Lesbian and heterosexual Spanish and Swedish couples: Division of labor and life-satisfaction

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Lesbian and heterosexual Spanish and Swedish couples: Division of labor and life-satisfaction Mar Gonz alez | Marta Díez | Beatriz Morgado | Andrea Angulo | Francisca L opez-Gaviño Dpto. Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educaci on (Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology), Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain Correspondence Marta Díez, Dpto. Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educaci on (Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology), Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Camilo José Cela, S/N. 41018 Sevilla, Spain. Email: [email protected] Funding information Interregional Cooperation programme INTERREG IVC; European Social Fund and Junta de Andalucía Edited by: Abbie Elizabeth Goldberg Abstract Objective: To compare the distribution of housework and childcare and satisfaction with work-life balance resources among female same-sex and different-sex parenting couples in Spain and Sweden, and their association with life satisfaction. Background: Same-sex couples have generally reported higher levels of co-responsibility than their different-sex counterparts in terms of housework and childcare. It has yet to be determined whether these differences are maintained in countries with different public gender equality and family policies. Method: Structured interviews were held with 154 mothers who lived with their partner and had children under 13 years of age: 89 from Spain (65 with different-sex partners and 24 with same-sex partners) and 65 from Sweden (27 with different-sex partners and 38 with same-sex partners). Interviews focused on the distribution within the couple of housework and childcare, problems related to work-life balance, satisfaction with work-life balance resources and life satisfaction. Results: Differences were observed in the division of labor between same-sex and different-sex couples in Spain but not in Sweden. Spanish different-sex couples reported a less equal distribution of housework and childcare than their Swedish counterparts. Same-sex couples were as equal in their division of labor in Spain as in Sweden. Satisfaction with housework distribution and personal time availability positively predicted life satisfaction, whereas problems related to work-life balance negatively predicted it. Received: 19 May 2022 Revised: 21 March 2023 Accepted: 4 April 2023 DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12918 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Marriage and Family published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations. Conclusion: Female same-sex couples, in the microsystem, and public gender equality policies in the macro-system, are encouraging a process of “de-gendering”of family labor, promoting co-responsibility in couples, and thereby fostering their psychological well-being. KEYWORDS childcare, different-sex couples, housework, life satisfaction, same-sex couples INTRODUCTION Over the last few decades, we have witnessed a rise in the number of same-sex parent families, particularly following the recent legal recognition of this type of family unit in many different countries (Cortina & Festy, 2020). The increased visibility and more widespread presence of same-sex parent families have prompted researchers to rethink the heteronormative approaches from which families have been viewed and studied in the past (Allen & Mendez, 2018). Certain aspects of family functioning that had hitherto been taken for granted, such as the distribution of housework and childcare, are now being questioned. These tasks have always been deeply and institutionally linked to gender, not only because they were assigned to women in the patriarchal culture, but also because they recreate and perpetuate the construction of gender itself. As women do housework and look after the children (and men do not), they are “doing”gender (Berk, 1985; West & Zimmerman, 1987). In light of the above, it is interesting to analyze how housework and childcare are distributed within same-sex parenting couples, in comparison with their different-sex counterparts. This comparison will enable a rethinking of the value and meaning of said distribution in couples who, a priori, are not impelled to act in accordance with this gender differentiation (Goldberg, 2013). New nuances may also be added by comparing the situation in countries with different family and gender equality policies, thereby enabling the analysis to take into account the combined influence of the sociocultural or macro-system context, thus following the principles the Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 2005). This theory postulates theneedtotakeintoconsiderationthehierarchyofinterrelatedsystemsinwhichhuman development takes place, the most remote and involving of which is the macro-system (which includes beliefs systems, laws, public policies, socioeconomic situation, etc.). Social constructionist views of gender are also