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With the rapid economic development and the expanding demand for women's labor, female labor force participation rates in Taiwan climbed from 32.6% in 1966 to 46.1% in 2001 (Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, 2002). Consequently, the question of whether the change in women's economic status has produced a more equal division of household labor in Taiwan has arisen. While studies in the past few decades have yielded a large amount of knowledge about the division of labor among couples in western industrialized societies, we know relatively little about the division among couples in non-western societies. The present paper examines whether the explanatory models of the division of household labor that have been developed in western societies can be applied to Taiwan, an East Asian society immersed in the traditional Chinese culture.
The majority of Taiwanese people are descendants of immigrants from southeastern China. Other people fled to Taiwan with the military after the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949. As a result, traditional Chinese culture is an essential element of the Taiwanese culture, particularly regarding the family. Gender norms in Taiwan once were governed by traditional patriarchal thinking which devalues women's status and highly emphasizes women's dependence upon men (Xu and Lai, 2002). Women were expected to be wives and/or mothers responsible for household work rather than to have jobs outside the household. Although this rigid gender hierarchy has been challenged with industrialization and urbanization over the past half century, the influence of the traditional Chinese culture remains fairly strong in Taiwan compared to other Chinese societies such as Hong Kong and mainland China (Xu & Lai, 2004).
On the other hand, it is acknowledged that women's status has improved in terms of health care, education, and employment in Taiwan (Chen, Yi, and Lu, 2000). The majority of Taiwanese women now have premarital work experience, though half of them drop from the labor force due either to marriage or childbirth (Chien, 1997). In addition, many married women choose part-time or time-flexible jobs that allow them to manage heavy family responsibilities at the same time (Chen, Yi, and Lu, 2000). The intensive contact with Western societies, especially the United States, has brought a new set of values, ideas, and subsequent behaviors, however. Many statistics, such as...