The Employment Pattern of Professional Couples and Their Distribution of Involvement in the Family

Thirty-two two-profession couples in three different age groups with children were interviewed together to determine if there was a relationship between their employment pattern and their distribution of family involvement in the home. The couples followed one of two employment patterns: a similar employment history (SEH) in which both people had worked full-time and continuously and a dissimilar employment history (DEH) in which the husband had worked full-time and continuously but the wife had worked part-time. Their involvement in the home was measured by an 80-item interview that covered two modes of interaction in four task areas. Significant differences were found in the ways SEH and DEH couples allocated tasks. Of particular interest was the breakdown of an equitable distribution of tasks in the area of childcare for SEH couples. It was suggested that couples “negotiate” a division of labor that allows women to compensate for the time they spend away from the children and men to choose the family work that is less threatening to their masculine selves.