relevant to this analysis, since it postulates that gender as being shaped by the institutions and sociocultural context (Risman, 2004) and also by everyday interactions, as the Gender-As-Relational approach explains (Thomeer et al., 2020). BACKGROUND Division of labor among different-sex and same-sex couples The increasing incorporation of women into paid work has triggered deep-rooted changes in the sexual division of labor among different-sex couples since women are no longer available all the time for housework and childcare, as reflected in the sharp drop in their dedication to these tasks over recent decades (Altintas & Sullivan, 2016). Although one may expect this situation to result in the corresponding involvement of men in unpaid work, this is not occurring at the same pace. Indeed, although the tendency in these families is to divide paid and unpaid work 2JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License in an increasingly less traditional manner, women continue to spend significantly more time than men engaging in housework and childcare (see Blair, 2013; Rashmi & Kataria, 2021; Sullivan, 2018, for reviews). However, studies focusing on same-sex parent families have found that these couples tend to share housework, childcare and breadwinner tasks significantly more equally than their different-sex counterparts (see Brewster, 2017; Goldberg, 2013; Murphy et al., 2021, for reviews). These differences between same-sex and different-sex couples in terms of equality in the division of housework and childcare were reported in some of the earliest studies in this field, carried out during the nineteen-nineties with (mainly) female same-sex mothers with biological children (Chan et al., 1998; Tasker & Golombok, 1998), and continue to be observed in more recent research conducted with much larger and more diverse samples (Farr & Patterson, 2013; Goldberg et al., 2012; Jaspers & Verbakel, 2013; Martell & Roncolato, 2020; Patterson et al., 2004; Perlesz et al., 2010; Smart et al., 2017; Tornello et al., 2015), or which combine databases from seven different countries (Bauer, 2016). In short, one is more likely to find differentiated patterns or a disproportionate distribution of housework and childcare among different-sex parent families, and more equal patterns and fairer distributions among their same-sex counterparts. To understand the origin of these differences, qualitative studies carried out with same-sex couples have shown how they contest heteronormative prescriptions and deconstruct assigned gender roles (Dalton & Bielby, 2000) and how they organize task distribution based on the time availability, sensitivities, preferences and skills of each partner (Kamano, 2009; Perlesz et al., 2010). This distribution does not result in the specialization of one member of the couple in household tasks that are traditionally considered to be female and the other in activities traditionally seen as male; rather, the division of domestic labor is based on the singularities of each couple (Dalton & Bielby, 2000;Goldbergetal.,2012), as well as on an ideological base that appreciates and aspires to equality in the relationship (Patterson et al., 2004) or invokes the principles of distributive justice (Esmail, 2010). It is interesting to point out, however, that some studies have found less egalitarian patterns in the distribution of housework and childcare within some same-sex parenting couples (Auber, 2017;Goldbergetal.,2012). These patterns appear to be associated with (among other factors) differences in the demands of each partner’s job (Sutphin, 2010), in income (Goldberg et al., 2012) or in status between the biological mother and the stepmother in female same-sex stepfamilies (Moore, 2008). In any case, comparative studies between same-sex and different-sex couples continue to indicate that, in general, the distribution of household tasks is more equal in the former than in the latter. It is likely that this comparative analysis requires an approach that takes into account a range of different angles and adds important nuances (Goldberg, 2013). Sociocultural context and distribution of housework and childcare So far, we have explored families’distribution of housework and childcare as if it were something separate from the sociocultural framework in which they live. However, studies carried out with different-sex couples over the past two decades have shown that differences in the time spent on said tasks by men and women vary substantially from one couple to another and that these differences at the microlevel are linked, to a large extent, to differences at the macro-level, particularly in terms of gender empowerment or gender equality policy (Altintas & Sullivan, 2017; Fuwa, 2004; Ruppanner, 2010; Stier & Lewin-Epstein, 2007). It seems clear that different sociocultural contexts project different expectations about gender roles in the domestic sphere, and they socially and legally reinforce certain types of behavior, while rejecting or punishing others (Risman, 2004; Sullivan, 2018). In Europe, Nordic countries have typically had a smaller gap