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Psychology of Gender Through the Lens of Culture pp 77–91Cite as

Housework Allocation and Gender (In)equality: The Chinese Case

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Abstract

The present study examines the housework distribution between spouses in Mainland China and from a dyadic perspective. The findings from 211 Chinese couples indicated a pattern consistent with Western findings: housework distribution is lopsided in favor of husbands. On average, wives accounted for two third of the total time that the couples spent on housework. As predicted by relative income theory, the workload was more skewed among couples with a larger discrepancy of personal income. The results also lent partial support to the time-availability theory in that couples with both spouses working fewer hours were more egalitarian in sharing. However, when both of them were heavily involved in paid work, it remained the wives who shouldered the majority of housework, as was the case among couples with full-time housewives. The results showed that more recently married couples allocated housework more equally, indicating a possible cohort effect, probably a phenomenon more characteristic of the developing world. Gender ideology, however, was not found to be a significant predictor of household work allocation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. J&L Research and Consultancy, Kwai Chung, Hong Kong

    Joyce Lai Ting Leong

  2. Department of Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Sylvia Xiaohua Chen

  3. Department of Marketing and Management, Faculty of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

    Michael Harris Bond

Authors
  1. Joyce Lai Ting Leong
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  2. Sylvia Xiaohua Chen
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  3. Michael Harris Bond
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sylvia Xiaohua Chen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

    Saba Safdar

  2. University of Gdansk Institute of Psychology, Gdansk, Poland

    Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka

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Leong, J., Chen, S., Bond, M. (2015). Housework Allocation and Gender (In)equality: The Chinese Case. In: Safdar, S., Kosakowska-Berezecka, N. (eds) Psychology of Gender Through the Lens of Culture. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14005-6_5

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