Explain how time availability theory and the relative income hypothesis explain how couples decide to divide housework. What are the limitations for each of these theories? Describe how gender role ideologies explain these divisions of labor and how they address the limitations of time availability theory and the relative income hypothesis.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Time availability theory proposes that couples decide how much time to spend on housework based on how much time they have available. That is, the partner with the most free time at home assumes more responsibility for housework. However, this theory cannot explain why women in heterosexual relationships continue to do the bulk of housework regardless of their share of the couple’s combined paid work hours. According to the relative income hypothesis, couple members trade off income for housework such that whoever makes more money does less housework. Because men typically earn more money than women, they do less housework. However, some research shows that when husbands depend financially on their wives, they become less, not more, willing to do housework. The gender role ideology hypothesis holds that a couple’s beliefs about gender roles influence the division of housework. This helps to explain the paradox identified above: When a husband depends more on his wife for economic support, he does less housework, while women tend to do more housework the more they out-earn their husbands. These patterns cannot be explained easily by either the time availability theory or the relative income hypothesis. Instead, they are consistent with the view that some men experience their economic dependence as a threat to their gender identity, and they attempt to restore their masculinity by avoiding “feminine” housework.