PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

This article explores how gender norms rooted in culture and religion influence gender inequality among Malay couples in Malaysia. Studies on the unbalanced division of unpaid domestic work are pivotal because they negatively affect women’s economic status, well-being and life. Many studies have indicated that gender inequality in the division of household labour persists even after accounting for paid work time and resources, suggesting that gender norms lead to the unequal division in unpaid domestic work. By using gender perspective as the theoretical perspective, this study explores how men and women behave according to cultural and religious defined gender roles and are expected to behave as such. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Malay couples in Malaysia. The study suggests that women shoulder a disproportionate amount of housework and childcare due to the cultural and religious gender norms that foster the prescribed roles, emphasising men’s role as the primary breadwinners and women’s role as the homemakers. This study highlights that gender norms rooted in culture and religion plays vital roles in creating gender inequality among Malay couples. Moreover, this study adds support to the gender perspective that not only gender role ideology matter, but also highlights that religiosity matters when accounting for gender norms in Malay society. This study implies that recognising the importance of cultural and religious gender norms around domestic work as women’s work is crucial in narrowing the gender gap in unpaid domestic work.

• Abdullah, K., Noor, N. M., & Wok, S. (2008). The perceptions of women’s roles and progress: A study of Malay women. Social Indicators Research, 89(3), 439-455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-008-9242-7

• Adams, M. (2017). Inequality/stratification, gender. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405165518.WBEOSI037.PUB2

• Aziz, A. (2011). Role demands and work-family balance experience in Malaysia: The different moderating effects of collectivism and gender role identity among diverse ethnic groups. University of Technology, Australia.

• Aziz, N. N. A., Yazid, Z. N. A., Tarmuji, N. H., & Samsudin, M. A. (2016). The fourfold taxonomy of work-family balance and well-being: The moderating effect of coping Strategy. E-Academic Journal, 5(1), 1-4.

• Aziz, N. N. A., Yazid, Z. N. A., Tarmuji, N. H., Samsudin, M. A., & Majid, A. A. (2018). The influence of work-family conflict and family-work conflict on well-being: The mediating role of coping strategies. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(4), 259-275. https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v8-i4/4012

• Bianchi, S. M., Milkie, M. A., Sayer, L. C., & Robinson, J. P. (2000). Is anyone doing the housework? Trends in the gender division of household labor. Social Forces, 79(1), 191-228. https://doi.org/10.2307/2675569

• Bittman, M., England, P., Folbre, N., Sayer, L., & Matheson, G. (2003). When does gender trump money? Bargaining and time in household work. American Journal of Sociology, 109(1), 186-214. https://doi.org/10.1086/378341

• Blood, R. O., & Wolfe, D. M. (1960). Husbands & wives: The dynamics of married living. Free Press.

• Boo, H. S. (2018). Ethnicity and religiosity in the gender division of housework and childcare in Malay and Chinese households in Malaysia [Doctoral dissertation, University of New South Wales]. https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:51104/SOURCE2?view=true

• Carlson, D. L., & Lynch, J. L. (2017). Purchases, penalties, and power: The relationship between earnings and housework. Journal of Marriage and Family, 79(1), 199–224. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12337

• Choong, C., Firouz, A. M. M., Jasmin, A. F., Noor, N. M., & Gong, R. (2019). Time to care: Gender inequality, unpaid care work and time use survey. Khazanah Research Institute.

• Cislaghi, B., & Heise, L. (2020). Gender norms and social norms: Differences, similarities and why they matter in prevention science. Sociology of Health & Illness, 42(2), 407-422. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13008

• Coltrane, S. (2000). Research on household labor: Modeling and measuring the social embeddedness of routine family work. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 1208-1233. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.01208.x

• Coverman, S. (1985). Explaining husbands’ participation in domestic labor. The Sociological Quarterly, 26(1), 81-97.

