Study suggests that men and women actually prefer not to split household and childcare tasks equally

研究表明，男性和女性實(shí)際上不喜歡平等地分擔(dān)家務(wù)和照顧孩子的任務(wù)

A new study suggests that the unequal division of household and childcare tasks within partnerships may reflect men’s and women’s actual preferences. For example, the study found that women enjoyed childcare tasks more than men did and also reported a greater desire for responsibility for these tasks compared to men. The findings were published in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences.

一項(xiàng)新的研究表明，夫妻關(guān)系中家務(wù)和育兒任務(wù)的不平等分配可能反映了男性和女性的實(shí)際偏好。例如，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，女性比男性更喜歡照顧孩子的任務(wù)，而且與男性相比，女性更渴望承擔(dān)這些任務(wù)。研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《進(jìn)化行為科學(xué)》雜志上。

While it is becoming increasingly accepted for mothers to work outside the home, the division of family roles among men and women still leans toward women taking on more of the childcare tasks. While most scholars presume that this gender disparity reflects deeply-rooted beliefs about gender, study authors April Bleske-Rechek and Michaela M. Gunseor propose that it may have more to do with male and female preferences for household responsibilities.

雖然母親外出工作越來(lái)越被接受，但家庭角色在男性和女性之間的劃分仍然傾向于女性承擔(dān)更多的育兒任務(wù)。盡管大多數(shù)學(xué)者認(rèn)為這種性別差異反映了根深蒂固的性別觀(guān)念，研究報(bào)告的作者April Bleske-Rechek和Michaela M. Gunseor提出，這可能與男性和女性對(duì)家庭責(zé)任的偏好有關(guān)。

Bleske-Rechek and Gunseor say that one theory is that gender differences in preferred family roles were sexted through evolution. According to evolutionary theory, as child-bearers, women reinforced their reproductive success by investing in the health of offspring. Men, on the other hand, competed with other males over access to a limited number of reproductively valuable females. Men, therefore, benefited from traits that facilitated competition and physical strength, while females benefited from traits that promoted childrearing.

Bleske-Rechek和Gunseor說(shuō)，有一種理論認(rèn)為，家庭角色偏好中的性別差異是通過(guò)進(jìn)化選擇的。根據(jù)進(jìn)化理論，作為生育孩子的人，婦女通過(guò)投資于后代的健康來(lái)加強(qiáng)她們的生育成功。另一方面，男性與其他男性爭(zhēng)奪數(shù)量有限的有繁殖價(jià)值的女性。因此，男性受益于促進(jìn)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和身體力量的特征，而女性受益于促進(jìn)養(yǎng)育子女的特征。

The researchers say these gender differences in traits and values might impact how men and women prioritize certain household tasks. Remarkably, few studies have considered men’s and women’s attitudes toward household tasks.

研究人員表示，這些性格和價(jià)值觀(guān)上的性別差異可能會(huì)影響男性和女性如何優(yōu)先處理某些家務(wù)。值得注意的是，很少有研究考慮到男人和女人對(duì)家務(wù)的態(tài)度。

Bleske-Rechek and Gunseor sought to fill this gap, by systematically asking two samples of men and women about their preferences for housework and family care. The first sample was a group of 323 young adults between the ages of 18 and 23. The second sample involved 113 middle-aged adults between the ages of 31 and 46, the majority of whom were married or cohabitating with a partner (93%) and had at least one child (85%). Middle-age participants were asked to rate their enjoyment of a series of 40 childcare tasks and 58 household tasks, and young adults were asked to imagine how much they would enjoy these same tasks.

為了填補(bǔ)這一空白，Bleske-Rechek和Gunseor系統(tǒng)地詢(xún)問(wèn)了兩個(gè)男性和女性的樣本，關(guān)于他們對(duì)家務(wù)和家庭照顧的偏好。第一個(gè)樣本是323名年齡在18到23歲之間的年輕人。第二個(gè)樣本涉及了113名年齡在31歲到46歲之間的中年人，其中大多數(shù)已婚或與伴侶同居(93%)，有至少一個(gè)孩子(85%)。中年參與者被要求評(píng)價(jià)他們對(duì)一系列40項(xiàng)托幼任務(wù)和58項(xiàng)家務(wù)任務(wù)的享受程度，年輕人被要求想象他們會(huì)有多喜歡這些任務(wù)。

When totaling the ratings across the 40 childcare tasks, women’s overall enjoyment of these tasks was greater than men’s. Young women’s ratings of enjoyment were higher than men’s for 5 out of 10 childcare tasks. Middle-age women’s ratings of enjoyment were greater than men’s for 7 out of 10 childcare tasks. As the researchers emphasize, not one childcare task was rated more enjoyable by men than women.

