Sex Roles within Marriage

This author's study of married couples' allocation of tasks within the household found that role specialization exists in most households, in accordance with traditional sex role norms. Although wives' self-esteem was not significant, the number of hours they were employed, their sex role orientation, and the attitudes of their significant others were significantly associated with task performance. The author suggests that the absence of egalitarian role behavior in households is not due to personal weakness or pathology but to conflicts in male and female roles and to lack of familial and social supports.