The relationship between background variables and sex-typing of gender roles and children's chores: The Israeli case

The article examines the relationship between sex-typing of adult gender roles and children's chores in Israeli society. Adult gender roles were examined from a general perspective, while children's chores were examined in five distinctive areas - domestic chores, help with siblings, self-care, outside, and technical chores. The research sample consisted of 238 married and unmarried participants (81 men and 157 women). Specifically, sex-typing of adult gender roles and children's chores was examined in relation to three sets of background variables: (1) personal background variables (age, religiosity, and ethnicity); (2) education and employment variables (level of education, extent of job position, and earning patterns); and (3) family variables (marital status, length of marriage, number of children, and age of children). The women tended to have less sex-typed attitudes than the men did with regard to children's chores. However, no differences were found between the genders with regard to sex-typing of adult gender roles. In addition, the married women expressed more sex-typed attitudes toward adult gender roles than did unmarried women, whereas the differences between married and unmarried men were less significant. Among both genders, a correlation was found between sex-typing of adult gender roles and domestic children's chores.