Responsibility for Children

Abstract

Using a sample of 60 two-income couples, this study examines the role of gender in taking responsibility for children, testing the effect of spouses' employment hours, wife's relative income, and couple's employment profile. Results indicate that women carry a larger share of the responsibility for children than do men. Only one characteristic of women's employment, the number of hours they are engaged in paid work, affected their level of responsibility, with no couple characteristics contributing to this pattern. Implications of these findings for the strain experienced in the parental role are discussed.