The Occupation of Household Financial Management among Lesbian Couples

Abstract

Occupational science seeks to explicate the everyday activities of individuals within their social and cultural worlds. This research is concerned with the occupation of “doing finances” within the context of creating a home as a couple. Thirteen couples were interviewed in their homes, to address the question: How do lesbian couples go about creating a home together through engagement in household occupation? Financial management, the specific subject of this paper, was a ‘found’ topic that emerged spontaneously from the interviewees. Modified grounded theory and narrative approaches were used to analyze data. The major findings include approaches to money management, the dynamic nature of financial management, and how financial management is influenced by being lesbian in today's society. Implications for occupational science are discussed, such as: redefining the ‘division of labor’ approach to household tasks; concepts of fairness and balance; equal respect for paid and unpaid work; and that people situated in seemingly personal occupations are actually situated in legal, social, and political realms.

Key Words:

• Household occupation
• Household financial management
• Lesbian couples
• Creating home
• Division of labor