Roots and correlates of perceived injustice in the division of family work

This study provides a comprehensive test of the distributive justice framework to explain justice evaluations of the division of family work. Using data of 632 dual-earner couples with young children from 3 European countries, the analyses provided good support for the distributive justice framework. The frequency with which spouses compared each other’s amounts of family work, the outcome of the comparison of the husband’s family work with the family work performed by other men, and the extent to which the partner appreciated one’s family work proved to be most predictive of justice evaluations. Notably, the evidence supports the model equally for women and men and for justice evaluations of the divisions of domestic work and child care. The division of family work between woman and man and its perceived justice are central issues in the reconciliation of family and professional work in dual-earner couples with children (Coltrane, 2000; Frone, 2003). Shelton and John (1996, p. 300) defined family work as “unpaid work done to maintain