Beyond Cultural Explanations: Understanding the Gendered Division of Household Labor in Mexican American Families

While the vast literature on gendered divisions of household labor has rarely examined the experiences of Latino families, the limited research in this area has failed to account for structural contexts, even while pointing to cultural explanations for inequalities. Based on surveys of 542 Mexican American families, we argue that when taken together, structural factors predict housework for Mexican families even when individuals hold traditional cultural attitudes. Household labor continues to be women's responsibility. Structural factors, compared with cultural factors, were better predictors of women's household sharing. Women decreased their housework with employment, higher earnings, and increased education. Both structural and cultural factors influenced men's household sharing. Men increased their household labor when their wives worked outside of the home, had more education, and when men disagreed with a traditional cultural attitude. Including structural and cultural measures in future research can limit the cultural assumptions made of Latino families.