The quality of women?s relationships with their partner is diminished if they view their parenting division as unfair or want to spend more time working, our new study of employed parents in Canada has found.
Emerging research shows women?s larger housework share deteriorates relationship satisfaction and leads to divorce. Our study shows inequality across the domestic sphere ? housework and parenting ? jeopardises relationship quality.
Housework and parenting: equally damaging"

Women consistently do more housework, even when employed full-time. They do more when they are married and after the birth of a child. Women also perform more of the least-pleasurable households tasks, like cleaning the bathroom.
Although men have increased their housework time since the 1970s, they more typically perform the least-urgent chores, like changing lightbulbs or car maintenance. Our study found working mothers assumed a larger parenting share, and this inequality deteriorated relationship quality ? but only under certain conditions. It deteriorated when mothers perceived their parenting division as unfair, or when they felt trapped in their primary carer role.
Specifically, mothers who performed a larger parenting share and worked part-time had the lowest relationship quality. This pattern was also evident for mothers who preferred more time at work.
These paradoxical findings ? mothers with part-time employment and preferences for more time at work reporting worse relations with t...