What if She Earns More? Gender Norms, Income Inequality, and the Division of Housework

Abstract We examine the relationship between female contribution to household income and the division of housework between the partners, while accounting for their attitutes towards gender roles. We use data from the “Generation and Gender Survey” for Poland: a country where both employment rates of women and their involvement in housework are high, men and women work long hours, and labour market regulation and policies are unsupportive of work− family balance. We find that the female share of total household income is negatively related to women’s heavy involvement in housework. The direction of this relationship does not change when women earn more than their partners, so there is no support for the gender deviance neutralization hypothesis. We also find that individual gender norms matter for women’s involvement in unpaid work at home, and the uncovered link between the female share of household income and inequality between the partners in the division of housework. Women from less traditional households are more likely to share housework equally with their partners. Among couples with traditional gender attitudes, the female contribution to household income is not related to the division of housework. We conclude that narrowing gender pay gaps may be an important step towards more equality not only at work but also at home.