BACK TO THE BASICS - TRENDS IN AND ROLE DETERMINANTS OF WOMENS ATTITUDES TOWARD HOUSEWORK

Missing from the expanding literature on the division of household lab or and perceptions of equity is an understanding of basic attitudes to ward housework. We examine whether changes in women's roles have been accompanied by a psychological disinvestment in housework (e.g., in st andards) over time. Such a change might speak to the relatively little distress noted by researchers when husbands contribute minimally We a lso argue that role overload and conflicts over the division of labor may be expressed in terms of unhappiness with home cleanliness. Using 1975 and 1995 national probability samples, we find unexpectedly, that women in 1995 report similar attitudes about housecleaning as women i n 1975, though there is some evidence that cultural standards have dec lined. We do find that marriage, motherhood, and employment predict lo wer satisfaction with home cleanliness.