It’s widely established that women tend to do more of the housework than men, with this remaining the case even during a pandemic in which both partners often worked from home. Research from the University of Bath reveals that this is also usually the case even if the woman earns more than their partner.

This flies in the face of rational economic theory, which would suggest whomever earns less would do more at home, but the study of 6,000 or so married couples in North America found that this was not the case.

“Of course, we understand why specialized division of labor exists, but there is no reason for this specialization to be gender-specific. Traditional division has been conventionally explained by men earning more and working longer hours and has a certain logical appeal,” the researcher explains.

“However, I found that the gender housework gap actually gets bigger for mothers who earned more than their spouses—the more they earned over their partner, the more housework they did.”

Traditional breadwinners

The author suggests that our notion of the “male breadwinner” may be so deeply entrenched that couples may attempt to compensate when women earn more than their husbands. For instance, married couples where the traditional division of income is not evident may perceive themselves, and indeed be perceived by others, to be bucking the norm.

“What may be happening is that, when men earn less than women, couples neutralize this by increasing traditionality through housework—in other words, wives do more and husbands do less as they try to offset this ‘abnormal’ situation by leaning into other conventional gender norms,” the author explains.

This is one explanation for the bucking of economic norms as more and more women are not only earning high salaries but earning more than their male partners. Traditional economic logic would suggest that as this becomes more normal that men would start to do more at home to maximize the household’s income.

Marital conflict

The author believes their findings could provide an important insight into possible sources of marital conflict. For instance, they highlight research by the U.S. Institute of Family Studies, which shows that a common theme for arguments is around household chores.

When couples have children, there is often a change in the division of labor, and indeed often more so than other major life events, such as getting married. The research suggests, however, that this typically reinforces gender-typical behaviors.

“This is important, because how couples divide the increased domestic workload after becoming parents will be an important determinant of earnings inequalities between women and men over the course of their lives—a pattern once settled upon is often difficult to renegotiate. And these norms may be passed to their children,” the researcher explains.

This runs counter to the expectations of the “gender revolution” of the 1960s whereby the greater involvement of women in the labor market and a rise in earning power would coincide with greater participation by men in domestic activities.

“Sadly, however, it looks like married men and women—especially married parents—have still not equalized the level of housework they perform, leading many of us to wonder how to restart this ‘stalled revolution’?” the author concludes.