ABSTRACT
The number of working women in Indonesia increases every year. Data from the Central Statistics Agency revealed that in 2014, the number of dual-earner couples in Indonesia was 51.2%, while the number of single-earner couples was 39.9%. Several studies have shown that the dual-earner condition has positive and negative impacts on marital satisfaction. This research aims to investigate the comparison of marital satisfaction in dual- and single-earner couples, as well as the comparison of the marital satisfaction between husbands and wives from dual- and single-earner couples. A total of 368 husbands/wives participated in this research. The results show that there is no significant difference in marital satisfaction between dual- and single-earner couples, and neither is there a significant difference in the marital satisfaction between husbands and wives in dual- and single-earner couples. Hence, we can conclude that the wife’s working status does not affect marital satisfaction. We suspect that the nature of conjoint agency between husbands and wives in Indonesia might affect this finding. In general, the mean score of marital satisfaction among all participants is high. Some demographic factors, such as similarities of background between the couples, duration of marriage, and number of children, might contribute to this finding.
