This article analyzes changes in the division of routine domestic work after first parenthood. We wanted to know whether and how it was possible for couples to resist the trend toward traditionalization that has been shown in the literature. To do so, we analyze semistructured interviews with 27 Spanish couples who were expecting their first child in 2011 and interviewed them again in 2013. The couples were selected from a bigger sample because of their nontraditional practices preparenthood. Our results show that 17 of them were able to maintain a nontraditional division of domestic work, whereas 10 traditionalized. In our analysis, relative resources and time availability did not sufficiently explain the changes in the division of work, but specific characteristics of the division of work before childbirth—men’s active participation, the routinization of tasks, and flexible standards—emerged as key factors to resist the trend toward more traditional arrangements.
AasveA.FuochiG.MencariniL. (2014). Desperate housework: Relative resources, time availability, economic dependency, and gender ideology across Europe. Journal of Family Issues, 35, 1000-1022.
2.
BaxterJ.BuchlerS.PeralesF.WesternM. (2014). A life-changing event: First births and men’s and women’s attitudes to mothering and gender divisions of labor. Social Forces, 93, 989-1014.
3.
BeckerP. E.MoenP. (1999). Scaling back: Dual Earner couples’ work-family strategies. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 995-1007.
4.
BelskyJ.KellyJ. (1994). Transition to parenthood: How a first child changes a marriage. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.
5.
BianchiS. M.SayerL. C.MilkieM. A.RobinsonJ. P. (2012). Housework: Who did it, does or will do it, and how much does it matter?Social Forces, 91, 55-63.
6.
ColtraneS. (2000). Research on household labor: Modeling and measuring the social embeddedness of routine family work. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1208-1233.
7.
CowanC. P.CowanP. (1992). When partners become parents: The big life change for couples. New York, NY: Basic Books.
8.
DeutschF. M. (1999). Halving it all: How equally shared parenting works. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
9.
DeutschF. M. (2007). Undoing gender. Gender & Society, 21, 106-127.
10.
DeutschF. M.SaxonS. E. (1998). Traditional ideologies, nontraditional lives. Sex Roles, 58, 331-362.
11.
Dominguez-FolguerasM.Jurado-GuerreroT.Botía-MorillasC.Amigot-LoacheP. (2017). “The House Belongs to Both”: Undoing the Gendered Division of Housework. Community, Work, and Family, 20, 424-443.
12.
FoxB. (2009). When couples become parents: The creation of gender in the transition to parenthood. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
13.
GauntR.ScottJ. (2016). Gender differences in identities and their socio-structural correlates: How gendered lives shape parental and work identities. Journal of Family Issues, 38, 1852-1877.
14.
GrunowD.SchulzF.BlossfeldH.-P. (2012). What determines change in the division of housework over the course of a marriage?International Sociology, 27, 289-307.
15.
HochschildA.MachungA. (1989). The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home. New York, NY: Penguin.
16.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (2010). Household Budget Survey 2009: Special module on domestic service. Madrid, Spain: Author.
17.
Ishii-KuntzM.ColtraneS. (1992). Predicting the sharing of household labor: Are parenting and housework distinct?Sociological Perspectives, 35, 629-647.
18.
KroskaA. (2004). Divisions of domestic work. Revising and expanding the theoretical explanations. Journal of Family Issues, 25, 900-932.
19.
KühhirtM. (2012). Childbirth and the long-term division of labor within couples: How do substitution, bargaining power, and norms affect parents’ time allocation in west Germany?European Sociological Review, 28, 565-582.
20.
Lachance-GrzelaM.BouchardG. (2010). Why do women do the lion’s share of housework? A decade of research. Sex Roles, 63, 767-780.
21.
LaRossaR.Mulligan LaRossaM. (1981). Transition to parenthood: How infants change families. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
22.
NeilsonJ.StanforsM. (2014). It’s about time! Gender, parenthood, and household divisions of labor under different welfare regimes. Journal of Family Issues, 35, 1066-1088.
23.
Régnier-LoilierA.HironC. (2010). Evolution de la répartition des tâches domestiques après l’arrivée d’un enfant [Evolution of the division of domestic work after the arrival of a child]. Politiques sociales et familiales, 99, 5-25.
24.
RismanB. J. (2011). Gender as structure or trump card?Journal of Family Theory & Review, 3, 18-22.
25.
RismanB. J.Johnson-SumerfordD. (1998). Doing it fairly: A study of postgender marriages. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 23-40.
26.
SanchezL.ThomsonE. (1997). Becoming mothers and fathers: Parenthood, gender, and the division of labor. Gender & Society, 11, 747-772.
27.
SchoberP. (2011). The parenthood effect on gender inequality: Explaining changes in paid and domestic work between British couples become parents. European Sociological Review, 29, 74-85.
28.
SullivanO. (2004). Changing gender practices within the household: A theoretical perspective. Gender & Society, 18, 207-222.
29.
TimmermansS.TavoryI. (2012). Theory construction in qualitative research from grounded theory to abductive analysis. Sociological Theory, 30, 167-186.
WiesmannS.BoeijeH.van Doorne-HuiskesA.den DulkL. (2008). “Not worth mentioning”: The implicit and explicit nature of decision-making about the division of paid and domestic work. Community, Work & Family, 11, 341-363.
