Legal Recognition of Same‐Sex Relationships: New Possibilities for Research on the Role of Marriage Law in Household Labor Allocation
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Research comparing the relative significance of economic exchange theories and gender norms on parents' division of income‐producing and domestic responsibilities often fails to consider sufficiently the role that marriage may play. This article shows that, in the United States, numerous aspects of state and federal law relating to marriage encourage spouses to specialize in distinct breadwinning and caretaking roles. Same‐sex marriage offers new opportunities to assess the importance of marriage in household labor allocation decisions while controlling for gender. For any data gathered before June 2015, however, it may be distorting to characterize same‐sex couples as simply “married” or “unmarried”; rather, legal recognition during the past 10 years is better conceptualized as discrete bundles of rights and tracked accordingly. This article, written by a legal scholar, provides substantive legal analysis that is integral to developing a research agenda in this area.
DOI: 10.1111/jftr.12123
Author: Deborah A. Widiss
Institution: Indiana University
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2289733908