Despite many studies on the gendered division of housework, there is little research on how couples divide the work of household management. Relative resource theories of household bargaining inform analyses of who does the housework, but their applicability to household management is unclear, if only because management responsibility may be…

Unpaid household labor is still predominantly performed by women, despite dramatic increases in female labor force participation over the past 50 years. For this article, interviews with 76 highly skilled women who had returned to the workforce following the birth of children were analyzed to capture reflexive understandings of the balance of paid…

Motivated by the trend of women spending more time in paid labor and the general speedup of everyday life, the authors explore whether the resulting time crunch affects sexual frequency among married couples. Although prior research has examined the associations between relationship quality and household labor time, few have examined a dimension…

Most women must decide whether to work for pay while mothering or make mothering their sole social role. Often this decision is portrayed in terms of whether they will be "stay-at-home" and presumably "full-time" mothers, or "working mothers" and therefore ones who prioritize paid work over caregiving. Inferred within this construction is women's…

This study examines how industry and occupation sex segregation are related to the use of flexible scheduling policies and perceptions of the career repercussions of using such policies. The analysis is performed on data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (N = 2,810). Findings suggest that the percentage of women per industry…

Little is known about the spousal support received by married executive women and the support behaviors that they value. This article details the results of a qualitative study of 20 senior and executive-level women, with the aim of understanding their received and valued spousal support. An inductive typology was developed through semistructured…

Integrating three theoretical explanations for declining rates of marriage in Japan, the authors develop hypotheses in which linkages between benefits of coresidence with parents and marriage timing are moderated by women's own socioeconomic characteristics. To evaluate these hypothesized interactive relationships, data from a panel survey of…

Drawing on data from a panel study of White women spanning 31 years, the analyses examine the influence of women's employment on the gendered division of household labor. Multiple dimensions of women's employment are investigated, including accumulated employment histories, current employment status, current employment hours, and relative income.…

The article focuses on findings that were replicated across several countries and considers their relevance for future older adults. Key findings are that (a) childlessness makes more of a difference in men's than in women's lives, (b) never-married women are a childless category with particularly favorable characteristics, and (c) childless…

Describes the changing role of women in East Germany since World War II and the impact on family life. Discusses trends in marriages, divorces, birth rates, and employment. Sees new socialist family as not so different from new Western family, being shaped by labor force participation of men and women, alternative lifestyles, and a slow advance of…

Data from a study of female retirees and their husbands indicate that the retirement of the wife does not always lead to a redistribution of household tasks, nor do all female retirees experience a full-time household role after retirement. Effects on the marital relationship are often positive. (Author)

Investigates support from family and friends received by employed African American and Anglo mothers of young children. Supports investigated include care of sick and out-of-school children, general babysitting assistance, and help with transportation. A discouraging finding is that for every type of support, mothers below the poverty line are no…

This article presents an exploratory study that furthers our understanding of the functioning of two-career couples at midlife and, in particular, our understanding of the husband's contributions to family and household activities. More specifically, it addresses the following questions regarding dual-career couples: (a) Whose career has…