Lesbian mothers’ constructions of the division of paid and unpaid labor

Abstract

Do lesbian couples resist the (re)gendering of divisions of paid and unpaid labor within the context of biological and nonbiological parenting? In this study we explore how primarily Caucasian, North American lesbian mothers of three-and-a-half-year-old children construct divisions of paid and unpaid labor. We analyze 30 lesbian couples’ narrative constructions of their labor arrangements, examining the ways in which they both transgress and accept traditionally masculine and feminine gendering. At the same time that biological mothers and nonbiological mothers often described differences in their contributions to paid and unpaid labor, they rarely invoked biology as a salient factor in explaining their work/family roles. Our analysis suggests that the ‘egalitarian ethic’ of lesbian women is an over-simplification of the multiple ways that women develop their divisions of labor.

Women in Lesbian Relations

“…Families such as these would, at least theoretically, provide an opportunity to study differences between partners who are tied to birth giving, rather than differences tied to social gender. Downing and Goldberg (2011) discuss lesbian parenting couples' division of labor, and they show that the families organize housework and childcare in gendered patterns but refrain from describing their division in gendered terms. However, in the present article, a heteronormative gendered discourse colors the claims made by some of the interviewees.…”

Pride and Prejudice : Lesbian Families in Contemporary Sweden

“…These opportunities further enable theory on parental responsibilities, such as caregiving and breadwinning, to be developed. Status as birth mother and nonbirth mother, and in particular the role of a non-birth mother, is recurrently in focus for theorizing on the parental role and its relation to gender (Downing & Goldberg, 2011;Oerton, 1997;Padavic & Butterfield, 2011).…”

“…Results have generally shown that lesbians are more egalitarian than different-sex couples (Bos & van Balen, 2010;Bos, van Balen & van den Boom, 2007;Chan et al, 1998;Ciano-Boyce & Shelley-Sireci, 2002;Goldberg, Smith & Perry-Jenkins, 2012a;Patterson, Sutfin & Fulcher, 2004;Perlesz et al, 2010;Tasker & Golombok, 1998). Still, some studies point out that the positions as birth mother and non-birth mother, respectively, tend to form divided parental roles, with the birth mother being the main caregiver and the non-birth mother the main breadwinner Ciano-Boyce & Shelley-Sireci, 2002;Downing & Goldberg, 2011;Goldberg & Perry-Jenkins, 2007;Patterson, 1995). Some children, in both adoptive and biologically grounded lesbian families, seem to prefer one mother to the other (Goldberg, Downing & Sauck, 2008;Pelka, 2009).…”

Child Care Responsibility in Gay Male-Parented Families: Predictive and Correlative Factors

“…Families in Goldberg, Smith, and Perry-Jenkins' (2012) study of adoptive lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parents revealed that financial contribution played an important role in determining which parent took on more caregiving, with the greater financial contribution leading to less child care being provided. Downing and Goldberg (2011) found a similar trend in the lesbian parents that they studied wherein biological mothers tended to both engage in less paid employment than their partners and that this tendency was also tied with doing more caregiving in the home. There is, then, a pattern afoot in these families, despite the relative paucity of literature regarding dnGMPF-same-sex parents who do more domestic work tend to make less money, probably have engaged in some sort of reevaluation of their life goals, and found parenting to be more important than career importance.…”