“Negotiating Fairness”: A Study on How Lesbian Family Members Evaluate, Construct, and Maintain “Fairness” with the Division of Household Labor

Abstract

In this article, I examine how dual-earner lesbian families construct and evaluate an equal division of household labor through their perceptions of "fairness." Through 22 interviews of dual-earner lesbian families (a total of 44 subjects), I identify that lesbian partners use social comparisons with heterosexual families with whom they have contact, as well as their former heterosexual and homosexual families as an important link to justify what they believe to be a fair division of household labor. Childhood socialization and parental models, however, were not shown to adequately explain how members of a lesbian family construct a perception of equality concerning household division of labor.

“Doing” and “Undoing” Gender: The Meaning and Division of Housework in Same‐Sex Couples

“…Similarly, we must begin to attend more carefully to the perceptions of same‐sex couples with regard to the division of labor, in an effort to determine how and under which conditions lesbians and gay men perceive the division as “fair” or “unfair.” For example, same‐sex couples who evaluate their housework contributions against those of their heterosexual family members and friends may be more satisfied than those who compare their contributions to those of other same‐sex couples (Esmail, ). Because heterosexual couples are characterized by greater inequality, on average (Patterson et al, ), same‐sex couples who choose this comparison referent may ultimately be more satisfied with their arrangements.…”

Unpaid Work and Care During COVID-19: Subjective Experiences of Same-Sex Couples and Single Mothers in Australia

“…Economic theory explains divisions as a rational function of financial resources and an exchange of goods and services, whereas gender theory sees them as influenced by gender processes. An ideology of fairness is prevalent in same-sex households, and lesbian couples, particularly, actively work to maintain domestic equality in their partnerships (Esmail 2010; Moore 2008). Moreover, if same-sex couples deviate from the egalitarian ideal, female partners have been found to suffer more subjective dissatisfaction than male partners (Bernardo, Avilés, and Berbén 2018), suggesting that housework and child care continue to be forms of gender display (Civettini 2016).…”

Must equal mean identical? Same-sex couples and marriage

“…Much research on same-sex domesticity points to a strong egalitarian ideal for division of labour, a reluctance for one spouse to be dependent on the other, and an emphasis on negotiation (Kurdek, 2007; Esmail, 2010; Perlesz et al , 2010; Julien and Chartrand, 1997). It is thought that bargaining power may be more evenly distributed within same-sex than different-sex couples, on account of their common gender and more closely matched preferences (Klawitter, 2008, p. 434).…”