Is your hubby working overtime?

Women whose hubbies put in long hours at the office are more likely to quit their jobs, according to a group of researchers. However, men’s careers are not impacted when their wives put in long hours, it was found. Researchers at Cornell University say that working overtime has a disproportionate impact on women in dual-earner households, exacerbating gender inequality and supporting the "separate sphere" phenomenon in which men are the breadwinners while women take care of the household.

The study has been presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. "Women whose husbands work long hours are more likely to quit their jobs, yet men’s careers are not impacted when their wives put in long hours," said Youngjoo Cha, author of the study and a doctoral candidate in sociology at Cornell University. "This suggests a potential return to the "separate spheres" arrangement — breadwinning men and homemaking women — as long hours become increasingly common,” Cha added.

To determine the impact of longer work hours on dual-earner households, Cha analyzed data from the 1996 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, a longitudinal household survey conducted by the US Census Bureau that covers calendar years - 1995 to 2000.

The sample was limited to dual-earner married couples in professional and non-professional employment. Cha found that women whose husbands worked more than 60 hours per week were 44 per cent more likely to quit their own jobs. However, there was no impact on husbands’ odds of quitting when wives worked long hours.

Results were even more pronounced when Cha isolated professional workers. Professional women were 52 per cent more likely to quit their jobs when their husbands worked more than 60 hours per week. As in the case of all workers, overworking wives did not affect the employment status of professional men.

Among professionals, husbands were more than twice as likely as wives to work more than 50 hours per week (30 per cent of husbands compared to 12 per cent of wives). According to Cha, this suggests that in professional occupations, women are less likely to expect spousal support than men.