Egalitarianism in Retired Rural Couples: Household Tasks, Decision Making, and Leisure Activities

Dorfman, Lorraine T.; Heckert, D. Alex

doi:10.2307/584433

Cited by 32 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…We found that the level of older women's participation in housework was higher than that of older men. Our findings were consistent with the International literature suggesting that the primary responsibility for housework among older adults remains a female issue across various cultures (Gibson 1996;Dorfman and Heckert 1988;Keith and Wacker 1990;Dorfman 1992;Robinson and Spitze 1992;Beales 2000;Coltrane 2000;Ghysels 2000;Essex and Hong 2005).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Older adults in the division of domestic labor in communities on the outskirts of Beirut

et al. 2006

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The gendered division of domestic labor has been widely studied over the last three decades. However, older adults' contribution to housework, especially in patriarchal communities in the Middle East, has been largely overlooked. This article examined the participation of older members of the household in domestic labor in three communities in the outskirts of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Drawing on a sample of 2,797 households, the results revealed that three salient factors seemed to have the major impact on older adults' participation in domestic labor; these were the presence of adult women (18-59 years old) in the household, the marital status and age of older adults. Older men's participation in domestic labor was much lower than that of older women, suggesting that a gender divide exists among older adults in the patriarchal setting of the study. Housework remains feminized in the later stage of life.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Older adults in the division of domestic labor in communities on the outskirts of Beirut

et al. 2006

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“…Common responsibilities traditionally and consistently reported by older wives include indoor activities and tasks such as cooking, washing dishes and clothes, writing letters, and cleaning; whereas common responsibilities reported by husbands include outdoor activities and tasks such as yard work, car maintenance, and home repairs (Brubaker & Kinsel, 1985;Szinovacz, 1980). Although men after retirement do more housework than other husbands (Rexroat & Shehan, 1987), their contribution remains small compared to that of their wives (Dorfman & Heckert, 1988;Keith & Schafer, 1986). However, these studies do not take caregiving status into account.…”

Section: The Existing Evidencementioning

confidence: 70%

Caregiving as a Life Course Transition Among Older Husbands: A Prospective Study

Kramer

Lambert

1999

The Gerontologist

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Guided primarily by transitions theory, this study examined changes over two points in time (approximately 5 years apart) in multiple life domains (i.e., household tasks, social life, marital relationship, and well-being) between two groups of husbands aged 60 and older, who indicated that their wives were not in need of care or assistance due to an illness or disability at the initial interview. The two groups included husbands who identified themselves as a provider of care at Time 2 (T2; i.e., they had transitioned into the caregiver role; n = 26), and those married to healthy wives at T2 (i.e., noncaregivers; n = 262). Data came from a national probability sample of U.S. adults who were primary respondents to the National Survey of Families and Households in 1987-88, and who were followed up longitudinally in 1992-93. Findings suggested that husbands who entered the caregiving role demonstrated significant changes in household responsibilities, social integration, marital relationship, and well-being. Implications for practice and future research on the older husband caregiver are highlighted.

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“…Furthermore, since fathers typically have more personal leisure time than mothers (Shaw, 1985(Shaw, , 1992Dorfman & Heckert, 1988;Kulik, 2002;Moen & Sweet, 2003), they may have been in a better position to rejuvenate personally to the point where couple time surfaced as a value. We speculated too that since fathers are often perceived as holding the position of secondary parent or as being in some way deficient relative to mothers (Hawkins & Dollahite, 1997) they may have been more aware than mothers of their own need for 'partner' attention, and as a result, initiated couple time to redirect wives' attention to themselves.…”

Section: Discussion and Summary Of Theory And Directions For Future mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Studies in family and leisure sciences indicate that gender differences and power dynamics might account for some of the ambiguity in the literature relating marital satisfaction and couples' time together, such as findings indicating that husbands overall spent more time in leisure than wives (Shaw, 1985;Dorfman & Heckert, 1988;Kulik, 2002;Moen & Sweet, 2003), and that free time for mothers with grade-school children was especially scarce (Moen & Sweet, 2003). Crawford and Huston (1993) studied the impact of the transition to parenthood on marital leisure, and found that parenthood reduced both the amount of time husbands spent in independent leisure, and the amount of time couples spent in activities preferred by husbands, while it increased couple time spent in activities preferred by wives.…”

Section: Gender and The Construction Of Couple Timementioning

confidence: 95%

Rising to the Challenge: Fathers’ Role in the Negotiation of Couple Time

Dyck

Daly

2006

Leisure Studies

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In order to understand the relationship between fatherhood and leisure, we believe that it is important to take a systemic perspective that examines the way in which relationships within the family affect leisure choices. Although the literature on gender and free time offers important insights into the different individual entitlements that women and men have to use time, they put less emphasis on the relationship negotiations that occur within families. We were particularly interested in the way that men in families negotiate couple time with their partners. In this analysis of 14 dualearner couples with young children (3-12 years old), we looked at the role that men play in the negotiation of couple time. Specifically, we examined the processes of initiating and scheduling couple time, dealing with expectations of spontaneity and romance, and arranging childcare. We found that in creating couple time, participants faced many challenges including uncertain social support, the stressful demands of daily living, unclear couple time preferences and meanings, and ambivalence regarding their desire for traditional courtship in the context of egalitarian parenting. Fathers played an important role in instigating couple time whereas mothers played a significant role in its implementation; our discussion explores various power dynamics at play in this coconstruction of couple time.

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Egalitarianism in Retired Rural Couples: Household Tasks, Decision Making, and Leisure Activities

Cited by 32 publications

References 18 publications

Older adults in the division of domestic labor in communities on the outskirts of Beirut

Older adults in the division of domestic labor in communities on the outskirts of Beirut

Caregiving as a Life Course Transition Among Older Husbands: A Prospective Study

Rising to the Challenge: Fathers’ Role in the Negotiation of Couple Time

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