Changing Resources and the Division of Housework: A Longitudinal Study of Swedish Couples

Most research on the division of housework is based on cross-sectional studies. This study instead focuses on the way in which changes in spouses’ relative resources are related to changes in housework. The data come from the Swedish Level of Living Survey for the years 1991 and 2000. An important issue is whether spouses can use their relative resources in negotiations about housework. The analyses show that changes in spouses’ relative resources only result in a moderate change in women's share of the housework between 1991 and 2000. The change that nevertheless does take place indicates that women's share of the housework decreases if their relative resources in terms of level of education and social status increased between 1991 and 2000. If a woman's economic dependency on her spouse decreased between the two years, her share of the housework also decreases. The decrease in women's share of the housework is mainly due to an increase in men's time spent in housework. However, regardless of access to resources, Swedish men do less housework than Swedish women do.