Housework conflict and divorce: a multi-level analysis

In: Work, employment and society: a journal of the British Sociological Association, Band 26, Heft 4, S. 638-656

Abstract

Macro-level measures of divorce have important consequences on individual-level housework dynamics. Previous research has focused on the relationship between access to divorce at the country level and divisions of housework at the individual level. The article extends this literature by investigating the relationship between individual-level housework conflict and country-level measures of divorce and women's bargaining power. Using European Social Survey data (n = 18,560), it tests the multi-level relationship between individual-level housework conflict and country-level rates of the following four measures: marriage, divorce, full-time female labour force participation and the female-male wage gap. The multi-level results demonstrate that both men and women report more housework conflict in countries with higher rates of women's full-time labour force participation and divorce, and women report less conflict in countries with higher rates of marriage.