Attitudes toward Housecleaning: Gender-Related Differences
Shirley M. Ogletree, G. Marc Turner, Ruju Desai, Rosemary Hernandez, and Tiffany Stafford
Southwest Texas State University
Abstract
Housework is an inevitable part of the lives of most adults. Fifty-three men and 115 women completed demographic items, the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1977), and a 50-item Attitudes toward Housecleaning Scale. Four factors emerged on the housecleaning scale, using a factor loading greater than .45. Males scored significantly lower than females on Factor 1, assessing level of cleanliness/liking of housecleaning; masculinity was a significant covariate on this factor. Factor 3 assessed stereotypical gender-role attitudes related to housecleaning; men compared to women, scored significantly higher. Developing an Attitudes toward Housecleaning Scale has a number of potentially useful applications.
Attitudes toward Housecleaning: Gender-related Differences
Housework is an inevitable part of the lives of most adults in this country. Related areas that have been foci of previous psychological/sociological research include the division of household labor (e.g., Bianchi, Milkie, Sayer, & Robinson, 2000; Greenstein, 2000), the perception of fairness of that division (e.g., Dempsey, 1999; Kollock, Blumstein, & Schwartz, 1994; Lennon & Rosenfield, 1994; Mikula, 1998; Sanchez, 1994), and the relation of power of family members and performance of housework ( e.g., Baxter, 1992; Dempsey, 2000).
Typically housework performance has been measured by time diaries, task inventories (who does a specific task), or direct questions regarding time spent on housework (Marini, & Shelton, 1993; Press, & Townsley, 1998). Compared to time diaries the direct question method tends to lead to possible overestimations of housework performed with men being particularly likely to proportionally overestimate their contribution (Press & Townsley, 1998).
Although research regarding issues related to who is doing the housework has burgeoned in recent years, Spitze and Loscocco (2000) noted the dearth of research focusing on reactions or attitudes towards housework. Robinson and Milkie (1998), in one of the few studies examining attitudes toward housework, compared attitudes of women in a 1975-76 sample to a 1995-96 sample, on 13 questions regarding enjoyment of housecleaning, energy and effort required for housecleaning, importance of a clean house, and satisfaction with the usual cleanliness of their house.
We are building upon Robinson and Milkie's (1998) work, developing a more formal scale. A scale with multiple dimensions could be used for a variety of purposes and further a more complete understanding of attitudes toward housecleaning. We are interested in exploring five aspects of attitudes toward housecleaning: 1) attitudes toward paid labor for performing housework, 2) personal standards of cleanliness, 3) liking of housecleaning, 4) gender-related factors affecting attitudes towards housecleaning, and 5) the value of housecleaning.
Individuals may differ in their attitudes towards paid housecleaning. Even if money were no object, some people may prefer not having their privacy invaded, may feel that it is demeaning to another to ask them to perform housecleaning chores, or might feel guilty if they were home relaxing while another individual cleaned their home. The gender and ethnicity of the individual (usually not a white male, for example) who might be paid to do housecleaning may also be an issue.
Great variation seemingly exists in personal preferences for level of cleanliness. While dust, dirt, and/or chaos may be of little concern to some, others may be very offended by disorder and lack of cleanliness. Robinson and Milke (1998) suggested, in understanding housecleaning and equity issues, first considering the more basic question, "Is my home clean enough?" (p. 206).
While housework is often considered boring and tedious (Robinson and Milke, 1998), people may also differ in how much they enjoy housecleaning tasks. Perhaps vacuuming or dusting is relaxing to some while others may find these tasks completely tedious.
People may also have various gender-related beliefs about whose responsibility housecleaning is. One set of explanations for why only a minority of women perceive inequity in the division of household labor is that housework is regarded as feminine (Mikula, 1998). To what extent is housecleaning perceived as women's work?
Finally, individuals may vary to the extent that they consider housework important or valuable. While some may consider housecleaning of little use and worth, others may consider it a skill to be learned, one that is vital to an organized household and life.
The preliminary scale we administered had 50 items designed to assess the five dimensions just described. We were interested both in male/female differences in attitudes toward housecleaning as well as how these dimensions related to masculinity and femininity.
We predicted that women, compared to men, as well as individuals scoring higher in femininity would have higher standards of cleanliness, like housecleaning more, would value housecleaning more, but score lower on gender stereotypical attitudes toward. housecleaning. Spence and Hahn (1997) reported that women are less traditional in gender-role attitudes than men across a number of cohorts.
Method
Participants
Students (115 women, 53 men) at a central Texas university were included in the study. The majority described their ages as 25 or younger (96%) and their socioeconomic status as upper, upper middle, or middle class (86%). Ethnicity of participants was as follows: 73% Caucasian, 16% Hispanic, 5% African-American, 2% Asian, and 5% other. Participants were recruited from several freshman and sophomore psychology classes and from a dorm (12 participants); recruitment efforts in a dorm were undertaken, with little success, to increase the diversity of the sample.
