Factors Affecting Husbands’ Involvement in Household Chores among Dual Earner Couples of Lusaka’s Libala Township

Factors Affecting Husbands’ Involvement in Household Chores among Dual Earner Couples of Lusaka’s Libala Township

Hadunka Eustekia Mutinta, Dr. Fay Gadsden

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.907000418

Received: 11 July 2025; Accepted: 17 July 2025; Published: 21 August 2025

ABSTRACT

Background: There are published reports that wives among dual earner couples spend more time in performing household chores than their husbands despite spending equal hours in the work place. Aim: This study aimed to assess factors influencing husbands` involvement in household chores among Zambian dual earner couples in Lusaka`s Libala Township. Method: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Libala Township of Lusaka in Zambia. Eighty (80) households of dual earner couples participated in the study. The responses were obtained through questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. Results: The age of the dual earner couples ranged from 21 to 69 years. The study revealed that about 96% of husbands were not involved in routine household chores such as dish washing, laundry, cooking, and sweeping. Gendered socialization coupled with factors such as wider age gap between husband and wife, presence of young children, social expectations, poor social networks, extended family, wives’ higher income, husbands’ negative attitudes were found to hinder husbands’ involvement in household chores while higher education and non-gendered socialization encouraged husbands’ involvement in household chores. Conclusion: It can be concluded that a gendered division of household chores exists among dual earner couples in Lusaka. However, the husbands` progressive attitudes do not translate into performing the chores. Therefore, husbands need reorientation in terms of their involvement in household chores through the media, churches, and marriage counseling workshops.

Keywords: household chores, dual earner couples, gender roles, Lusaka, Zambia

INTRODUCTION

The fight for women’s rights began early in the nineteenth century in Europe and the USA where women wanted changes in intellectual, political and cultural life. Women’s struggle for equality has seen great success in education, employment, and politics but the role of women in the family is slower to change. The struggle further led to women`s strike for equality in the household in 1970 in which women were advised to cease cooking and cleaning in order to draw attention to the unequal distribution of domestic labor marked the fight for equal distribution of household chores (Gourley, 2008). Despite changes in family policies in some countries like Sweden, liberal parental and sick leave policies that allow both parents time off to care for children, and home making, (Cooke and Baxter, 2010), equality in the division of household chores is slow.

Wives have joined their husbands in the public sphere and are spending equal amount of time working outside the home but most wives still continue to bear the burden of household chores in addition to working full time outside the home. In some cases, some couples have the same qualification, belong to the same profession, get the same amount of income or even more but husbands` involvement especially in routine household chores is insignificant. The question is why is husbands` involvement in household chores not keeping pace with wives` involvement in the public sphere?

In Zambia the gendered division of labour in the home has persisted although women’s labour force participation has increased over time. A growing body of comparative research in developed countries has shown that the greater involvement of women in the labour market has not been translated into more equal sharing of unpaid work between the sexes, (Bianchi et al., 2000). In many families, among dual earner couples in Zambia wives still spend more time on household chores than their husbands. In Zambia many women in formal employment still bear the burden of household chores but no studies have been done to find out the factors behind this unequal distribution of household chores among dual earner couples

The findings of this will contribute to policy debate and discussions on work life balance hence, help in formulating strategies that may be employed to affect husbands` attitude toward and improve their involvement in household chores in order to bring about gender equality both at household and national levels. In addition, this study has contributed to bridging the gap in knowledge and set the base for further research.

