Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2015

 

A Model of Conjugal Cooperation in Housework for Urban Dual-career Couples—Based on the Third Survey of Women’s Status in China (2010)

(Abstract) 

 

Tong Xin and Liu Aiyu

 

Based on the third national survey of women’s status in 2010, our research analysis of the situation of housework in dual-career families in towns and cities finds that at the present stage, there has been a substantial fall in housework in China. Housework in urban dualcareer families is still undertaken mainly by women, who spend 2.4 times as much time on housework as men, but a cooperative housework model has emerged among around one third of these couples. This model is attributable to many factors, including ideas about the equal division of work between the sexes, the emotional input of spouses, particular stages in the family lifecycle and “de-socialized exchange relations” between spouses, but it shows a clear difference between the sexes. Our research indicates that in family life, either spouse may express feelings toward the other by sharing in housework. It is precisely in the sense that men and women’s participation in housework is based on emotional factors that highlights the character of housework; that is, it has a emotional function rather than being a mere “burden.” Therefore, to acknowledge, affirm and strengthen the function of housework as emotional expression and mutual support will facilitate the emergence of conjugal cooperation in housework and the construction of equal and harmonious family relations.