve up the responsibility for each task with their partner.
"In the aggregate, women reported enjoying child care tasks more than men did," Bleske-Rechek says of their findings. "In fact, although both sexes provided favorable ratings to well-nigh child care tasks, in that location was non a single child care task that men liked or foresaw liking more than than women did."
Women in both age groups said they preferred having more responsibility for scheduling and analogous children's events and appointments, and for shopping for children's needs and wants. Men in both groups preferred that their partner have more than responsibility in those areas, the study found.
The men in the study reported that they enjoy household tasks that involve physical work with objects, including outdoor labor and home fixes and maintenance, far more than than women did. In fact, women tended to dislike tasks involving outdoor labor and home fixes and maintenance, Bleske-Rechek says.
"While women wanted their partners to accept responsibility for those tasks, men themselves also preferred to accept more than responsibility for those tasks," Bleske-Rechek says.
In addition to child intendance, women said they also preferred tasks associated with food training, family scheduling and organizing, and dwelling aesthetics much more than than men did. Fifty-fifty though men did not necessarily dislike those tasks, men tended to prefer that their partner have more responsibility for them, she says.
For some tasks, the differences in how men and women viewed them was quite pronounced, says Bleske-Rechek. However, differences in preferences for how tasks were carve up were more than pronounced in the middle-aged adult sample. That might exist because they now understand the reality of what information technology takes to raise children and manage a household, she says.
Bleske-Rechek also noted that their findings fit with other research, including published work out of her lab several years ago, showing that men and women differ in how much they would like to work exterior the home when they have young children.
"All of these findings show that men and women exercise non hold identical attitudes about their part in the house, nor in various tasks involved in managing a home and raising children," says Bleske-Rechek. "We found that regardless of their sex activity, individuals tended to desire more responsibleness for the tasks they enjoyed and, unsurprisingly, less responsibleness for those they did not enjoy."
At that place are many exceptions to any trend, so there certainly are men who prefer to spend more than time on child care and tasks such equally laundry, while their partner prefers to spend more time on her formal task, Bleske-Rechek says. She noted that in her ain family, for example, her husband stayed at home with their kids for ten years, while she — happily — did not. What matters, she says, is recognizing that many couples split their tasks past considering what they similar or don't like doing, what they value and what they're good at doing, not considering gild places expectations on them to do sure things.
"In the modern earth, where men and women alike should be able to choose freely, maybe the best matter partners can do is to talk well-nigh their likes and dislikes — and recognize that striving for equity past sharing every single task equally is unlikely to make either of them happy in the end," Bleske-Rechek says.
Undergraduate student researchers
Bleske-Rechek says she could not take completed the research without the aid of undergraduate students in the Individual Differences and Evolutionary Psychology Lab that she directs at UW-Eau Claire.
Michaela Gunseor, who graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 2018 with degrees in business concern administration and psychology, liberal arts, was an specially valuable member of her squad.
"Michaela was with me for four years and was a astounding pupil researcher," Bleske-Rechek says. "She put lots of time and thought into this written report. I couldn't accept done information technology without her."
Gunseor says being part of the enquiry lab helped shape her college experience and her plans for her hereafter.
"Looking back on my years at UWEC, researching with Dr. Bleske-Rechek was easily the nearly impactful part of my higher experience," Gunseor says. "The way that she involves students in each part of the research process while too coaching and encouraging them to bring their voice and contributions to the research taught me critical thinking, collaboration and innovation while also igniting my passion for data and building my conviction. This foundation gave me something unique that I was able to bring to both my graduate program and now my career."
Their research on men's and women's attitudes toward family unit roles and household and child care tasks was particularly meaningful because it is the largest and most complex enquiry that she has been involved with to date, Gunseor says.
Being involved with research that involved current students, merely also middle-anile adults made the project fifty-fifty more than interesting because it created new challenges and learning opportunities, Gunseor says.
"Considering we didn't have direct access to a participant pool of middle-anile adults, getting participation from this age group created new complexities with applying for funding, budgeting, computing textile cost and coordinating a large physical mailing — all things that I was unfamiliar with," Gunseor says. "Dr. Bleske-Rechek encouraged me to pb the fashion through these complexities, while always beingness ready and willing to support if needed. I adult substantially from this experience because I was challenged to manage ambiguity, leap headfirst into the unknown, put forth something for anybody to react to, neglect fast and be lifted past my mentor. Today, I am using that same arroyo in my career and my life."
Gunseor says she hopes that their enquiry findings volition help people strengthen their own relationships and intentionally arroyo others with more than consideration for their beliefs and attitudes.
"Additionally, I hope that individuals will observe or strengthen the childhood affinity for asking 'why' and approach the globe with more marvel than judgment," Gunseor says.
Written by Judy Berthiaume
Judy is an IMC storyteller, sharing stories about the many exceptional people who brand UW-Eau Claire such a phenomenal place. She talks with students, faculty, staff and alumni to find and to share their successes, initiatives, challenges and dreams with the campus customs and the world beyond.
In This Story
- April Bleske-Rechek
- Michaela Gunseor
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