between men and women in terms of the time spent by each gender on housework and childcare than Mediterranean DIVISION OF LABOR IN SAME/DIFFERENT SEX COUPLES 3 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License nations, in which women spend twice as much time as men on these tasks (Altintas & Sullivan, 2017;G  alvez-Muñoz et al., 2011). In terms of evolution over time, analyses of how the housework and childcare patterns of men and women have changed over recent decades have reported a certain degree of convergence, although the process has occurred much more quickly in Nordic countries than in Mediterranean nations (Altintas & Sullivan, 2016;Yee et al., 2011). This is not a coincidence, since Mediterranean and Nordic countries represent opposing regimes in terms of public gender equality and family policies, with Nordic nations having many public strategies and services designed to foster co-responsibility in housework and childcare (Evertsson, 2014), whereas in the Mediterranean region, these policies are much scarcer and more recent, and support from the extended family plays a much greater role in achieving a good work-life balance (G alvez-Muñoz et al., 2011; Meil, Díaz-Gandasegui, et al., 2021). To the best of our knowledge, the study by van der Vleuten et al. (2021) is the only one that has compared the distribution of household tasks in same-sex couples from six different countries. They found no difference in the distribution of housework between same-sex couples living in countries which showed different degrees of egalitarianism, according to the Gender Empowerment Measure index, an indicator of women’s economic power, participation in politics and their access to professional opportunities. The extant scientific literature therefore suggests that although gender equality policies are associated with a more equal distribution of housework and childcare among different-sex couples, this effect has not been observed among same-sex couples, although further research is required to confirm this. Work-life balance, division of labor and psychological well-being Being able to cope with the challenges of achieving a good work-life balance or, on the contrary, feeling overwhelmed by them, is reflected in the psychological well-being of parents who must struggle daily to achieve this difficult balance. In this sense, the results of the First European Quality of Life Survey (Eurofound, 2005) revealed that European citizens who perceived more difficulties coping with family responsibilities or who spent less time than they would like on family and social relationships had lower levels of life satisfaction. Other cross-national studies have confirmed these results, adding that this relationship is moderated by the level of gender equity in society, such that high levels of work-life balance were more positively associated with life satisfaction and more negatively associated with anxiety for individuals in gender egalitarian cultures (Haar et al., 2014;Riva et al., 2019). The division of labor in the couple has also been related to psychological well-being of its members. Empirical evidence indicates that being in an equal romantic partnership with a fair distribution of tasks or, on the contrary, having an unfair and disproportionate distribution of household labor has consequences for individual and relational well-being (Ciciolla & Luthar, 2019; Ryjova et al., 2022; Sutphin, 2010). Interestingly, the extant scientific literature suggests that it is not a fair or unfair distribution of housework and childcare in objective terms that impacts psychological well-being or distress, but rather the individual’s subjective perception of the fairness or unfairness of this distribution. One is more likely to find evidence of anxiety, depression or psychological distress among women who feel that the distribution of housework and childcare in their family is unfair (Claffey & Mickelson, 2009; Goldberg & Perry-Jenkins, 2004; Haar et al., 2014),andmorelikelytofindevidenceofpsychological well-being among those who claim to feel satisfied with said distribution (Ryjova et al., 2022; Tornello, 2020; Tornello et al., 2015). 4JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License THE PRESENT STUDY According to the extant literature, there is a fair body of empirical evidence attesting to the similarities and differences between female same-sex and different-sex couples in terms of division of labor. