Several socio-structural theoretical approaches attempt to explain the gendered division of household labor, but the dyadic process of dividing labor has gone largely unexplored. Therefore, a grounded theory approach was taken with 20 dual-earner married couples to uncover the process of dividing household labor between spouses. The theory that emerged indicated that couples seek to maximize benefits in their distribution of labor, and do so by dividing tasks according to personal preferences and proficiencies. When a household task goes unclaimed by both spouses’ preferences and proficiencies, containment and outsourcing are the strategies employed to minimize the impact of the unclaimed task. The emergent theory can be used by researchers to illuminate the dyadic process of division of household labor in ways that other theories are not able. The theory can also be used by educators to prepare premarital couples for future division of household labor practices as well as by therapists who can identify problematic patterns within clients’ division of household labor process.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-171). / vi, 171 leaves, bound ill. (some col.) 29 cm

This thesis explores the sexual division of labour in three worksites associated with the Western Australian Fishing industry: fishers' households, a seafood processing company and fishing vessels. There has been no previous substantial study of the labour of women in Australian fishing industries. My research has been primarily undertaken by interviewing women and men who work in the Western Australian fishing industry, and my findings are presented through a comparison with overseas literature relative to each site. As I found, in the households of fishermen, women do unpaid and undervalued labour which includes servicing men and children; managing household finances and operating fishing enterprises. In seafood processing companies women are allocated the lowest paid and least rewarding work which is regarded as "women's work". On-the factory floor issues of class, race/ ethnicity and gender intersect so that the majority of women employed in hands-on processing work are migrant women froma non-English speaking background. The majority of women who work at sea are cook/ deckhands who are confronted by a rigid sexual division of labour, and work in a hyper-masculine workplace. The few other women who have found a niche which enables them to enjoy an outdoor lifestyle while they earn their own living, are those who work as autonomous independent small boat fishers. In each site there is evidence that women, individually and collectively, exercise some power in determining how and where they work, but they remain marginalised from the more lucrative sites of the industry, and have limited access to economic and social power.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Economics, 2004. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-162).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Sociology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 276-293). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. (Health Social Sciences))--Mahidol University, 2005.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-158). Also available via the Internet.