The Third Job: Employed Couples' Management of Household Work Contradictions

As the 21st century approaches, there is a growing number of families in which both partners are involved in the labour market. This text focuses on the "three-job" (two paid and one unpaid housework job) families. It investigates the way in which partners experience and handle the contradictions in the daily running of the household - contradictions which result from the conflicting features within and between society and the family. An equal division of household labour remains at the heart of these contradictions as women take on the responsibility of running the family home in addition to paid employment.