Abstract

This chapter describes the ways in which couples undo gender by resisting the mandate for men to prioritize paid work while women prioritize care. In contrast, in diverse cultures couples created equality when men forged an unconventional relation to paid work (e.g., working part-time or passing up promotions that interfere with family life), when they took on stereotypically maternal care tasks (e.g., diapering and comforting), when women freely shared the “maternal” role, when they insisted that their jobs/careers were as important as their partners’, and when couples shared housework.