Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using data on married women from the sixth survey wave of the Marital Instability over the Life Course (2003, N = 489), we examine the influence of mattering on wives� perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor. Mattering is conceptualized as the wife�s perception of the level of concern her husband has for her, which taps into the larger emotional context of the marriage. Consistent with our expectations, we find that the more a wife believes she matters to her husband, the more likely she is to report the division of housework is fair, regardless of the share of housework she performs. Moreover, mattering positively interacts with a wife�s perceived obligation to her husband such that higher levels of mattering and obligation to her husband are associated with especially high likelihoods of perceived fairness. This research contributes to prior work on wives� perceived fairness of the division of household labor by demonstrating the salience of broader emotional dynamics in the marriage.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This essay examines how feminist ideals influenced the framing of first lady press coverage from 1964 � 1980, arguing that this coverage served as a site where questions about women�s changing roles could be raised and the tenets of the women�s liberation movement could be presented and promoted by women reporters. The result was the positioning of Johnson, Ford, and Carter as �liberated women,� while Nixon embodied the �feminine mystique� that the movement was rallying against.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This interpersonal communication study probes on how Muslim and Christian wives create, express, interpret and negotiate their communicative interactions with their husbands. It looks at how these wives came to construct the concept of being wife and how they felt themselves changed through being wives. Grounded on Social Construction Theory, the study reveals that Muslim and Christian wives have various aspects of convergence in terms of the use of verbal communication, concept and understanding of their roles of being wives, attitude towards conflict and how they manage it. To boot, husbands and wives define their power positions in marital partnerships through interaction and communication. Thus, a wife who negotiates gets more influences, however issue of religion still controls over connubial affairs.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In light of changing gender norms and increased female labor force participation, this paper examines the factors associated with couples' income in marital households. It then considers how the correlates of the relative income contributions of husbands and wives have changed since 1970. Preliminary results suggest that spousal characteristics, own human capital investments, and family demographics are associated with relative income. Our initial, bivariate look at relative income suggests there are stark differences between couples who contribute about equally and couples in which wives or husbands contribute the bulk of income.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In this paper, I will examine gender, �ga strategic nexus�h, of Japanese corporate transnational practices and family lives of corporate migrant professionals and its effects on lives of corporate wives and the reproduction of maternal femininity. The data for this article come mostly from 21 in-depth interviews with wives of Japanese corporate migrant men who were living in Southern California for their husbands�f occupational assignments at the time of interviews. I will argue that 1) Japanese corporations construct and depend on not only corporate masculinity defined by absence from home and spatial mobility but also femininity defined in relation with corporate masculinity by economic dependence, constant availability at home, and heightened maternal identity for their transnational practices, 2) the degrees to which corporate migrant wives accept or challenge this femininity shape their migration experiences, and because corporate femininity is constructed in relation with corporate masculinity, resisting corporate femininity inevitably involves questioning and challenging corporate masculinity, and 3) corporate migrant wives reproduce and strengthen their maternal identity in a context where no work-related identity is possible, and maternal duty becomes more demanding. Japanese women�fs extensive maternal practices and strong maternal identity are not simply a cultural practice but rather structurally reproduced within gendered structure of Japanese corporations.