Housework over the course of relationships: Gender ideology, resources, and the division of housework from a growth curve perspective

In the 21st century, the division of housework remains gendered, with women on average still spending
more time doing chores than their male partners. While research has studied why this phenomenon is so
persistent, few studies have yet been able to assess the effect of gender ideology and socio-economic
resources at the same time, usually due to data restrictions. We use data from the pairfam, a new and
innovative German panel study, in order to test the effect of absolute and relative resources as well as his
and her gender ideology on the division of housework. We employ a life course perspective and analyze
trajectories of couples' housework division over time, using multi-level random effects growth curve
models. We find that an egalitarian gender ideology of both him and her significantly predicts more egalitarian division-trajectories, while neither absolute nor relative resources appear to have an effect on the division of housework over time. Furthermore, our results expand the literature by investigating how these processes differ among childless couples and couples who experience the
first birth.