當(dāng)把40項(xiàng)育兒任務(wù)的評(píng)分加在一起時(shí)，女性在這些任務(wù)中的整體享受程度要高于男性。在10項(xiàng)照看孩子的任務(wù)中，有5項(xiàng)年輕女性的滿(mǎn)意度高于男性。在照看孩子的任務(wù)中，中年女性的滿(mǎn)意度比男性高得多。正如研究人員強(qiáng)調(diào)的那樣，沒(méi)有一項(xiàng)育兒任務(wù)會(huì)讓男人感覺(jué)到更加開(kāi)心

The researchers next examined whether the participants’ enjoyment of a task was related to their desired responsibility for the same task. “If men and women feel strongly about sharing all childcare tasks equally, then how much they enjoy a task should not be associated with how much responsibility they want for a task,” the researchers discuss. However, this association is exactly what the researchers found. “Within each sample as a whole and within each group of men and women, individuals tended to want more responsibility for childcare tasks they liked and less responsibility for those they did not like.”

研究人員接著檢查了參與者對(duì)某項(xiàng)任務(wù)的喜愛(ài)程度是否與他們對(duì)同一項(xiàng)任務(wù)的期望責(zé)任有關(guān)?！叭绻行院团远紡?qiáng)烈希望平等分擔(dān)所有的育兒任務(wù)，那么他們對(duì)一項(xiàng)任務(wù)的喜愛(ài)程度不應(yīng)該與他們希望承擔(dān)多少責(zé)任聯(lián)系在一起?！?研究人員討論。然而，這種關(guān)聯(lián)正是研究人員所發(fā)現(xiàn)的?！霸诿總€(gè)樣本中，在每一組男性和女性中，每個(gè)人傾向于在他們喜歡的育兒任務(wù)上承擔(dān)更多的責(zé)任，在他們不喜歡的任務(wù)上承擔(dān)更少的責(zé)任。”

Gender differences were again revealed when it came to household tasks. Among both samples, men enjoyed tasks to do with outdoor labor and home maintenance more than women did. Women preferred cleaning, food prep, family scheduling, and home decorating. Moreover, this pattern mirrored the way the participants wanted these tasks to be divided — women tended to prefer men to take care of home maintenance tasks and men preferred women to take care of home decorating tasks.

在家務(wù)方面，性別差異再次被揭示出來(lái)。在兩個(gè)樣本中，男性比女性更喜歡戶(hù)外勞動(dòng)和家庭維護(hù)的任務(wù)。女性更喜歡清潔、準(zhǔn)備食物、安排家庭生活和裝飾家庭。此外，這個(gè)模式反映了參與者希望這些任務(wù)被劃分的方式——女性更傾向于讓男性來(lái)完成家庭維護(hù)的任務(wù)，而男性則傾向于讓女性來(lái)完成家庭裝飾布置的任務(wù)。

The participants were also asked to indicate along a scale whether they would prefer to be the breadwinner within a partnership, the homemaker, or to share these roles equally. Across both samples, although 56% of men and 56% of women chose the egalitarian option, 36% of women chose a response closer toward homemaker and 35% of men chose a response closer toward breadwinner.

參與者還被要求在一定尺度上表明，他們是愿意在一段婚姻中承擔(dān)養(yǎng)家糊口的責(zé)任，還是愿意承擔(dān)家庭主婦的責(zé)任，還是愿意平等地分擔(dān)這些角色。在兩個(gè)樣本中，雖然56%的男性和56%的女性選擇了平等分擔(dān)的選項(xiàng)，但36%的女性選擇了更傾向于家庭主婦的回答，35%的男性選擇了更傾向于養(yǎng)家糊口的回答。

The researchers say that while the gender disparity in family roles is typically viewed as a burden on women, their study suggests that the situation is more nuanced than that. Unequal role sharing might not signal unfair treatment or cause resentment among couples. The authors suggest that future research should explore whether task preferences among couples match up to the way tasks are actually divided within partnerships.

研究人員表示，雖然家庭角色的性別差異通常被視為女性的負(fù)擔(dān)，但他們的研究表明，情況比這更微妙。不平等的角色分擔(dān)可能并不意味著不公平的待遇或?qū)е路蚱拗g的怨恨。作者建議，未來(lái)的研究應(yīng)該探索夫妻之間的任務(wù)偏好是否與伴侶之間的任務(wù)分配方式相匹配。