Stereotypes and reality in the division of household labor

The division of labor in mixed-gender households was investigated on the basis of stereotypical expectations, as well as time-use diary data. The stereotypes as generated by 210 adults, of average age 25 years, were consistent with reality, as depicted by the diary data from an independent study. In both data sets, the image of the double shift emerged. Women were seen as doing most of the unpaid work, and tasks were gender-segregated. Expectations of women, reinforced by values and power differences, appear unchanged by women’s increasing participation in paid labor. Social policies which address women's experience of paid labor therefore need to address the division of unpaid labor. Equalizing unpaid labor means mobilizing men to become involved in essential, but unrewarded, tasks.