A Study on the Fairness of Housework Division in Chinese Households Based on the Entropy Weight Method: Empirical Analysis from the 2022 CFPS Data

Using data from the 2022 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study selects 11,375 dual-spouse households as the research sample and constructs a comprehensive housework division index via the entropy weight method. The index integrates four dimensions: participation subject, time allocation, content type, and fairness perception, aiming to explore the fairness level of housework division and group differences in Chinese households. The results show that the overall fairness of housework division in Chinese households is relatively low: the mean value of the index (after 10,000-fold linear expansion) is 0.0632, showing a significant right-skewed distribution, with most households concentrated in the "low-fairness" range and only a few achieving relatively balanced division. Significant group differences exist: rural households have a slightly higher housework division index (0.0659) than urban households (0.0608); male respondents have a higher index (0.0660) than female respondents (0.0603); and the high-education group has a significantly lower index (0.0501) than the low-education group (0.0653). The fairness of housework division is jointly influenced by structural factors and perceptual factors, with an obvious "concept-action gap": 74.02% of respondents perceive housework division as "fair", but the low index level indicates this perception mostly stems from normative adaptation rather than objective balance. This study provides empirical evidence for optimizing family labor allocation and promoting gender equality.