ABSTRACT
The home is the primary site for interaction between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, residents and guests. Until the nineteenth century, the home was also the context for nearly all productive activities, which were performed by family members either in or near the home. This chapter examines the ways in which families allocate the labor of their members to the productive activities that constitute housework. Research on the division of labor between husbands and wives suggests that the traditional basis for this division provides a strong justification for it: Husbands work more hours than wives in the paid labor force, influencing the spouses' respective shares in domestic tasks via their time availability. The chapter explains previous research by explicitly examining trade-offs between family members. The Mature and Young Women data contain identical sets of items on household tasks.
