Acts of Love (and Work): Gender Imbalance in Emotional Work and Women's Psychological Distress

Lyndall Strazdins*, Dorothy H. Broom

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    121 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Family members do work to meet people's emotional needs, improve their well-being, and maintain harmony. When emotional work is shared equally, both men and women have access to emotional resources in the family. However, like housework and child care, the distribution of emotional work is gendered. This study examines the psychological health consequences of gender divisions in emotional work. Quantitative and qualitative data from a sample of 102 couples with young children show that the gender imbalance affected women's, but not men's, experience of love and conflict in their marriage. Through this erosion of the marriage, the gender imbalance posed a health risk to women and helped explain gender differences in psychological distress. Couples preserved a sense of mutuality by accounting for the gender imbalance as something beyond men's choice or control, or in terms of women's excess emotional needs, thus entrenching gender differences in the performance and consequences of emotional work.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)356-378
    Number of pages23
    JournalJournal of Family Issues
    Volume25
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Apr 2004

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