Division of Household Labor and Sexual Desire: The Role of Gender and Benevolent Sexism.

Abstract

In romantic relationships between men and women, women tend to report lower sexual desire than men, which is often seen as an individual or relationship issue, rather than one explained by contextual factors, such as structural gender inequities. Extending past research, we focused on (un)equal division of household labor as one example of gender inequities in relationships that may contribute to women's lower sexual desire, and tested whether gender-based attitudes moderated the association. In two pre-registered studies (N = 943; S1 dyadic-longitudinal, S2 individual cross-sectional), women, compared to men, reported doing more of the household labor and lower sexual desire. However, we did not find that doing more household labor was associated with lower sexual desire. Rather, for women, the association between household labor and sexual desire depended on women's endorsement of benevolent sexism (i.e. beliefs idealizing traditional gender roles). Across studies, the associations between unequal division of household labor and lower sexual desire emerged as strongest and most consistent for women lower in benevolent sexism (i.e. who hold more egalitarian gender beliefs; S1 trending, S2 significant). However, this association did not emerge for women higher in benevolent sexism (S2), and in some cases, they reported greater desire when doing more household labor (S1). These findings extended past work by highlighting (a) gender differences in the association between division of labor and sexual desire, (b) the moderating role of gender-based attitudes, and (c) how gendered patterns of behavior within relationships can uphold and reinforce broader gender inequities.