This study`s aim was to assess and examine the factors that influence husbands` involvement in household chores among dual earner couples in Lusaka`s Libala Township.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

To assess the level of husbands` involvement in household chores, identify and examine factors that influence husbands` involvement in household chores, examine the attitude of husbands toward their involvement in household chores, and assess attitudes of wives toward husbands` involvement in household chores

LITERATURE REVIEW

Research from the 1960s through the 1980s, shows that men spend about 11 hours a week in domestic labor while employed wives spend 26 to 33 hours (Coverman 1989).  Hochschilds` (1989)` influential book The Second Shift, provided the dominant assessment of the gender division of labor in the home (Konigsberg 2011) because  men were unwilling to share the burden of work in the home and hence employed women came home to a “second shift” of housework and childcare, increasing gender inequality. The division of household chores between couples often incorporates different national, individual and household level variables. Gendered socialization was found to be the major factor that influences husbands` involvement in household chores because during the socialization process parents directly communicate their beliefs about gender by providing instruction, guidance, and training to their children (Eccles, 1994). Other factors include; relative resource where the spouse with the highest income determines who does more household chores (Bittman et al. 2003), presence of young children increase the amount of household chores to be performed, (Killewald, 2011); (Lincoln, 2008); (Perry-Jenkins, Newkirk, & Gunney, 2013); (Poortman & van der Lippe, 2009); (Davis & Greenstein, (2004); and (Pinto & Coltrane, 2008), educational credentials, that people who have acquired some education are more likely to involve themselves in household chores, (Coltrane, 2000), and liberal and “non-traditional” attitudes will be flexible on their involvement in household chores, (Apparala et al. 2003). However, recent studies mostly in the developed world have advanced different aspects that influence these trends, long parental leave (Hook 2010), gender ideology that is based on societal beliefs that legitimate gender inequality, and social norms (Breen and Cooke 2005), class divisions (Heisig 2011), employment flexibility (Ruijter and Lippe 2007).

Geist (2005) has shown that in countries such as Sweden and Norway, couples have higher levels of equal sharing of household chores. For example, Sweden enacted a number of policies that include the change in cultural expectations of a gendered division of paid and unpaid work.  In particular family policies such as liberal parental and sick leave policies allow both parents time off to care for children, and home making, (Cooke and Baxter, 2010).

In Zambia feminist research has focused on equality in decision making positions in the public sphere such as national assembly (UNIFEM, 2008), education (ADB, 2009), and male involvement in maternal health (Sinkala, et al.  2008), neglecting the core cause of all these inequalities society is trying to fight, that is the household chore division among dual earner couples. Therefore, there is need to understand the factors that influence husbands` involvement in household chores.

The design of the study was descriptive, exploratory and comparative. It utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods. The data was collected using questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions that allowed in-depth exploration of the factors that influence husbands` involvement in household chores. Interviews and focus group discussion were conducted by the researcher.

The study population comprised of all dual earner couples, residing in Lusaka`s libala Township. Libala Township is a medium density area situated in Kabwata constituency, with very few economic activities such as Small and Medium Enterprises, (SMEs). Libala Township population is approximately 22347 with 4901 households, CSO (2012).  Civil servants, other working class people, retired, retrenched and the unemployed live in Libala because it is centrally located and near to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), the biggest hospital in the country.

One hundred couples were approached to participate in the study. However, the final sample comprised eighty couples because eleven husbands withdrew which led to disqualification of their spouse and 9 questionnaires were rejected because key variables were not answered. The respondents were purposively selected to participate in interviews and focus group discussion. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 80 couples that consented to participate in the study. Twenty husbands were interviewed in their homes or offices and lasted between 30 to 40 minutes. Two focus group discussions comprising ten wives in each were conducted at Libala Primary School and the discussions were recorded.

The SPSS 16.0.1 was used to analyze quantitative data. A full report of the focus group discussions was analyzed using content analysis using participants’ own words. Data were coded, responses from different subgroups were compared, and a summary was written in the narrative form.

Although our sample reflected some population characteristics of dual earner couples from the area where the study was conducted our sample was not representative of the diversity of dual earner couples in Zambia. Selection of respondents did not include those households which were inaccessible and where one of the partners was not staying with the partner at the time of the study. In addition, the study did not look into issues of couples taking another job besides the formal one. Had these people participated and other issues considered the results maybe could have changed.

Research was guided by ethical considerations from University of Zambia Research Ethics Committee (UNZA REC).