Materials and Procedure
A 50-item scale was designed to assess attitudes toward paid labor for performing housework, personal standards of cleanliness, liking for housecleaning tasks, gender-relevant factors affecting attitudes towards housecleaning, and the value of housecleaning. Thirteen items assessed attitudes toward paid housecleaning, for example, "If I had the money, I would definitely pay someone to clean my house/apartment." One of the 11 items assessing level of cleanliness was "Leaving dishes in the sink overnight does not bother me." Ten items assessed liking of housecleaning, including "When I get upset, cleaning helps calm me down." "Mothers have more influence on the children's housecleaning habits than do fathers" was an example of one of the nine gender role items. Seven items were designed to asses the value of housecleaning. One of these items was "It is important to me that anyone I live with shares my cleanliness standards."
Thirteen items were designed to be reverse scored. All items were rated on a five-point scale varying from "very strongly disagree" to "very strongly agree."
The final questionnaire included demographic items, a slightly modified Bem Sex Role Inventory using a five-point rather than seven-point scale (Bem, 1977), and the 50-item Attitudes toward Housecleaning Scale. A male and female together administered the majority (76%) of the questionnaires; 17% were administered by a female alone. Twelve participants completed the scale individually in the dorm; no record was kept regarding whether the resident assistant administering the scale was male or female.
Results
The housecleaning scale data were analyzed using a factor analysis with principal axis factoring as the extraction method to examine which items were grouped together. Four factors emerged with eigenvalues greater than 2.25 accounting for 31% of the overall variance. Items were included as part of a factor if they loaded at .45 or higher. The first factor contained 16 items that examined level of cleanliness/orderliness as well as the extent to which the individual enjoyed housecleaning. Seven items were included in the second factor which also included some items related to whether or not one liked housecleaning as well as several items related to the division of housecleaning based on who has the highest standards or who makes the least money. The four items in the third factor assessed gender role attitudes related to housecleaning, and the final factor included only two items measuring participants' guilt or feeling obligated to help if someone cleaned their home. Table 1 gives the items and loading for each factor.
Analyses of covariance were used to examine the four factors, with femininity and masculinity from the Bem Sex Role Inventory entered as the covariates and participant sex as the independent variable. Males scored significantly lower than females on Factor 1; F (1,157) = 8.72, p < .01. Masculinity was a significant covariate on this factor; F (1,157)= 9.28, p < .01, with individuals who were more masculine scoring higher. Participant sex was significant on Factor 3 with men scoring higher than women, F (1, 157) = 7.69, p < .01. Finally, femininity was a significant covariate on Factor 4 with individuals scoring higher in femininity rating these items lower, F (1, 157) = 4.24, p < .05. Neither participant sex nor covariates were significant on Factor 2.
Discussion
The factors that emerged from the fifty-item Attitudes toward Housecleaning Scale were somewhat different than those we predicted. Factor 3, focusing on gender-related attitudes, was the clearest and most closely related to one of our originally predicted factors.
Factor 1 seemed to include items that were related both to level of cleanliness and liking of housecleaning. As we predicted, women scored higher on this factor than men. However, Spitze and Loscocco (2000), analyzing direct question data from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households, found that, compared to men, women's reactions to housework were a little less positive. The women found housework slightly more lonely and boring than men.
One possibility accounting for women scoring higher in our data might be the inclusion of questions related to preferred level of cleanliness in this factor; perhaps these questions were responsible for the gender difference that we found rather than liking of housecleaning. Supporting this interpretation is the lack of a gender difference on Factor 2 which also included some questions related to liking of housecleaning.
Alternatively, perhaps women have become more positive towards housework in recent years. Robinson and Milkie (1998) reported that women in their 1995-96 sample enjoyed housecleaning significantly more than women in the 1975-76 sample, with the largest gain observed in women younger than 50. In addition women in the more recent sample were significantly more likely than women in the 1975-76 sample to indicate that having a neat house was very important to them.
At the same time Robinson and Milkie (1998) speculated that standards of cleanliness may have lessened over the years for a variety of reasons including less time spent on housework; perhaps "clean" or "neat" has a different meaning than 20 or 30 years ago. While global measures assessing overall levels of cleanliness may be unable to make such distinctions, perhaps the more specific items included in our scale may help explore such issues in the future.
Contrary to our predictions, femininity was not related to the first factor while masculinity was a positive covariate. Perhaps some of the items measuring masculinity such as "competitive" and "ambitious" relate to having higher standards of cleanliness. We were also surprised that femininity was negatively related to Factor 4, containing only two items related to feeling guilty or obligated to help if individuals watch someone clean their house while they just relaxed.
