Perceived unfairness about the childcare division and relationship dissatisfaction: the moderating roles of gender, religion and gender ideology

Abstract

Though women are increasingly taking part in paid labor, a traditional division of domestic tasks remains the status quo. Using data from Wave 1 of the New Families in the Netherlands survey (N=1998), this study investigates the influence of perceived unfairness about the childcare division on relationship dissatisfaction among parents, and whether this differs by gender, religiosity, and gender ideology. Equity theory provides the theoretical framework for the association between fairness perceptions and marital quality and serves to explain how an inequitable division of tasks leads to distress and eventually causes relationship dissatisfaction. Results from multilinear regression analyses show that parents’ perceived unfairness about the childcare division is positively associated with relationship dissatisfaction. For mothers, this effect is particularly strong, and for fathers this effect is absent. There were no moderating effects found for religion and gender ideology.