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Our study was not without limitations. First, although our sample reflected some population characteristics of dual earner couples` households from the area where the study was conducted it was not representative of the diversity of dual earner couples in Zambia. In addition, husbands might have under reported or over reported their involvement in household chores due to societal expectations as it a patriarchal society

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1: Demographic characteristics of dual earner couples in Libala`s Lusaka Town (n = 160)

Source: Survey data

The total number of respondents were 80 husbands and 80 wives from dual earner couples as shown in Table 1. Their age range was from 21-29 to 60-69 and educational qualifications ranged from grade 9 for wives to PhD while husbands ranged from grade Twelve to PhD. The respondents were ethnically diverse despite not representing all the ethnic groupings found in Zambia which are more than 72.

Table 2: Occupation and income of dual earner couples of Libala Township in Lusaka (n = 160)

Source: Survey data

The respondents belonged to different occupations which include teaching, military, accounting, medicine and office orderly. The monthly income of the respondents in Table 2 shows that there are variations in income among couples.  The low income for wives can be attributed to the occupations more wives are involved in such as teaching one of the lowly paid noble professions in Zambia. Forty-eight percent (48%) of husbands and 23% of wives did not disclose their income. Some reasons were given for non-disclosure of income. From the interviews it was revealed that some husbands do not want their wives to know how much they get. Some husbands do not want their wives to know that they help their relatives without their consent

Table 3: Division of household chores among dual earner couples of Libala Township in Lusaka

Source: Survey data

The breakdown of household chores shown in Table 3 above between husbands and wives shows that majority of wives are doing the bulk of the female gendered household chores such as cooking, washing dishes, cleaning the house, laundry, caring for the sick family members, while husbands perform male gendered chores such as minor repairs. In non-gendered household chores both husbands and wives are involved.

Despite the unequal distribution of household chores among most dual earner couples, a minority of dual earner couples share equally some household chores. For example, 14 % shared shopping and discipline children equally, 11% share child care, care for the sick and utility bills, 9% shared pupil`s homework, 7% school meetings, 4% taking children to school and cooking especially breakfast, 3% picking children from school, yard work, and washing dishes, 2% in minor repairs, laundry and sweeping.

This is consistent with Khawaja and Habib (2007), study done in Lebanon that reported that there was a clear division of household labour, with more than 70% of couples reporting that only the wife performed in-house chores such as cooking and washing clothes and dishes.

Levels of husband`s involvement in household chores

The study revealed that 71% of husbands claimed they were involved in household chores while 54% of wives said their husbands were not involved. This supports Kamo, (2000) who reported that men generally overestimate their involvement in household chores, perceiving they are more involved than they actually are. Lee and Waite (2005) argued that wives often make more accurate estimates of their spouse’s time in domesticity.

Factors influencing husbands` involvement in household chores

Wives have joined their husbands in the public sphere and are spending equal amount of time working outside the home but the wives still continue to bear the burden of household chores in addition to working full time outside the home. In some cases, some couples have the same qualification, belong to the same profession, getting the same amount of income but husbands` involvement household chores are insignificant. However, husbands` involvement in household chores among dual earner couples is influenced by many factors that include;

Gendered socialization

The study revealed that gendered socialization was the major factor influencing husbands` involvement in household chores. Men and women are socialized by social institutions to conform to roles determined by their sex into these institutions and the roles that they perform portray their gender.  This is done by performing those roles assigned to them by culture which is prevailing in that household. For example, women and girls cook; sweep, wash clothes and care for children while boys clean the yard and garden. Most of the husbands interviewed expressed traditional/conservative views based on their own family experiences in which women continue performing household.

One of the husbands with traditional attitudes explained during an interview that he does not involve himself in household chores because

If I involve myself in these household chores, what is my wife going to be doing? When we were brought up girls and women were found in the kitchen while the duty of boys and my dad was to perform some house repairs and washing cars. I have specialized in what men should do and that which society prescribed as for men and my wife has also specialized in cooking, sweeping, care for the children and many others.

