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HOUSEHOLD DIVISION OF LABOR, MARKET WORK AND THE NON-MARKET ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTIONS OF MARRIED WOMEN

As married women have entered market work in increasing numbers, fundamental questions have been raised regarding the effects of the wife's employment on the family and on the family's economic well-being. The entry of the wife into market work increases the family's money income. It is possible, however, that the increase in money income may overstate the associated increment to the family's economic well-being. When the wife takes a market job, her hours of non-market production decline. Some of the goods and services she produced may be purchased in the market in lieu of home production. Other goods and services, however, may not easily be replaced with market purchases. / Four variables were examined to determine if significant differences existed between families where the wife was a homemaker and families where the wife was employed in the market: the monetary value of the family home, the husband's money income, the hours worked by the husband in the market, and the educational attainments of the children as measured by years of completed schooling. / The analysis indicated that when family income and other factors were held constant, the family of the homemaker wife had a home that was more valuable than the home of a family where the wife was employed in the market. Further, the husband whose wife remained at home had a higher income than the husband whose wife was employed in the market when other factors influencing husband's income were held constant. The results did not indicate any significant differences between the hours worked by the husbands of homemakers and the hours worked by husbands whose wives were employed in the market. Similarly, the years of schooling completed by the children did not seem to be affected by the labor force status of the mother. / Implications of these findings regarding the value of the homemaker's non-market economic contributions were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-12, Section: A, page: 3995. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74972
ContributorsBANE, MARY ANDREWS., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format155 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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