SIMILARITIES IN WOMENS AND MENS PERCEPTIONS OF THE SOCIETAL GENDER DIVISION-OF-LABOR

Gender-division-of-labor research has documented a paradox: Although l abor is divided unequally between women and men in personal relationsh ips, most married women and men perceive this situation as fair This p aradox makes sense in light of women's and men's interests in minimizi ng feelings of inequity in close relationships. However, if the refere nt is not their own personal lives, women and men may feel greater fre edom to be critical of the gender division of labor. This study analyz ed women's and men's global perceptions of how women and men in genera l divide important tasks and whether these divisions are equitable. Us ing a 1994 state-level sample, I found a wide range of opinions about the relationship between the gender division of labor and fairness, bu t few gender differences. Women and men are more likely to perceive eq uality and fairness in parenting and leisure than in homemaking and em ployment. The results suggest that women and men are more critical of the societal gender division of labor than they are of interpersonal d ivisions, as noted in previous research. I recommend that further fair ness perception research should disentangle the relationship between w omen's and men's personal perceptions versus societal perceptions of t he gender division of labor.