The Fair Play Method: Can We Solve for the Unequal Division of Domestic Labor?
USC Dornsife Center for the Changing Family
USC Public Exchange
This is the first study to quantify cognitive labor and its impact on maternal mental health. Citation: 2024 study by USC’s Public Exchange and Center for the Changing Family
Mothers reported being responsible for 72.57% of all cognitive labor (Conception and Planning) compared to their partners.
Mothers report being responsible for 63.64% of all physical domestic labor (Execution), compared to their partners.
Fair Play Cards Have Meaningful Links with Overall Well-Being.
Relationship Quality: When mothers held more household labor tasks, they were significantly less satisfied with their relationship with their partners.
Perceived Stress: When mothers held more household labor tasks, they reported more perceived stress.
The impact of holding the cognitive load (Planning) specifically…
Depression: When mothers engaged in more cognitive household labor (Planning) than their partners, they reported more depressive symptoms.
Burnout: When mothers engaged in more cognitive household labor (Planning) than their partners, they reported more symptoms of exhaustion, overwhelm, and burnout.
Physical Health: When mothers engaged in more cognitive household labor (Planning) than their partners, they reported worse physical health.
Mental Health: When mothers engaged in more cognitive household labor (Planning) than their partners, they reported worse overall mental health.
Overall, mothers reported greater responsibility than their partners for the cognitive labor of 29 out of 30 tasks and the physical household labor of 28 out of 30 tasks.
Taking out the garbage was the only task for which partners were responsible for both the cognitive (Planning) and physical labor (Execution),and home maintenance was the only other task for which partners were responsible for the physical labor.
The Fair Play Method seeks to elevate the value of care work and advance gender equity at home. By treating the household as our most critical organization, this approach has the potential to make a meaningful impact in every household and drive cultural change, thereby improving not only women’s lives but also the lives of all household members. By guiding couples to share domestic tasks more equitably, the Fair Play Method aims to enhance overall well-being starting within the home.
Our research finds that Fair Play helps us understand domestic labor imbalances and can also make mothers healthier and happier.
The Fair Play Method can be an effective tool for creating more domestic labor equity, which in turn improves mental health and overall relationship quality.
61% of participants who participated in at least some of the Fair Play Method saw an increase in overall egalitarianism at home (56% cognitive labor; 54% instrumental labor).
Increases in egalitarianism from the intervention were associated with decreases in depressive symptoms. (One unit increase in equity correlated with a 20% unit decrease in depression.)
Increases in egalitarianism from the intervention were associated with decreases in personal burnout. (One unit increase in equity correlated with a 12% unit decrease in personal burnout.)
Increases in egalitarianism from the intervention were associated with an increase in relationship functioning. (One unit increase in equity correlated with a 17% unit increase in relationship functioning.)
Increases in egalitarianism from the intervention were associated with decreases in perceived stress. (One unit increase in equity correlated with a 13% unit decrease in perceived stress.)
91% of participants would recommend the intervention to a friend.
