Study: Higher Salaries Mean Less Housework for Married Women

Research at the University of Massachusetts found that the higher a married woman's salary the less housework she performed weekly, and that amount is independent of a relation to her husband's earning. Earlier studies of the relation between income and domestic duties began with an assumption that her housework was related to how her salary compared to her husband.

Sanjiv Gupta, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts and the author of the research, says that removing the ratio of husband to wife earnings leaves a clearer picture of domestic dynamics. Women making $10,000 per year or less spent almost 7 hours more on housework a week than women making $40,000 or more. That works out to a difference of one hour per week for each $7,500 earned annually, making one hour of housework worth around $145.

These findings are based on data from two-income couples in the United States from 1992-94. Gupta's findings have also been confirmed using similar data from 2000. An unpublished study conducted with researchers in Germany and Sweden provided the latest numbers. The University of Massachusetts study has been published in The Journal of Marriage and Family.

How much energy a woman will put into the home is,"only about the amount the woman earns," Gupta says. "If she has a big paycheck, she's going to spend less time doing housework." Gupta calls this a critical element.

Gupta also found that the average time a married woman spends on chores declined from 30.4 hours a week in 1965 to 15.8 hours per week in 1995. This corresponds with a rise in median earnings from $9,800 to $16,000 the same years. Gupta believes his findings suggest the two trends are linked.

It also suggests that higher earning makes it easier for a woman to make the division of work in the home more balanced when it comes to sharing with their spouse. However, the relation of the woman's salary to her husband was not an influencing factor, a common assumption in a society where money equals power in a relationship. Sociologists consider these findings important when looking at family dynamics and effect of the relation between money and spouses, often a complex and surprising subject.

Until researchers delve deeper into the money-housework relation, working wives should take comfort in knowing they have more bargaining power than is immediately obvious.

SOURCE:

University of Massachusetts, UMass Amherst Researcher Says a Woman's Paycheck Is Key to Determining How Much Housework She Does