The division of labor among egalitarian and traditional women: Differencesin discontent, social comparison, and false consensus

We compared 118 egalitarian women (subscribers to the Dutch feminist magazi ne Opzij) with 118 traditional women (subscribers to the widely read Dutch women's magazine Margriet). On average, egalitarian women had a more equal division of household labor at home than did traditional women but experien ced more discontent about the division of labor in their relationship. Egal itarian women with an unequal division of labor experienced more discontent than did traditional women with an unequal division of labor. Relative to traditional women, egalitarian women more often compared their own contribu tion to housework with their partner's contribution (relational comparison) and with other women's division of labor (referential comparison). Compare d to traditional women, egalitarian women gave higher prevalence estimates of both the percentage of Dutch women doing virtually all housework and the percentage of woman unhappy with the division of labor.