Page 117 - IJPS-11-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Gendered division of household labor in Iran

gender disparities in domestic labor and family decision- child, income earner status, parent’s socioeconomic status,
making are strongly influenced by gender roles (Chung and the couple’s relative income and education levels.
and Lee, 2017; Campaña et al., 2023). Social norms and The respondents’ education levels were classified as
values determine which tasks should and should not be below a diploma, a diploma, or tertiary education. The
carried out by women and men (Campaña et al., 2018). family income was categorized as <600 USD, 600 – 1000
The theoretical framework in this study is grounded in USD, or more than 1000 USD per month. The length of
the resource-based approach. Therefore, we expect that an marriage was divided into either <5 years, 5 – 10 years, 10
individual’s division of domestic work is determined by – 19 years, or 20 years and above. Having a child was also
their socioeconomic status in relation to their partners.
considered as an independent variable.
2. Data and methods Income earner status refers to the position of income
2.1. Data source and sampling earners within a family, either as a single earner or as a
dual earner. Parents’ socioeconomic status was defined
The research used data from the 2015 Survey of Married as their perceived social and economic standing of
Lifestyle in Tehran City, conducted by the first author. With parents, classified as low, medium, or high. The couple’s
a 95% confidence level, a sampling error of 0.05, and a relative education level was calculated by comparing the
design effect of 2, the sample size was determined to be educational levels of the man and woman, which can be
around 1730. The study targeted married individuals, with categorized as men’s higher education, equal education,
one spouse chosen randomly for inclusion. Sampling was or women’s higher education. The couple’s relative income
done using the probability proportional to size method, level was determined by the difference between the man’s
with samples collected from 50 districts in Tehran. and woman’s income, classified as either men’s higher

2.2. Measures income, equal income, or women’s higher income.
The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were 2.3. Statistical analysis
evaluated using expert qualifications, face and construct Data analysis was carried out using descriptive
validity, and Cronbach’s alpha. Our analysis focused statistical analysis methods and regression in Statistical
on three dependent variables: division of domestic Package for the Social Sciences software v26. Different
labor, childcare responsibilities, and family decision- specification and diagnostic tests were performed to
making power. assess ordinary least square assumptions, as well as the

The division of domestic labor was assessed based on accuracy and validity of statistical analyses. Multivariate
tasks such as cooking, dishwashing, and house cleaning. linear regression models were used to investigate the
The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of internal consistency impact of socioeconomic factors on family decision-
was 0.75, which indicates acceptable reliability. A higher making power, division of domestic labor, and childcare
score on this scale indicates a greater burden of household responsibilities.
duties on women.
Childcare responsibilities were measured by tasks 3. Results
such as overseeing children’s homework, helping with 3.1. Descriptive analyses
dressing, managing sleep routines, caring for sick children, The socioeconomic variables are described in Table 1. The
and engaging in play or conversation with children. average age of the respondents was 44.1 years (Standard
The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82, which indicates strong deviation = 12.7). Around a third of the respondents had
reliability. A higher score on this scale signifies a large tertiary education, 82% had children, and 45% had been
share of childcare duties being carried out by women. married for over 20 years. Women were the financial
Family decision-making power was assessed in areas contributors in 21% of households. There was a significant
such as family affairs, leisure activities, major purchases, income gap between men and women. Around 54% of
parenting styles, visits to relatives and friends, and couples had equal levels of education, while 10% had equal
identifying the primary decision-maker in the family. income levels.
The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.84, which indicates strong Table 2 displays how domestic labor division, childcare
reliability. A higher score on this scale suggests that women responsibilities, and decision-making are distributed
play a more significant role in family decision-making. within households. According to the findings, there is
The study considered various independent variables, significant gender inequality, with approximately 90% of
including education, income, length of marriage, having a women handling household tasks and 71% taking care of

Volume 11 Issue 2 (2025) 111 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.3212