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have yet sought to determine whether these similarities and differences are also present in countries with different sociocultural frameworks in relation to public family support and gender equality policies. For this reason, we conducted a study to determine the work-life balance and division of labor strategies applied in female same-sex and different-sex couples in Spain and Sweden. This study was part of a larger project funded by the European Union about reconciliation strategies in family diversity. Governmental institutions from Spain and Sweden were involved in this European Project, although the study was led by the Spanish team signing this paper. Sweden and Spain, although geographically distant (being located in the north and south of Europe, respectively), nevertheless have certain aspects in common. They were two of the first countries to legalize marriage between people of the same sex (Spain, in 2005 and Sweden, in 2009) and both have a high level of social acceptance of LGBTI people, with Sweden topping the ranking of European countries in this regard and Spain being ranked third (European Commission, 2019). There are certain differences, however. They have very different regimes in terms of gender equality and family support (G alvez-Muñoz et al., 2011; Meil, Díaz-Gandasegui, et al., 2021), as evident in two key indicators. First, expenditure on family/child benefits relative to gross domestic product is 2.9% in Sweden, as opposed to 1.3% in Spain (Eurostat, 2022). And second, Sweden is the country with the 4th lowest inequality rating in the world (with respect to the Gender Inequality Index), whereas Spain has the 14th lowest rating (UNDP, 2022). Indeed, studies focusing on the distribution of tasks within different-sex couples have found that, in Spain, although progress is being made in relation to equality, there is still a clear gender gap in terms of the hours that men and women spend on housework and care tasks (Borr as et al., 2021). In Sweden, on the other hand, following years of gender equality policies, these differences are now much smaller (Alsarve et al., 2016; Thomas & Hildingsson, 2009). In relation to the psychological well-being of the population, life satisfaction and happiness analyses rank Sweden very highly in Europe (in 5th place), whereas Spain is located under the mean, in 16th place (Eurofound, 2017). This study had a twofold aim. First, it sought to analyze the similarities and differences between mothers with same-sex and different-sex partners in Spain and Sweden in terms of their perceived division of labor in housework and childcare, their satisfaction with that division and the different work-life balance resources available, and their perception of having problems achieving a good work-life balance. Second, the study aimed to explore the role of factors such as country, type of couple, division of labor, problems related to work-life balance, satisfaction with the division of labor and work-life balance resources in mothers’level of life satisfaction. Our theoretical framework and the relevant literature led us to pose several hypotheses. In relation to the first aim, we expected to find a more equal distribution of housework and childcare among same-sex couples than among different-sex ones (Brewster, 2017; Murphy et al., 2021); we also expected to find a more equal distribution among Swedish different-sex couples than among their Spanish counterparts (Altintas & Sullivan, 2016), although we did not expect to find differences between same-sex couples from Spain and Sweden (van der Vleuten et al., 2021). In relation to the second aim, we expected to find higher levels of life satisfaction among mothers who were more satisfied with the division of labor in their couples (Ciciolla & Luthar, 2019; Tornello, 2020), as well as among those who reported fewer problems linked to achieving a good work-life balance and who claimed to feel more satisfied with available worklife balance resources (Haar et al., 2014; Riva et al., 2019). However, we did not know whether these conditions would take precedence over being part of a same-sex or different-sex couple, or living in Spain or Sweden. DIVISION OF LABOR IN SAME/DIFFERENT SEX COUPLES 5 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License METHOD Participants The sample comprised 154 mothers, 62 with a same-sex partner (24 from Spain and 38 from Sweden) and 92 with a male partner (65 from Spain and 27 from Sweden). All complied with the following inclusion criteria and had done for at least a year: both members of the couple were working at the time of the study; the couple had been in their current family situation for at least a year; they lived alone with their children, with no other family members; and all their children were under 13 years of age. This age limit was chosen because, after it, with the transition to Secondary Education, a phase begins in which most families tend to reduce behavioral control and promote greater autonomy in their children (for instance, go to school alone) (Lionetti et al., 2019). The mothers interviewed were Spanish and Swedish natives. In different-sex couples, the interviewee was always the mother; in same-sex couples, interviews were held with the mother who spent most time with the children. In the event of both mothers spending the same amount of time with their children, one member of the couple was chosen at random. In the case of Spain, the families were from the Andalusia region, whereas the Swedish families interviewed came from the Stockholm region. The mean age of the mothers participating in the study was 39 years (SD =5.86); participants had a mean of 1.65 children, and the mean age of their children was 4.97 years (SD =3.14). They