Another husband went on to say that, I never saw my father cook or sweep. Why should I do that? That is work for women. Women are socialized to accept this as normal. From the focus group discussions one wife said,

You see, the way we were brought up, my mother used to do everything at home and my father as the head of the household never did all those chores you are asking about. Therefore, I see no need of my husband involving himself in these chores; he is the head of the household. Even when I was getting married it was emphasized that a man is a man and it is the duty of the wife to perform all these chores not the husband.

This finding is consistent with findings by Cunningham, (2000) and Oladeinde (2000), who found a significant relationship between child`s upbringing and his involvement in household chores as a husband.

In addition, religion especially Christianity often reinforces patriarchal ideas about roles for both men and women. It sustains the traditional division of household chores in the family in its teachings on how couples should relate to one another. Some husbands during interviews and a majority of wives during the focus group discussions observed that the scripture is very clear about who a wife is and what type of chores she should perform. Some husbands and wives cited Proverbs 31:10-15 and Ephesians 5:21-23 as scriptures from the Bible that give distinctive roles to wives and husbands. It is very clear that many husbands are using the Bible not to involve themselves in household chores and this has been approved by their wives.

This finding supports the finding of Brajdić-Vuković et al., (2007); who argued in their study titled; Between tradition and modernization: Attitudes to women`s employment and gender roles in Croatia, that religious beliefs remain an important predictor of traditionalism in attitudes to household chores as it plays a significant role in Croatian society, particularly in the context of gender and sexuality.

Social networks

Social networks are an obstacle to husbands` involvement in household chores because they provide a standard by which members are to be identified. The people to whom the husband is directly connected such as family, friends, organizations and occupational colleagues influence his identity. The study revealed that the family networks especially the relatives to the husband and friends are obstacles to husbands` involvement in household chores. For example, one husband from the interviews said

My mother told me that I should not involve myself in household chores because my wife will stop respecting me and cooking is the job for women and that is the whole purpose why we marry them. Look at me your mother I brought you up and you never saw your father performing any household chores then where is the pride of being a husband?

Another husband said, “As for me, if my mother was to find me sweeping, she will be mad with my wife and say “mwanaangu tona kwata” in Tonga, meaning my child you are not married yet.

This was supported by one of wives from the focus group discussion, who said

Some of our husbands are willing to help but they fear their relatives. if their relatives came and found these husbands cooking, they will just say” balimulisha” in Bemba meaning he has been charmed “and the relationship between the husband`s relations and the wife will be soured

The friends have more influence on husband`s involvement in household chores than mothers because of the beliefs and norms that ties them together. This came out very strongly among wives during focus group discussions said

There is too much peer pressure among these husbands. Their friends are a problem in most cases because like my husband, he used to help me in almost everything but he stopped. I saw this as influence from friends because if his friends are visiting with us even if he was cooking he would stop.

This finding supports the finding of Best & Thomas, (2004) who said that peers have a major impact by approving conduct that allows people to fit into a group, thus gaining a social life and loyalty.

Type of family and presence of children

The extended family is an obstacle to husbands` involvement in household chores. This is due to the fact that extended families are large and are more traditional in gender roles. The people who belong to this family are expected to contribute to the welfare of the household in one way. This can be done by men performing male gendered household chores while the women and wives perform the female household chores. The presence of children in the household is an obstacle to husband`s involvement in household chores. When the children are young, the workload for the wives increases because women have been taught on how to look after children especially when they are below the age of 5 years when they need a lot of care and attention. The husbands use this as an excuse for not involving themselves in household chores.

This finding is consistent with Flouri and Buchanan, (2003) who reported that the family size is important in that, as the number of children in the household increases, father’s time with children decreases.

Husband`s age

The study revealed that 33 of the husbands who are aged 44years and below are involved in household chores while 16 are not involved. The 13 husbands who are 45 years and above do not involve themselves in household chores and most of them hold traditional attitudes that prescribe household chores for women. These findings suggest that the older generation is still holding on to some traditional ways of doing things while the young generation are more egalitarian and more involved in household chores.

