Sharing the load: housework, joint decision-making, and marital quality in Japan

ABSTRACT

Guided by equity theory, we examine how hours of housework by spouse, perceived fairness of housework division, and joint decision-making predict marital quality in Japan. Our analysis of data from the Survey of Midlife Development in Japan (MIDJA) shows that husbands who say their wives perform more hours of housework than themselves report higher marital quality, while no comparable pattern is present for wives. On the other hand, perceived fairness of housework division has a positive effect on marital quality for wives only. Regardless of gender, joint decision-making positively affects marital quality, although this effect is larger for women. We conclude that even in marriages with an uneven division of housework, which are common in societies such as Japan with serious labour market gender inequalities, joint decision-making may allow for greater empathy and less strain.

KEYWORDS:

• Housework
• joint decision-making
• marital quality
• Japan
• MIDJA

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2018 ASA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In an additional analysis, we tested whether the effect of each of our housework-related variables varied by parental status. This analysis showed that for men, the effect of own housework hours varies by parental status. With the interaction variable (formed by multiplying own housework by parental status) in the model, the previously insignificant effect of own housework hours becomes significant (b = −0.955, p < .01), while the effect of own housework hours is larger, or less negative, for fathers than men without children (b = 0.886, p < .01). That is, own hours of housework is associated with lower marital quality, but this is primarily for men without children.