Earlier studies on household chores belonged to Western cultures and focused more on the female domestic workers instead of the housewives. This study aims to analyze how the household chores affect marital satisfaction and psychosocial health of Muslim women belonging from a collectivistic culture.
This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods by involving 1,054 Muslim housewives from Pakistan (Mage = 34; SD = 7.53). These women were divided into two groups, i.e. women helped by servants (n = 702) and women without servants’ help (n = 352). Both these groups were compared for possible differences in psychosocial health and marital satisfaction.
The housewives who were assisted by domestic servants had significantly higher levels of psychosocial health (ρ < 0.000; Cohen’s d = 0.705) and marital satisfaction (ρ < 0.000; Cohen’s d = 0.398) as compared with the housewives who were not assisted by any domestic servants. The qualitative findings revealed that the housewives who had domestic servants preferred female domestic workers over male workers and regarded the domestic workers as a great source to enhance their mental health. The other group of the housewives who did not have any domestic workers did not bother much about the provision of domestic workers. This was mainly due to internalizing patriarchal oppression, social compliance and faulty interpretations of the religious teachings.
The findings of this study have highlighted the adverse effects of household chores on marital satisfaction and psychosocial health of housewives.
