Is Justice Contextual? A Cross-National Analysis of Married Women's Perceptions of Fairness of the Division of Household Labor

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine married women's perceptions of the division of household labor. Distributive justice theory has suggested the mechanisms through which individuals determine their situations are fair. However, the majority of applications of the distributive justice theory have been focused on Western nations. This research extends these previous applications in two ways. First, the self-evaluation theory is integrated with distributive justice theory and elaborated into a new theory, called Contextual Distributive Justice Theory. Second, part of this new theory is tested using a sample of 4581 married women from the International Social Justice Project data. Using multi-level analysis, this research suggests that context does matter in predicting married women's perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor. There are statistically significant differences in women's average perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor based upon their nation of residence. Context indirectly affects women's perceptions of fairness through national ideology and women's overall empowerment. Further, women's individual measures of empowerment affect their perceptions of fairness differently based upon the overall empowerment of women in their nation of residence. Implications for further theoretical elaboration and empirical examination are discussed.