• Craig, L., & Brown, J. E. (2017). Feeling rushed: Gendered time quality, work hours, nonstandard work schedules, and spousal crossover. Journal of Marriage and Family, 79(1), 225-242. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12320

• Cunningham, M. (2001). Parental influences on the gendered division of housework. American Sociological Review, 66(2), 184-203. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657414

• Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2019). Labour force survey report. https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/pdfPrev&id=TlVMbEtBVXBGTi80VjdqZ1JUdVRHdz09

• Epstein, M., & Ward, L. M. (2011). Exploring parent-adolescent communication about gender: Results from adolescent and emerging adult samples. Sex Roles, 65(1), 108-118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-9975-7

• Ferrant, G., Pesando, M., & Nowacka, K. (2014). Unpaid care work: The missing link in the analysis of gender gaps in labour outcomes. https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/resources/documents/2015/5/unpaid-care-work-the-missing-link-in-the-analysis-of-gender-gaps-in-labour-outcomes

• Hamdan, D. A. A. (2009). Changes of gender relations in Kuching Malay household. Akademika-Journal of Southeast Asia Social Sciences and Humanities, 77(1), 185-200.

• Hochschild, A., & Machung, A. (2012). The second shift: Working families and the revolution at home. Penguin.

• Ismail, ’A., & Hamjah, S. H. (2012). Kefahaman terhadap kedudukan wanita bekerjaya menurut Islam [An understanding on career women from the perspective of Islam]. Jurnal Al-Hikmah 4, 4, 3-14.

• Jamil, Z., Tan, B. P., & Mahadir, N. B. (2018). Changes in gender ideology in domestic chores among professional Malay Muslim men in dual-career families: A study in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. International Journal of Education, Psychology and Counseling, 3(18), 1-10.

• Juhari, R., Yaacob, S. N., & Talib, M. A. (2013). Father involvement among Malay Muslims in Malaysia. Journal of Family Issues, 34(2), 208-227. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X12461339

• Kaufman, M. (2014). Engaging men, changing gender norms: Directions for gender-transformative action. https://www.unfpa.org/resources/brief-engaging-men-changing-gender-norms

• Knudsen, K., & Wærness, K. (2008). National context and spouses’ housework in 34 countries. European Sociological Review, 24(1), 97-113. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcm037

• Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and the United Nations. (2014). Study to support the development of national policies and programmes to increase and retain the participation of women in the Malaysian labour force: Key findings and recommendations. https://www.my.undp.org/content/malaysia/en/home/library/womens_empowerment/women-in-malaysian-labour-force-study-with-undp-2013.html

• Noor, N. M. (1999). Roles and women’s well-being: Some preliminary findings from Malaysia. Sex Roles, 41(3), 123-145. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018846010541

• Osman, Z. J. (2013). Malay Muslim academic women in dual-career families : negotiating religious and cultural identities and practices [Doctoral thesis, University of York]. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/13086/1/ZURAINI - PHD -3.pdf

• Sayer, L. C. (2016). Trends in women’s and men’s time use, 1965-2012: Back to the future? In V. K. S. M. Mchale, J. V. Hook, & A. Booth (Eds.), Gender and couple relationships (pp. 43-77). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21635-5_2

• Somech, A., & Drach-Zahavy, A. (2016). Gender role ideology. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118663219.WBEGSS205

• Stratton, L. S. (2020). The determinants of housework time: Boosting the efficiency of household production could have large economic effects. IZA World of Labor 2020, Article 133. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.133.v2

• Sukri, A. L., & Shasrini, T. (2020). The concept of gender equality from the Malay perspective. JournalNX - A Multidisciplinary Peer Reviewed Journal, 6(6), 537-544. https://repo.journalnx.com/index.php/nx/article/view/1302

• Tajmazinani, A. A. (2021). Social policy in the Islamic world. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57753-7

• United Nations Population Fund, & Promundo. (2018). Engaging men in unpaid care work: An advocacy brief for eastern europe and central asia. https://menengage.unfpa.org/en/resources/engaging-men-unpaid-care-work

• Wood, J. T. (2014). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.

• Zang, X. (2012). Islam, family life, and gender inequality in urban China (First). Routledge, London.