Influences of Women's Employment on the Gendered Division of Household Labor Over the Life Course: Evidence From a 31-Year Panel Study.

Drawing on data from a panel study of White women spanning 31 years, the analyses examine the influence of women's employment on the gendered division of household labor. Multiple dimensions of women's employment are investigated, including accumulated employment histories, current employment status, current employment hours, and relative income. Results from fixed effect and change score models suggest that the husbands of women who accumulate more employment experience over the course of marriage perform a relatively larger amount of routine housework than the husbands of women with shorter employment histories. Women's employment status at a given point in time also increases men's relative participation in routine housework, and the influence of women's employment status operates in part by increasing women's support for egalitarian roles between spouses. Finally, women's hours of employment and relative income are stronger predictors of housework allocation than is their current employment status.