worked an average of 35.14 hours per week (SD =7.12) and the majority (60.4%) had a university education. A higher percentage of mothers with a same-sex partner had a high education level (i.e., high school diploma or university degree) than mothers with a different-sex partner (χ 2 =8.16; p=.04; V=0.23). Similarly, a higher percentage of mothers from Spain had primary or secondary school level qualifications than mothers from Sweden (χ 2 =31.26; p< .001; V=0.45). In relation to their partners, the mean age was 38 years (SD =5.86), and 57.1% had a university qualification. Partners worked an average of 40.55 hours per week (SD =8.59). Among participants with same-sex partners, no statistically significant differences were found between the number of hours worked by the mothers interviewed and the number of hours worked by their partners in either Spain (t=.42; p=.68) or Sweden (t=.97; p=.33). Significant differences were found, however, among Spanish different-sex couples, with the mothers interviewed claiming to work fewer hours than their male partners (t=7.85; p< .001); this difference was not observed in Sweden (t=1.53; p=.13). Instruments A structured interview was designed ad hoc for the study. The interview contained mainly closed-ended questions, but also some open-ended ones that were designed to be easily and directly coded by interviewers (e.g., people involved in daily childcare). The questions were drafted following a review of the extant literature, inspired by previous instruments (Cowan & Cowan, 1990; European Communities, 2009) but adapting them to the objectives of the present study. Once designed, they were tested to confirm that they could be correctly understood and could be asked and answered within the estimated interview time. The interview focused on the following dimensions: Daily childcare tasks: To determine the distribution of labor in daily childcare tasks, the following question was asked: “In your family, who takes care of the children in each of these daily life situations? Please list all those involved in these situations: caring for children before going to school (hygiene, breakfast), taking/bringing the children to school; lunch time; supervising homework; dealing with extracurricular and leisure activities; dinner time; and bedtime routines.” 6JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License Occasional childcare tasks: The question asked was: “In your family, who takes care of the children in the following special situations? Please list all those involved in these situations: taking care of a children when they are sick, during school holidays and strikes at school, when the regular carer is not available, when/if you travel for work reasons, or when/if your partner travels for work reasons; taking the children to the doctor; attending school meetings; when/if you work during the weekend; when/if your partner works during the weekend.” Housework: The question asked was. “Please could you tell me who performs the following tasks at home? Preparing food; washing the dishes; making minor repairs at home; vacuum cleaning or moping the floor; taking out the trash; domestic shopping; paying bills, washing clothes; writing letters; calling family or friends; car care; pet care; and caring for plants or the garden.” In the three dimensions outlined above (daily and occasional childcare tasks and housework), only those tasks that were carried out by the interviewee and her partner were taken into account, as these were the object of this study. In all cases, differential scores were calculated with the number of tasks carried out by the partner being subtracted from the number carried out by the interviewee. Positive differential scores therefore indicated that interviewees performed more tasks than their partners, with higher scores indicating a greater degree of inequality in the distribution of housework and childcare. Problems related to work-life balance: The question asked was: “Would you say that, in general, you have problems striking a good work-life balance? Please answer on a scale from 1(I have no problems)to5(I frequently have problems).” Satisfaction with childcare resources: The following question was asked: “On a scale from 1(extremely dissatisfied)to5(extremely satisfied), to what extent are you satisfied with the resources or people who help you care for your children?” Satisfaction with the work-life balance measures offered by their companies: The following question was asked: “On a scale from 1 (extremely dissatisfied)to5(extremely satisfied), to what extent are you satisfied with the work-life balance measures offered to you by your company?” Satisfaction with the distribution of housework in their family: The question asked was: “On a scale from 1 (extremely dissatisfied)to5(extremely satisfied), to what extent are you satisfied with the distribution of housework between you and your partner?” Satisfaction with personal time: This was explored through the question: “On a scale from 1(extremely dissatisfied)to5(extremely satisfied), to what extent are you satisfied with the personal time that