ABSTRACT
The division of labor in the household refers to how couples provision households and allocate resources within and outside of the household. The gender division of labor is a function of available resources, productive technology, geography, economic and social contexts, social norms, and demographics. While some scholars have argued that traditional division of labor is “natural” due to biological differences between women and men, evidence from around the globe shows more equal divisions of labor in which women hunted with men for large and small game. Feminist scholars have challenged Becker’s neoclassical model, which presents the gender division of labor as determined biology and different investments in human capital that lead to differences in comparative advantages between men and women. Women’s access to independent income and social assistance, falling fertility rates, an increase in education among girls and women, laws defining the division of marital property, and shifts in social norms have increased women’s bargaining power in the household.
