Perceived Fairness of Division of Childcare Labor and Associated Factors Among Chinese Female Same-Sex Parents

Among 96 Chinese female same-sex parents, this study examined three theoretical perspectives, namely time availability theory (e.g., working outside the home in paid labor), relative resource theory (e.g., educational attainment), and gender display theory (e.g., masculine, feminine, and in-between gender presentation), along with exploring couple relationship quality, as they related to the perception of fairness regarding the couple’s division of childcare labor. We found that among 96 Chinese same-sex parents, the perception of fairness regarding the couples’ division of childcare labor was not associated with working on paid employment, educational attainment, or culturally specific gender presentations. However, higher relationship quality was significantly associated with greater perceived fairness in the division of childcare labor (B = 0.43, BCa 95% CI [0.18, 0.72], p = 0.01). Overall, these findings provide little support for the associations between perceived fairness of the division of childcare labor and factors derived from time availability theory, relative resource theory, and gender display theory. Couple relationship quality is highly associated with perceptions of fairness of childcare division of labor among Chinese female same-sex parents.