you have?” Life satisfaction: this variable was evaluated using the Swedish and Spanish versions (both validated) of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) by Diener et al. (1985). This scale comprises 5 items (for example: “In most ways my life is close to my ideal”) rated on a scale of 1 to 7, with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of life satisfaction. The Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was .76. Procedure Andalusian mothers with same-sex partners were contacted through several LGTB associations. All mothers that met the criteria and were contacted agreed to participate. Andalusian mothers with different-sex partners were recruited through different pathways. First, we contacted 35 mothers who had taken part in a previous study (Díez et al., 2021), although only 11 of these agreed to participate. Consequently, we decided to use to a nonprobabilistic snowball sampling method, using those mothers who had already agreed to participate as our starting point. These participants put us in contact with other mothers in different-sex couples who met the inclusion criteria. A further 54 mothers were recruited using this method. DIVISION OF LABOR IN SAME/DIFFERENT SEX COUPLES 7 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License In Sweden, participants were randomly selected using SPAR, the Swedish State Personal Address Register, from among those who met the criteria. Both sample selection and data collection were carried out by a specialist Swedish enterprise that provided no information about mothers who declined the invitation to participate. All participants were interviewed in their mother tongue (Spanish or Swedish) by experts in the topic who had received prior training. Interviews were held over the telephone and lasted for between 20 and 30 min. The anonymity and confidentiality of the data were guaranteed in accordance with the legislative resolution of the European Parliament (2014) on the processing of personal data. Statistical analysis The SPSS V.26 statistical software package was used for all the statistical analyses. To explore the similarities and differences between same-sex and different-sex couples in Spain and Sweden, multivariate analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were performed, in which mothers’education level was entered as a covariate, since differences were found in relation to this variable both between the two countries and between the two types of couple included in the study. To explore the relationship between life satisfaction and division of labor, problems related to work-life balance, and satisfaction with work-life balance resources and personal time, two different types of analysis were performed. Firstly, correlation analyseswerecarriedoutwiththewholesampleand also with each subsample, combining country and type of couple, and secondly, a linear regression analysis was performed using the hierarchical regression method and including life satisfaction as a dependent variable. In the first step, we included education level as a control variable, and in the second step, we included type of couple (same-sex or different-sex) and country (Spain or Sweden) as independent variables. In the final step, we also included division of labor measures, problems related to work-life balance, satisfaction with work-life balance resources and personal time as independent variables. RESULTS Similarities and differences between same-sex and different-sex couples in Spain and Sweden As shown in Table 1, analyses of covariance revealed that the mothers in same-sex couples in our study perceived a significantly fairer distribution of daily and occasional childcare tasks (with a medium effect size in both cases), and housework (with a small effect size) than mothers in different-sex couples. Similarly, mothers in different-sex couples perceived more problems related to work-life balance than their same-sex counterparts, with a small effect size. Finally, mothers in same-sex couples expressed a significantly higher level of satisfaction with the distribution of housework than their different-sex counterparts, with a large effect size. In relation to country, as shown also in Table 1, Swedish mothers reported a significantly fairer distribution of both daily and occasional childcare tasks than Spanish ones (with a large and small effect size, respectively) and of housework (small effect size). Swedish mothers also perceived a significantly lower number of problems related to work-life balance (medium effect size) than Spanish mothers. In terms of satisfaction, Swedish mothers reported significantly higher levels of perceived satisfaction with the distribution of housework (large effect size) and with the personal time they had available to them (medium effect size), as well as higher levels of life satisfaction (small effect size). 8JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TABLE 1 Division of labor and satisfaction variables by couple type and country. Couple type ANCOVA a Country ANCOVA a Different-sex (N=92) Same-sex (N=62) Fpη b Spain (N=89) Sweden (N=65) Fpη b M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) M(SD) Daily childcare differential b 1.62 (2.22) 0.03 (1.79) 20.11 <.01 0.12 1.58 (2.45) 0.15 (1.52) 17.03 <.01 0.10 Occasional childcare differential b 1.24 (1.73) 0.19 (1.27) 16.48 <.01 0.09 1.18 (1.65) 0.32 (1.51) 10.73 <.01 0.06 Housework differential b 1.31 (2.63) 0.48 (1.51) 4.49 .03 0.03 1.42 (2.34) 0.37 (1.52) 10.37 <.01 0.06 Problems linked to work-life balance c 2.46 (1.27) 2.09 (1.33) 3.99 .04 0.02 2.73 (1.27) 1.75 (1.13) 25.06 <.01 0.14 Satisfaction with childcare resources c 4.05 (1.04) 4.26 (0.93) 1.62 .20 0.01 4.10 (1.00) 4.19 (1.01) .25 .61 0.00 Satisfaction with measures in company c 3.34 (1.19) 3.33 (1.25) 0.04 .33 0.00 3.23 (1.18) 3.49 (1.25) 1.72 .19 0.01 Satisfaction with distribution of housework c 3.69 (1.28) 4.74 (0.65) 33.35 <.01 0.18 3.71 (1.28) 4.66 (0.75) 27.66 <.01 0.15 Satisfaction with personal time c 3.15 (1.24) 3.53 (1.23) 3.51 .06 0.02 2.92 (1.14) 3.83 (1.22) 22.40 <.01 0.13 Life satisfaction d 5.34 (0.97) 5.75 (0.77) 7.12 <.01 0.04 5.32 (0.91) 5.76 (0.87) 9.27 <.01 0.05 Note: Eta squared: small (.01–.06), medium (.06–.14), large (>.14) (Fritz et al., 2012). Differential scores were calculated, with the number of tasks carried out by the partner being subtracted from the number carried out by the interviewee. a Education level as covariate. b >0: Mothers interviewed perform more tasks than their partners. c 1–5 scale: 1 (extremely dissatisfied)to5(extremely satisfied). d 1–7 scale: 1 (extremely dissatisfied)to(extremely satisfied). DIVISION OF LABOR IN SAME/DIFFERENT SEX COUPLES 9 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License companies in this respect, which is why this variable is associated with life satisfaction. In Spain, however, a country within the so-called Mediterranean regime, in which equality and family support policies are a much more recent phenomenon (Meil, Díaz-Gandasegui, et al., 2021; Sullivan, 2018), mothers are unlikely to expect the companies in which they work to help facilitate their work-life balance. Interestingly, in the case of the subsamples of mothers with same-sex partners, there were no variables significantly associated with life satisfaction among the Swedish mothers, and only one—satisfaction with personal time—among the Spanish mothers. This absence of significant relationships may be due to the homogeneity of these subsamples, made up of generally very egalitarian couples, or to their small size, which hides differences that could have been significant in larger samples. The regression analysis revealed that only three variables had a specific significant association with interviewees’life satisfaction. The first of these was their perception of having few problems related to work-life balance, which is consistent with the scientific literature focusing on this topic (Haar et al., 2014; Riva et al., 2019). The second and third variables found to predict mothers’life satisfaction were feeling satisfied with the distribution of household tasks in their couple, and feeling satisfied with the amount of personal time available to them. The fact that it was not those variables that reflected the true situation regarding distribution, but rather interviewees’satisfaction with said situation that was associated with life satisfaction, suggests that it is individuals’subjective interpretation of reality that is the determining factor. This has been found previously by studies analyzing the effect of this on increased psychological wellbeing (Ryjova et al., 2022; Tornello, 2020; Tornello et al., 2015), and those demonstrating that perceived lack of fairness and equality in task distribution was associated with an increase in psychological distress indicators (Claffey & Mickelson, 2009; Goldberg & Perry-Jenkins, 2004; Tornello, 2020). The fact that life satisfaction was not specifically associated with living in a Nordic or Mediterranean country, or with being part of a different-sex or same-sex couple, paints a clearer picture of the set of influences determining the psychological well-being of the mothers interviewed in our study. It also sheds light on the different processes at work and refines the rather general conclusions that could be drawn from our results. It is not same-sex or Swedish couples who, in general, have higher levels of well-being, but rather those who feel satisfied with the way in which their family responsibilities are shared, no matter the sex of their partner or the country in which they live. As in other areas of the study of family diversity (see Imrie & Golombok, 2020, for a review), it seems that psychological well-being is not associated so much with the structure of the family itself, the sex of one’s partner, or the country in which one lives, but rather with the quality of family life, or in this case, the quality of the couple’s life together. It may be that the co-responsibility with which couples share housework and childcare is simply another indicator of a good, respectful and collaborative couple relationship on a wider range of planes, although this aspect was not evaluated in our