Gender differences in personal and interpersonal emotional outcomes from family work

Segregation in family work was explored by examining gender differences in the emotional meanings attached by individuals to both their own and their spouses’ performance of housework and childcare. Participants included 23 Israeli men and 38 women and an open-ended questionnaire was administered to them. Content analysis of the data uncovered emotional meanings that were divided into positive and negative personal and interpersonal outcomes. Personal outcomes revealed self-perceptions, personal feelings, and attitudes toward chores. Interpersonal outcomes revealed perceptions of marital relationships, as a result of messages transferred between spouses. The impact of gender segregation was more apparent in negative rather than in positive emotional outcomes. Women attached greater negative outcomes to housework and childcare. Positive and negative emotional outcomes were entwined with social and cultural norms. The results of the study suggest that the emotional experiences of family work should be viewed as complex cumulative psychological ones and should not be predefined by dichotomous emotional meanings.