The study findings are in agreement with Kulik, (2005), who found that increased age is associated with increased traditional and non-egalitarian attitudes

Age gaps between husbands and wives

The wide age difference that range between 1 to 15 years with husbands being older than wives acts as an obstacle to husbands` involvement in household chores. Culturally, men marry women younger than them and young ones are supposed to show respect to elderly people by performing all household chores and as such wives see this arrangement as normal and made to bear the burden of household chores.

Three of the wives in focus group discussion said,

My husband is older than me by 10 years, so to start asking him to help, where do you even start from? It is like you have no respect.

One of the husbands during interviews said,

I am older than my wife if I start performing these chores it means am being controlled in my house then why marry when I can do all that?

The study findings are in agreement with Presser`s (2005) findings that indicated that the husbands older than their wives spend fewer hours in household chores because wives see have accepted this arrangement.

Wife`s higher income

The study based on the “threat hypothesis” by Z u o and Tang (2000), which argues that the wife’s employment poses a “threat” to a husband of low socioeconomic status, the greater the wife’s contribution to family finances, the greater the tendency to support gender role division of labor.  Surprisingly, the study revealed that the higher income for the wife reduces the chances of husband’s involvement in household chores instead makes wives perform more household chores. A husband during an interview argued that;

The duty of a wife is to perform household chores and income does not matter because that is her duty any way and this is what tradition demands.

This was confirmed by one of the wives from focus group discussion, who said,

For me I earn more than my husband. I am involved in all the household chores despite having house help. He says he never married a maid and it is my duty as a wife to prepare everything for him.

Another wife from focus group discussions said,

What I know is high income for me actually just make you perform more household chores because you want your husband to know that despite his lower income he is still the head of the household.

This finding also coincides with Bittman, et al (2003) that reported that sometimes, wives who earn more than their husbands take on extra housework to protect them from additional discomfort. However, the findings are inconsistent with the findings of Bianchi et al (2000), that found that when women earn a larger portion of household income, their husbands tend to do more of the housework. This could be due to the teachings that Africans undergo during marriage teachings that perpetuates patriarchal ideas than European countries.

Husbands` attitudes toward their involvement in household chores

The study revealed that 44% of husbands have progressive/ egalitarian attitudes and another 44% have conventional/traditional attitudes. However, husbands` attitude may be progressive but not translated into behavior because most husbands consider household chores to be inferior and best suited for wives because they are inferior to them. Some feel that involving themselves in household chores is a sign of weakness.

During focus group discussions some wives said that,

Some husbands have progressive attitudes but the problem that is there is that, this attitude is not put into action and for my husband he will involve himself when he feels like doing so.

Another wife added that,

Most of these husbands feel if they are involved in the household chores they will lose their self-esteem.

One of the wives complained on the attitude of husbands and said,

Husbands have this I don`t care attitude sometimes even when you are sick they still want you to perform these chores I don’t even understand them; they cannot help even when they have seen that you are tired maybe they think that we do not get tired

The study further revealed that most of the husbands still consider household chores as chores for women and involving themselves is a sign of being weak. On the other hand, some husbands think that the household chores are naturally women`s chores since women were brought up performing these chores.

This finding is consistent with studies based on nationally representative samples of U.S. couples which found that husbands hold more traditional gender role attitudes than their wives (Bolzendahl and Myers 2004; Zuo and Tang, 2000).

Wives attitudes toward husband’s involvement in household chores

The wives’ attitude toward their husbands’ involvement in household chores was both positive and negative with 68% with progressive attitudes and 19% conventional attitudes while 13% were undecided. The wives with progressive attitudes felt that husbands should be involved in all the household chores. The study revealed that progressive attitudes of wives do not correlate with husbands` involvement in household chores. Instead the progressive attitude of wives is used as an excuse for husbands` not involving themselves in household chores. Most of the wives with egalitarian attitudes felt that what is ideal is that dual earner couples should share household chores equally.

These findings support the findings of Apparala et al., (2003); and Poeschl (2000), that reported that in half of the studied countries, such as the Portuguese sample, women held significantly more egalitarian gender role attitudes than did men.

