| Abstract: | This study examined the relationship of gender and sex role orientation (SRO) to the domestic division of labor in 139 working couples. Couples completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory as well as questions about who performed domestic tasks, why, and the amount of conflict generated. While women performed more tasks than men, androgynous and feminine-oriented individuals performed more than masculine-oriented individuals. Androgynous individuals also experienced the least conflict over domestic tasks. In couples where the male was androgynous or feminine in SRO, both spouses performed more tasks than spouses in undifferentiated male dyads. In male sex-typed dyads, however, wives performed more tasks than wives in other dyads, while husbands performed less than husbands in other dyads. Women's motivation to perform these tasks was based on their belief that it was their responsibility or that the tasks wouldn't get done otherwise, while men reportedly performed domestic tasks to help out. |
