The Division of Housework in Czech Married and Cohabiting Couples: Does the Type of Union Have an Effect and What's Considered Fair?

Abstract

The results of research on domestic labour consistently show that women are responsible for more housework tasks than men. At the same time, there is growing public awareness of gender role equality. However, there is little evidence on whether there has been any change in the perception of fairness in the division of housework and whether this view differs in different families. Using data from the ISSP 2002 and 2011/2012, this article seeks to explore the relationship between the division of housework and its perceived fairness. Using latent class regression analysis four distinct types of housework division and perceptions and individual characteristics that predict cluster membership of housework division are identified. The most prevalent type are couples in which there is a traditional division of housework and who divide further into two groups based on whether they view this division is fair or unfair. Cohabiting couples are more likely than married couples to share housework equally and to see this arrangement as fair. Based on a distributive justice perspective, important predictors of cluster membership are found to be relative income, economic activity, gender, and partnership status. However, the findings provide only limited evidence of any change in the division of housework and perceptions about housework in the Czech Republic over the last decade.