In line with our expectations and Spence & Hahn's (1997) research using the Attitudes toward Women Scale, men had more gender-stereotypical attitudes than women on the third factor. Perhaps women's roles are changing faster than men's, and women are less likely to perceive the primary housekeeping responsibility as theirs. Kroska (1997), in her review of the literature, states, however, that often gender role ideology is not related to housework participation. Actual participation may be a complex mix of attitudes, including the factors described here, as well as individual situational factors. For example, Harrell (1995) reported that husbands' greater involvement with household tasks was dependent upon their perception of little conflict between family life and their work as well as nontraditional attitudes towards masculinity.
Because clear factors for liking of housecleaning and level of cleanliness did not emerge in our factor analysis, we are looking more closely at some of the items. For example, the item "I put off housecleaning because I don't enjoy doing it" was originally assumed to measure liking of housecleaning but loaded in Factor 1 which also has a number of level of cleanliness items. Individuals might disagree with the item either because they enjoy housecleaning or because they don't enjoy housecleaning but don't put it off. A less ambiguous statement would be "I don't enjoy housecleaning."
We are currently in the process of revising this scale, shortening it and more clearly stating items designed to measure one of four factors: level of cleanliness, liking of housecleaning, gender-related attitudes toward housecleaning, and attitudes toward paid housecleaning. Because many college students have relatively limited experience with housecleaning, we are planning to include employees from a factory in a neighboring town.
The development of an Attitudes Toward Housecleaning Scale has a number of potentially useful applications. Housecleaning is an area of potential conflict for many couples; perhaps understanding relevant issues such as differing standards of cleanliness, liking for housecleaning, and gender role expectations may help couples move beyond pointing blame and move towards more realistic negotiation of work to be done by whom. Considering paid housecleaning may also be a useful topic for individuals to discuss; some individuals may prefer not to hire anyone to clean their house, even if paying for this service is not a problem. Also, attitudes toward housecleaning are basic to understanding many feminist and gender role issues; this scale will facilitate the more careful exploration of housework-related issues.
References
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Author Note
Shirley M. Ogletree, Department of Psychology, Southwest Texas Sate University; G. Marc Turner, Department of Psychology, Southwest Texas Sate University; Ruju Desai, Department of Psychology, Southwest Texas Sate University; Rosemary Hernandez, Department of Psychology, Southwest Texas Sate University; Tiffany Stafford, Department of Psychology, Southwest Texas Sate University.
This paper was presented at the annual conference of the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences, February, 2003, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Shirley M. Ogletree, Department of Psychology, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666.
Table 1
Items and Factor Loadings for the Four Factors from the Attitudes Toward Housecleaning Scale
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Item Factor loading
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Factor 1
I would prefer to have my apartment/house messy rather .63
than having to spend time cleaning it up. (reversed)
I put off housecleaning because I .62
don't enjoy doing it. (reversed)
An overflowing trashcan does not bother me. (reversed) .62
I value my house/apartment being nice and neat. .59
When I get upset, cleaning helps me to calm down. .59
Straightening the house is a good way to spend .59
a few hours on the weekend.
I make a point every day to have time to do .58
at least a little cleaning.
I very rarely dust. (reversed) .56
I strongly prefer to fold clothes and put them in their .55
proper place after I launder them.
It is important to me that anyone I live with shares .54
my cleanliness standards.
Leaving clothes that have been worn on a chair is an acceptable .54
way of dealing with dirty clothes until doing laundry. (reversed)
I don't enjoy cleaning the bathroom. (reversed) .52
It is important to me to have laundry folded in a certain way. .50
If my house were cluttered when guests dropped by, I .47
would apologize for the mess.
Cleaning the kitchen is a hassle.(reversed) .46
If I had more time, cleaning would be more of a priority. .46
Factor 2
I find dusting somewhat relaxing. .59
Taking out the trash is kind of fun. .53
If two people are in a relationship, the person who makes .53
more money should do less housecleaning.
If two people are living together or married, more of the .52
cleaning should be done by whoever has the highest standards.
When I was growing up, the males in my family did more .50
cleaning than the females.
I enjoy vacuuming. .48
Housecleaning is a special skill such as computer programming. .48
Factor 3
Keeping the house clean is an important part of being a .56
good wife and mother.
Women should have the primary housecleaning responsibility. .51
Women have higher cleanliness standards than do men. .50
Mothers have more influence on the children's housecleaning .49
habits than do fathers.
Factor 4
I would feel guilty if someone were cleaning .51
my house while I just relaxed.
If someone cleaned my house while I were home, I would .48
feel obligated to help them.
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