Despite these obstacles the following factors were found to encourage husbands’ involvement in household chores

Education

The study revealed that education encourages husbands` involvement in household chores. The only PhD holder, 33% with Degrees, and 31% with Diplomas are involved in household chores. However, out of four husbands with Master’s Degree only one is involved in household chores.  During the learning processes people are exposed to egalitarian attitudes which are believed can change traditional beliefs that one acquires during socialization although the level of change in behavior differs depending on individual conviction and how strong their beliefs are. Hence this involvement has to be taken with caution in terms of what type of household chores husbands are involved in as most husbands are involved in child care, minor repairs, yard work and paying bills.

This finding is in agreement with Hook 2010; Sayer 2010) who reported that highly educated men perform more housework than less-educated men although the type of housework is not defined. This result also mirrors the more recent studies of the US (Bianchi, Robinson and Milkie 2006), (Wang and Bianchi 2009), the UK (Flouri and Buchanan 2003) and Australia (Craig 2006b) that found that highly educated fathers spend more time in parenting activities.

Non- gendered socialization

The non-gendered type of socialization inculcates egalitarian attitudes in children and when they grow up they will have no difficulties in involving themselves in household chores. This type of socialization mostly takes place in nuclear families.

One of the husbands with egalitarian attitudes and who is also involved in female gendered household chores said;

“When we were growing up dad could make us breakfast while mum was busy with sweeping. We were involved in all these activities and there was nothing like boys outside or girls cooking. I do not see anything wrong with me being involved in household chores. I help my wife cook and even ironing. She really appreciates what I do even when my relatives are there I cook for them. This actually creates time for the two of us and children because she is not over worked”.

Another husband said “there is nothing wrong with husbands involving themselves in household chores it just creates an environment for couples to have more time to each other”

Another husband said

” In our family we were just boys and we performed all the household chores starting with sweeping cooking, washing mention them. We were all happy and mum from the look of things was happy too despite not having a girl child because we did what girls could do and for me it is normal for a husband to perform all these household chores”.

The finding supports those of Turk, (2009) who reported that men and women’s gender ideologies are very important in predicting an egalitarian relationship and there is a clear and irrefutable link between progressive ideologies and egalitarianism, as well as a link between conservative ideologies and inegalitarianism.

CONCLUSION

The study shows that there is a gendered division of household chores among dual earner couples with wives spending more hours in almost all the household chores apart from minor repairs and yard work. This is despite spending equal hours with their husbands working outside the home. The study revealed that wives among dual earner couples have more progressive attitudes than their husbands. Surprisingly, despite some husbands` and wives` progressive attitudes, husbands` involvement in household chores is very low.

Summary, Implication and Conclusion

The results indicate that husbands` level of involvement in household chores is very low in routine/female gendered household chores and high in male gendered and non-gendered household chores while wives are doing much of the routine household chores and less male gendered household chores. This result implies that there is still the gendered division of household chores among dual earner couples. The result also suggests that husbands` involvement in household chores is majorly affected by gendered socialization. Others include; type of family, social networks, husbands` attitudes wives` attitudes wives` income and education.

The implication of this study is that husbands need reorientation in terms of their involvement in household chores. This needs gender issues awareness among husbands through the media, church, and marriage counseling because how they raise their children is key to personal and national development.

To my knowledge this is the first study in Zambia providing quantitative evidence on husbands` involvement in household chores among dual earner couples. It is consistent with recent findings from USA and UK. This study also confirm other studies conducted in Australia, Nigeria and Ghana reporting that the gendered division of household chores has persisted despite wives taking up the bread winning role. This situation is perpetuated by cultural, social, economic and religious factors that hinder husbands` involvement in household chores.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Special appreciation and thanks to Dr Fay Gadsden for her guidance, all members of staff at the University of Zambia in the Department of Gender Studies, Sikanyiti Irvin from Central Statistical Office (CSO), research assistants Mutinta Noriah, Mweemba Fallen, and Songolo Nosiku, Libala Primary School staff, my husband Dr Derick Munkombwe, children Derick Munkombwe Jr and Habwami Munkombwe, and other family members for their support.

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