Life-course Variations in Spouses’ Division of Roles in Urban Areas of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

Despite a growing acceptance of egalitarian gender attitudes, there is no empirical evidence about the division of roles between wives and husbands and its variation across their family life in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). This paper uses data from the 2014 to 2015 Time Use Survey, representing urban areas of the IRI, to examine the dynamics of the spouses’ division of roles across their family life. The findings confirm a gender division of roles. The mapping of the spouses’ role behaviours during their family life provides a combination of gender similarities and differences. Role configurations (or role variations across family life) clearly differ between spouses but the pathways (or life-course variations in role behaviours) are quite similar in some roles (i.e., community, individual and parental roles) and different in others (i.e., occupational and domestic roles). To the extent that the existing gender patterns are perceived as unjustified, they can be consequential not only for marital satisfaction and quality, but also for marriage and childbearing decisions.