study. Limitations and implications This study has a series of limitations linked, firstly, to the size of the sample, the lack of proportion between the number of same-sex and different-sex couples in Spain and Sweden, and the recruitment procedures used to access the sample in Spain. This is mainly due to the fact that, in Spain, it is still difficult to find official access routes to representative samples of nonconventional family models. Although the snowball strategy and contact through specific population groups are commonly used to access what are known in the literature as hard-to-reach populations (Atkinson & Flint, 2001), these methods do result in certain limitations, such as the impossibility of generalizing the data found. We therefore aim to carry out further research with 16 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License broader, more numerically balanced and more representative samples in order to confirm the associations observed in this exploratory study. Another limitation is linked to the fact that the instruments used to evaluate task distribution are not standardized. The results therefore need to be confirmed with instruments that are. It would also have been enriching to have analyzed the arguments used by mothers to explain the distribution of housework and childcare in their families, in order to gain a better understanding of the reasons underlying arrangements which are, objectively, fair or unfair and are perceived with differing degrees of satisfaction. A combination of a qualitative and quantitative approach may provide more complex and relevant information in this respect. However, despite the limitations outlined above, this is the first study to explore the similarities and differences in division of labor between different-sex and female same-sex couples from two European countries with very different traditions and histories of public gender equality and family support policies. The results suggest a need to rethink accumulated theories regarding both transnational differences in the distribution of housework and childcare and differences between same-sex and different-sex couples, since as explained above, interesting similarities were observed between the different populations studied. The study sheds light on the process through which housework and childcare are gradually being stripped of their deep-rooted, institutionalized link with gender, by two different yet complementarymeans.First,bydistributingfamilyresponsibilities in a fairer way, female same-sex couples are “undoing gender”(Deutsch, 2007; Goldberg, 2013),atthesametimeastheyare constructing new fairer and more satisfactory ways of sharing responsibility within their couples. Second, it seems clear that societies with a long tradition of fostering public gender equality policies are more efficient at promoting an equal division of family labor in different-sex couples, who are, in this aspect, indistinguishable from their same-sex counterparts. We are therefore witnessing a de-gendering of housework and childcare through both relational processes in the microsystem of same-sex couples, and through institutional and sociocultural processes in the macro-system. Let us finish by making two final observations regarding the implications of the results of the present study for social and family interventions. First, the added value of investing in public policies aimed at fostering equality and co-responsibility among couples should be acknowledged, since said investment seems to result in better individual and, one may assume, collective health. Second, in societies that are still very patriarchal, same-sex couples are good models of egalitarian and co-responsible division of family labor from which said societies have much to learn to advance in justice and equity. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Carlos Camacho for his help with the statistical analysis. We also thank all the Spanish and Swedish families who agreed to participate in the study. FUNDING INFORMATION The European Commission partially funded the study Family diversity and reconciliation strategies (DIVERSIA), a subproject integrated into PEOPLE Innovation for Societal Change,a European mini-programme led by the Andalusian Regional Government, co-funded under the Interregional Cooperation programme INTERREG IVC. Marta Díez has received financial support from the European Social Fund and Junta de Andalucía (Call 2019, line 2, Paidi 2020). ORCID Mar Gonz alez https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7522-7005 Marta Díez https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5171-0668 Beatriz Morgado https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3549-9476 Andrea Angulo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5361-2049 Francisca L opez-Gaviño https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4586-8148 DIVISION OF LABOR IN SAME/DIFFERENT SEX COUPLES 17 17413737, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12918 by Universidad De Sevilla, Wiley Online Library on [11/05/2023]. 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