2. Background 15 dual-sharer couples had been surveyed, interviewed over the phone to make it into this research 75 people overall took the survey but only 15 were actually chosen to continue on Each of the families were observed without involvement by the observer, and also interviewed one on one with an interviewer The families were then placed into one of four categories: Dual-career Dual-nurturer Posttraditional External Circumstances The Dual-career families are career oriented, and split the duties of housekeeping and child bearing 9 out of 15 couples included in this research were dual-career The Dual-nurturer families are centered completely on child bearing, that is their main concern as partners 2 out of 15 couples were considered to be dual-nurturers
3. Background - continued The Posttraditional families came from a background of traditional gender roles, but through experience have developed a partnership in housework as well as child bearing duties 2 out of 15 couples were considered to be posttraditional families The external circumstances families are families that are forced by either health or financial reasons, that make equal share in all duties the only way to go 2 out of 15 couples were considered to be external circumstance families All of the families included in this research all became equal sharer homes, without regard for one another's gender
4. Hypothesis The main difference between couples being able to equally share the work load vs. couples that aren't able to do so, is communication. I measured communication between the families by visually observing them and how they interact with one another. Another way I measured the communication was based off of five interview questions I asked each individual
5. Methods I used Naturalistic observations and interviews as my methods I found 2 families by word of mouth One of the families was a traditional gender role family The other was a equal sharer household Both couples were opposite sex marriages, and were within the ages of 22-35 The observations were made at random, on any given weeknight, and I was just there to observe (did not interact with the family) The interviews consisted of 5 questions that were given to each couple, individually, on a separate day from the observations The questions were as follows: How do you split the household duties? How do you balance work and the children between the two of you? How did you decide on this type of living situation? How does this decision affect you as a married couple? What would you change if you could about your living situation?
6. Results - Family #1 (traditional family) When I went to the house for my observation it was on a Tuesday evening The wife had just arrived home from work, picked the kids up from daycare and had gone grocery shopping Once inside, she entertained the children, while making dinner Her husband had been outside in “his” shop Dinner was ready, the wife called her husband in to eat. They did this as a family When dinner was over, the husband went back outside She cleaned up from dinner, played with the children and before tucking them into bed, called her husband in for hugs I found that the husband didn’t interact with not only the kids, but his wife very much
7. Results - continued The answers to the following questions in this couples interviews were very hostile I have only included some of the questions for simplicity reasons Question 1,“How do you split the household duties” the husbands reply: “I bring home the majority of the money; it’s the least she could do.” The wife’s reply to the same question: “Unless I do it, it won’t get done.” Question 3, “How did you decide on this type of living situation?” The husbands reply: “It’s what works best for all of us. I just make more, so it makes the most sense that she handles the other stuff.” The wife’s response: It just happened this way, I should‘ve spoken up long ago about him helping out more around the house and with the kids.” Throughout the entire interview (5 questions), it was obvious that there was a lack of communication The wife stated that she should have spoken up earlier regarding the living situation but the husband stated “It’s what works best”
8. Results – continuedFamily #2 (Equal sharer home) When I arrived at this house for observations, it was a Thursday evening: Once home from work, the couple both interacted with the two children Dinner began to be prepared my the mother, with the help of the children seldom The father played with the children when they were not in the kitchen He also asked to assist many times Doing a load of laundry in the interim They sat down and ate dinner together After dinner the husband cleaned up The wife gave the children their baths They then read to the children individually, then switched children and read each another story before tucking them into bed
9. Results - continued I found the following answers from this couple to be very well communicated Meaning: They both had a very good understanding of why they have chosen to live this lifestyle Question 1, “How do you split the household duties?” the husbands reply: “I try to make sure that I’m doing my fair share of household duties, we don’t necessarily split them…” The wife’s reply: “We didn’t just sit down one day and say “Ok…you take cooking and cleaning and I’ll take baths and dishes.” It was more of a mutual understanding that we would pick up the slack for one another.” Question 3, “How did you decide on this type of living situation?” the husbands reply: “It seemed to be the best option, I wanted to make sure that my wife knew that I was here for her, as a team-mate.” The wife’s reply to the same question: “We sat down prior to getting married and asked each other what we wanted, not just from each other but in a family. At the end of the conversation, we both felt that being each other’s number one priority was what we both felt was what we wanted.” The communication between these two was apparent
10. Conclusion The two families were complete opposites As a couple, the dual-sharer couple communicated regarding everything Whereas the traditional couple didn’t communicate at all Family #2 had their expectations on the table, prior to marriage Family #1, regretted not talking about their living situation, based off of the response from the wife to question 3 Alternative explanation: I found that each couple could've interviewed differently based off of what shape their marriages were in Things that I would’ve done differently: Not gotten the couples by word of mouth This process to longer and made even more work then necessary Done the survey with more than just two couples This would have made my research stronger than what it is Question after seeing my research: I should’ve included a question (if not more) regarding the difficulties in choosing the living style they did Who can this research benefit? Anyone that is looking at becoming a dual-sharer home Anyone that wants to see different points of views of the different living styles
