The Gender Division of Family Work Over the Life Course

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This proposal for a Research Planning Grant is intended to carry out research on how time is defined and used. Results will be used to plan a follow-up study about perceptions of fairness in work allocations and how these may affect life course transitions. It adds to theories about family stability and to generalizations about the demography of the life course by its focus on the importance of the time it takes to fulfill work and family obligations. Existing data sources at both the national and state level are analyzed to expand definitions of time use and the scope of how time use may affect important life course events. Focus group interviews with both men and women will be conducted to explore the meanings that subjects attribute to how they use time, particularly with respect to fairness in the allocation of household responsibilities by gender. The results of the quantitative analysis and the focus group interviews will form the basis for the design of a new study, directly concerned with how beliefs about gender roles are associated with conflict between household partners and how beliefs affect transitions to marriage, cohabitation, or divorce. The prevalence of households where two adults work outside the home, along with the customary demands in running a household, are important for the formation of the family's social capital. Although the division of labor within the household begins with tasks, this research promises new insights into how the family functions by focusing on how much time those tasks take. With time the critical variable, the investigator will be able to move to a consideration of beliefs about fairness in the allocation of tasks, and their relation to interfamilial conflict and familial stability.