Division of Labor and Satisfaction across 37 ISSP Countries

Laurie DeRose, University of Maryland
Fran Goldscheider, University of Maryland and Brown University
Laura H. Lippman, Child Trends
Mindy E. Scott, Child Trends
Paul Corcuera Garcia, Universidad de Piura
Reynaldo Rivera, Intermedia Social Innovation
Andrés Salazar, Universidad de La Sabana
Claudia Tarud, Universidad de Los Andes

The last half century has witnessed two dramatic revolutions in social life: a gender revolution marked by greater egalitarian beliefs and behaviors, and a family revolution marked by a decline in familistic beliefs and behaviors. Together, these two revolutions mean changing gender roles are not worked out in the context of marriage as frequently as in the past. Given the resulting deeply pluralistic character of contemporary family life, we seek to determine what families in various countries have done to adjust and how well it is working. We will use the 2012 Family and Changing Gender Roles module of the International Social Survey Programme to:1) document how families are dividing labor force participation, housework, and childcare in 37 economically advanced countries, 2) test whether the division of labor within households is associated with satisfaction with family life and overall happiness, and 3) explore national-level factors conditioning observed relationships.